Vixen - Ooo Errr

[Wavey Davey]

Slept out under the stars Wednesday night. Got woken up from a deep sleep by the sound of someone being murdered about 20m away. Got the old ticker going a bit faster until I remembered that vixens make a hell of a racket when they're looking for a mate - I have heard them before years ago but it really wasn't in the fore-front of my mind when I got woken up. A really horrible sound if you're not expecting it. Something like a cross between a scream and a yelping wail that doesn't need much imagination to sound like someone getting done-in!

Apart from foxy lady there were loads of cockchafers about at dusk and dawn buzzing around overhead which are enough to make you flinch when they come in low.

Also had some superb views of a couple of hares that were feeding only about 10m away when I woke up in the morning. They didn't seem worried at all by the large green maggot that kept raising it's head to look at them. They really are great animals, easily one of my favourites, and we saw plenty of them out on Wednesday evening, but brilliant to see them feeding so close.

 

[Tantalus]

lol yes it can give you a start can't it?

something in my mind recognises it first as a babies cry which then turns quite horrible.

gets my attention every time thats for sure, even though i have heard it often enough it still invades that "alert" part of my senses and sets off alarm bells

Tant

 

[Motorbike Man]

I'll never forget when I was in my teens and out on my first night shoot with a mate and we heard a vixen calling probably about the same distance away. We both had heart attacks and lit up every torch we had just to see what the blimmin wotsits was going on!!

 

[tenbears10]

Cats can sound like crying babies when they are a bit 'fruity' as well. Makes my skin crawl just thinking about it now.

 

[StormWalker]

Many moons age when i was a tennager out shooting with a freind at just after dusk we got a little to close to a badger set and there must have been cubs? out as one of them took a disliking to us being so close and the noise sounded like the dogs of hell had risen .

Never the less all 6'5" of me ran through the trees like a scared baby

 

[Wavey Davey]

Many moons age when i was a tennager out shooting with a freind at just after dusk we got a little to close to a badger set and there must have been cubs? out as one of them took a disliking to us being so close and the noise sounded like the dogs of hell had risen .

Never the less all 6'5" of me ran through the trees like a scared baby

Ah that's made me laugh.

 

[Lithril]

and lit up every torch we had just to see what the blimmin wotsits was going on!!

don't ever ask Leon-1 to do that, it'll take him 30 mins to find them all and will probably have no strength left in his fingers by the time he's turned them on.

 

[Scally]

Muntjac can make you jump as well age 16 working for my new boss in herts sat by a tree first night on poacher watching duty no stick no dog and one big wood so i sat 6 yards in me being big and strong 63 times a muntjac barked that night 63 times i climb back down the tree boy did i need to change my under wear yes i did
two days later watched a muntjac at dusk for 10 mins it made it all worth while
something so small can make so much noise!

 

[Chopper]

Living on the edge of town all my life (rapidly being forced further into the middle, thanks to Mr Prescot) I am quite used to hearing the odd fox, but the first time my wife heard one she called the police...well you can imagine the response when I explained that they would be wasting an awful lot of time looking for a body that did not exist.

 

[Motorbike Man]

don't ever ask Leon-1 to do that, it'll take him 30 mins to find them all and will probably have no strength left in his fingers by the time he's turned them on.

One of the other wierdest noises I've heard was when I was working on Brownsea Island for the Dorset Wildlife Trust. I was driving a tractor over to the dump and had to go past the Heronry. Now I had never heard Herons nesting before and Iwas seriously spooked, even more so as I could not work out where the noise was coming from!!

 

[Biddlesby]

I heard some interesting noises this evening; some high pitched wailing sounds and lots of birds doing a short squealing/screaming noises quite vociferiously. Never really heard animals being this violent in their sounds around my area before...

 

[Wavey Davey]

I heard some interesting noises this evening; some high pitched wailing sounds and lots of birds doing a short squealing/screaming noises quite vociferiously. Never really heard animals being this violent in their sounds around my area before...

Do you know what sort of birds Biddlesby? Jays make a lot of racket especially if there's a predator around. We've got a pair of sparrowhawks in the woods behind our allottment and whenever they appear the jays and crows go bonkers and try to drive them away, all the time keeping up a raucous screeching and cawing. As you say it can be quite a violent noise. As for the wailing could easily be another vixen, or a cat as tenbears10 said earlier.

 

[Tantalus]

arent jays notorious mimics?

i came acroos them often in the woods in Germany where they had that reputation

never been close to them in this country though

Tant

 

[Wavey Davey]

Tant
I think they can be. They are all part of the same group as jackdaws, crows and magpies - corvids I think they are - and they all mimic things to some extent. Jays certainly make a wide range of noises, including some quite strange sounding ones - more like grunts sometimes. However, the best mimic round here earlier in the summer was a blackbird that had got the sound of an ambulance down perfectly. He used (haven't heard him for a couple of months) to sit on a nearby house just making the up and down whistle of the ambulance siren for minutes on end. Quite amazing unless it was at 03.45 and had just woken you up!

 

[Biddlesby]

Wouldn't be able to say I'm afraid . My knowledge of bird songs is, how should I put it, non-existent.