Hello this is Ben from the Fox Repellent Expert website and welcome to  the latest episode of this podcast.

This episode is the fifth in this series looking at what the UK’s foxes are up to throughout the course of the year. This time I’m looking at the month of May and I hope it will give you some insight into the behaviour of the foxes in your local area.

By May, the fox cubs will have continued to develop and will be starting to spend a lot more time out of the den. They’ll have established the pecking order between themselves by this stage, so if you see them they’re likely to be a lot more playful than in April and will behave more like puppies.

Between the ages of about 5 to 8 weeks, the vixen will have worked hard to wean the cubs off her milk and onto solid food. Her technique for weaning the cubs through this period is by increasingly rolling onto her stomach when they try and suckle. If they are a bit slow on the uptake and don’t get the message, she will give them a little telling off and run a short distance away.

This behaviour, where the vixen leaves the cubs alone for short periods, can often cause people observing the foxes to mistakenly think the cubs have been abandoned. So if you do see some cubs alone during May, just reserve judgement and keep watching. You’re most likely to see the vixen returning once she feels she’s taught them a lesson.

Once the cubs are about 8 weeks old, they will be reliant on prey being caught for them by the dog fox, the vixen and any helper vixens that have remained around to help out. These cubs will be growing and getting hungrier and hungrier, so the adults will have to work hard to provide for them.

This means that around this time of year, you need to make sure that any small pets you have like rabbits, guinea pigs or chickens are securely housed. The adult foxes will be travelling further afield and will be particularly ruthless with catching prey for the cubs, so stay vigilant so that your outdoor pets stay safe.

If you have a den in your garden or close by, you might notice an increase in bones and other discarded prey items around the entrance to the den. This will also attract flies, so it can potentially be a bit of a mess for a little while around the den. Of course, if you do have a den nearby then only watch from a distance so you don’t upset the feeding and developmental process of the cubs.

I mentioned helper vixens earlier and I also discussed them in the episode about February. These are subordinate vixens who might be a sister or auntie who possibly haven’t had a litter of their own that year, and who stick around to help the mother with the cubs. By doing this, the helper vixen gets a secure territory, plus the possibility of taking over the breeding rights if the dominant vixen dies.

Well, on that subject, I saw an extreme example of vixens helping each other out this month in a video on BBC’s Springwatch. It showed a mother fox in a suburban back garden with no less than 11 cubs following along behind her. Chris Packham explained that while not impossible, it was very unlikely that the vixen had given birth to 11 cubs.

He explained that it was more likely to be an example of what’s called allo-parenting – which is where an animal (or person) provides parental care towards young that are not their direct offspring. Grandparents looking after grandchildren, or looking after your neighbour’s kids are examples of allo-parenting. In this case it looked as if one vixen was looking after her own litter and childminding the litter of a related vixen – that’s great cooperation! 11 cubs and one mother was an amazing sight and well worth a watch so I’ll put a link to the footage in the shownotes.

So clearly May is a busy time for the foxes. The cubs are growing and learning and the adults are doing their best to give them the best chance of survival. As the month goes on, the cubs will become more and more visible so don’t be surprised if you see them, with and without the adults, in your garden at this time of year.

Another thing to expect to see during May is lawns, parks and grass verges looking a bit overgrown and out of control. This is because since 2019, the wild plant conservation charity called Plantlife has been running a campaign called No Mow May. According to the charity, the UK has lost 97% of British wildflower meadows since the 1930s, Unfortunately, this has removed a vital source of food for pollinators such as bees, butterflies and moths. Leaving your grass to grow for the month of May increases wildflowers, which not only helps the pollinators, but also provides extra food for birds and small mammals.

If you’re listening to this during May and want to take part in No Mow May, then just do absolutely nothing – keep your mower in the garage or shed for the month and you’ll be doing your bit to help. You can also celebrate National Bee Day on 20th May as well. The UK has about 270 species of bee and they need all the help they can get so they’re well worth celebrating.

Well, that’s it for this episode of the Fox Repellent Expert podcast. I hope it’s been insightful and informative, regarding some of the fox activity in your area at this time of year. I’ll put any links mentioned in this episode in the show notes.

If you found today’s episode interesting, you can subscribe to the Fox Repellent Expert podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Please feel free to leave a review as it helps other people find the show.

Thank you very much for listening and I’ll see you next time.