Foxes and Cubs

Spring has now well and truly sprung and over at Cumbernauld Living Landscape we are savouring every moment of this blissful time of year. Our Wild Ways Well group has been accomplishing the ‘Take Notice’ part of the 5 Ways To Wellbeing by immersing themselves in the changing cycles of nature. Being mindful of the changes around us is a great way to live in the moment and become more in tune with nature. This is also an ideal time of year to keep learning as bird song becomes louder and beautiful wild flowers such as cuckoo flower, wood anemone, cowslip and lesser celandine are all starting to pop up around Cumbernauld.

Spring is also the perfect time of year for babies such as badger and fox cubs. Our Wild Ways Well group recently set up a camera trap and were delighted to capture some lovely footage of a family of foxes with three cubs. We think the cubs were probably about a month old. Adorable! When cubs are born they are deaf and blind and rely on their mother to keep warm whilst their father brings them food. At around a month old they will emerge from the den and start to explore their surroundings.

During the summer months the cubs will begin foraging for themselves and will sleep separately from their mother. By autumn the cubs will look very similar to the adults and will begin to leave their mother and find their own territories.  If you find fox cubs that you think are abandoned it is important that you don’t interfere with them as it is normal for their mother to leave them alone whilst she finds food. If you have concerns or if the animals seem injured it is time to phone the SSPCA. Keep an eye on our website www.cumbernauldlivinglandscape.org.uk and on our Facebook page for the footage of the fox cubs and other wildlife that we captured!

You can find a little teaser of the footage here

Rebecca Scott, Volunteer Officer