Rudely Awoken

Backing onto a wood, there are a few night time noises that I’m used to hearing. As well as Tawny Owls hooting, we frequently get Muntjac wandering past “barking”; it really sounds more like a cough and is relatively regular, though just occasional, in its delivery.

Last night I cooked our remaining pack of 12 Aldi pork slurry sausages and put four out for our fox visitors. After a couple of easy-peasy grade sudoku puzzles, I actually managed to get to sleep.

My sleep didn’t last long, though; something woke me at about 02:00 and I was conscious of hearing what seemed like a bark or two. They were loud so no wonder I was awoken. Of course, one tends to miss the noise that actually breaks ones sleep. I did eventually drift off again.

I retrieved Foxcam this morning to learn the fate of the so-called sausages.

Happily, at 00:52 Limpy turned up and scoffed a sausage,though he seemed to make hard work of it now they were whole rather than split lengthwise. He seemed to try to swallow too much at once and coughed a bit back up again. Steady on, Limpy.

Less happily, at 01:20 one of our blasted neighbourhood cats turned up and sniffed the pork slurry. This decorative creation is covered in very long, light-coloured fluffy fur and has a contrasting black face, Utterly useless. Well, perhaps not quite; it would be better having its claws and teeth ripped out and being used as a tampon for an elephant. [The ripping out of claws and teeth would, of course, be purely for the enhanced comfort of the elephant.] The damn thing settled down beside the sausages and stayed, licking them every now and then, for 30 minutes. It didn’t seem to be able to deal with them, I’m glad to say. Its delicate little mouth is probably too small – unless someone has already ripped out its teeth. Hmmm. Finally, Tampon managed to gum a small amount of sausage then sauntered off.

Cat gone, Limpy returned at 01:57 and set about scoffing the remaining couple of sausages that the (bloody) cat had licked. At 01:58 he  raised his head and barked three times, waking me up. A volley of three barks is apparently normal for foxes, according to my WildGuides Britain’s Mammals book. Thanks, Limpy. 😀

I had another couple of clips recorded at 02:15; a fox again. I did not have to look twice to know that this was a different fox, neither Limpy nor Fleet. This fox’s brush wasn’t. That is to say, its tail was in a dreadful state of repair and looked nothing like a brush. What this tail looked more like was a rat’s tail. OK, Ratty it is, then. We’re wondering if this might be the early stages of mange.

Ratty sniffed around where the sausages and (bloody) cat had been, strutted around the garden for a moment and exited stage right.