Foxes may not be the most welcome visitors to your garden. The busy-tailed creatures can be endearing to see passing through but they can also make a mess of your lawn and you may not want them setting up a den under your shed.
Fortunately, there are ways to live alongside these four-legged friends and keep them away from your green space. Luke Newnes, gardening expert at outdoor furnishings shop Hillarys, shared some thoughts about how to adapt your garden around them.
He said: A lot of people assume foxes are treated in the same way as rats or mice, but that’s not really the case. While homeowners are entitled to discourage foxes from visiting their garden, any action taken has to be humane.
“In most cases, preventing access to food and shelter is far more effective than trying to deal with the fox itself. It’s usually about making your garden less appealing, rather than removing the animal.”
Common misconception
You may think it’s inevitable foxes may pay a visit to your garden now they are used to urban areas. But this may not be the case.
Mr Newnes said: “One of the biggest misconceptions is that foxes are turning up for no reason. If they’re visiting regularly, there’s normally something attracting them, whether that’s food, water or a place to shelter. My advice is always to start there.”
How to make your garden less attractive to foxes
He shared some practical things you can do to avoid attracting them in. These include:
Bring pet food indoors overnight
Block off any gaps under sheds or decking.
You could also try installing motion-activated lights or fox-friendly deterrents. Mr Newnes warned not to take a hands-on approach.
He said: “I’d also avoid trying to relocate foxes yourself. It’s stressful for the animal and often doesn’t solve the problem anyway. Another fox will usually move into the area if the conditions that attracted the first one haven’t changed.”
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