I had to be in London recently. I met an unexpected immigrant just off
Russell Square.
On Sunday night it was sitting out in the moonlight, and my
phone camera wasn't really up to the job.
But on Tuesday night it, or another one, was back again, standing on
the terrace in front of Stewart House (part of the central section of
the University of London, round the back of the infamously looming
Senate House).
- Posted by Chris Bell at
10:24am on
31 July 2026
I gather there are now more urban foxes than rural ones in England (no idea about Scotland or Wales).
I was made aware of this trend in the City of Bristol towards the end of last century, when we were told by the Foxwatch folk centred round Bristol Zoo that there was a higher concentration of foxes there than anywhere else in the country, and asked to let them know if we saw any dead ones.
You'd think that since the hunting ban meant safety in the countryside the foxes would have gone back out into the fields and woodland, but apparently not. I suppose in central London they have no predators at all, except perhaps rogue taxis, and they're very efficient scavengers.
- Posted by Robert at
04:21pm on
31 July 2026
As a student I spent 3 months at the Ridgemount Hotel on Gower Street as part of exchange program with Birkbeck College so I find this doubly cool as I remember that area after dark reasonably well
- Posted by J Michael Cule at
10:48pm on
31 July 2026
A couple of times I've heard foxes crying out on the Rye. It's an alarming sound like a spirit of the forest being tortured.
And once there was one within ten feet of me, sitting on the rise of the land around the ancient monument next door to my block of flats. We stared at each other for a few seconds but by the time I had thought to reach for my phone it had gone.
In the days when I was healthier and exercising more I got similarly close to deet a couple of times up on Keep Hill Wood. It's surprising how close the country is to the centre of the town.
- Posted by RogerBW at
01:42pm on
03 August 2026
Chris - it seems to me that the question is "why didn't they move into towns earlier, if they can thrive there?". Did something push them, or pull them?
Robert - Birkbeck granted my degree (and was responsible for my early exposure to AIX and VMS, but I forgive them).
Michael - I won't ask how you know what that sounds like.
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