Fast food for foxes
Vixen and cub among visitors to Restaurant for Foxes
A farm in County Clare is proving very popular with local wildlife - not only can the animals find protection there but also a regular supply of food.
The land in question is fully preserved for wildlife and with hedges, trees and boglands left untouched, it provides valuable cover and food for fauna.
According to landowner and avid wildlife watcher, Philomena McInerney, frequent visitors to the property include both badgers and foxes.
"I have a badger sett and am visited nightly by two badgers at present," she says. "One year, however, I had seven badgers feeding on my lawn."
But it is about foxes that she speaks most enthusiastically.
"My fox's den is just a short walk down the field. The female fox is quite trusting of me and I can walk out and put food in her dish. These offerings include bread, potatoes, porridge and, "thanks to Tesco Superstore", bags of cooked meat scraps and the odd chicken.
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| Waiting for porridge and meat: one of the foxes which visits the wildlife friendly garden in Clare. |
"I watched her one evening encouraging her cub to come into my lawn. She was introducing him to the McInerney Restaurant for Foxes! "It was like winning the lotto when he finally came and I had a good chunk of meat for him."
Philomena adds that her pets have no problems whatsoever with the wildlife coming into the garden.
"My seven cats love the foxes and badgers and all will eat only yards from each other" she says.
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