When you look at the barren grass monoculture that is the Irish countryside, it's amazing that they survive and thrive as well as they do here.

Its a startling trend across much of Western Europe alight where alot of wildlife is doing much better around towns and cities compared to the likes of intensive Dairy and Industrial Spruce forestry areas where the foot of natural foodchains like Wildflower Meadows, Butterflies, Bumble Bees and other farmland wildlife have essentially been sprayed and mechanically gouged out of existence, alot of it on the back of perverse Tax Payer funded incentives like the CAP(especially its earlier manifestations) :( . In contrast great work is being done by Tidy Town groups and other concerned parties to create Pollinator spaces etc. in as many urban green areas as they can. Albeit after some battles with the "Neat and Tidy" brigade which unfortunately still exist in some parts.

The wolf is not coming back to Ireland anytime soon of course(b4 anyone starts getting excited and saying this post is advocating it!!), but it is true to say that fox populations here are probably 10X what they might naturally be in the absence of them. Its basically the difference between a generalist Meso Predator(Fox) and a Top predator(Wolf) and the implications of the removal of the latter for ecosystems. A good example of this is what happened when Wolves returned to Yellowstone and significantly reduced the population of Coyote and Fox to more natural levels which in turn restored populations of ground nesting birds like the Endangered Prairie Chicken etc.

Fox numbers are also getting a boost from heavy culling of deer in many places via Gralloch, farmers avoiding fallen animal charges(I don't blame them!!) and also there is an increasing amount of roadkill to be had too. Probably also some spill over from a thriving population originating from urban and suburban areas were food is pretty much unlimited for such an adaptable species. I would also throw in the fact that culling is only a fraction of what it was back in the 80's when the fur trade and far more active gun clubs hit populations hard.

It's all about balance. The fox is indeed a clever animal, and will survive when other species won't. They are very adaptable, and that is why they are so successful. It is important to keep their numbers in check, to protect more vulnerable species from disappearing altogether. Not the fox's fault of course, that these species are in trouble, but unfortunately they can tip the scale, to cause a negative impact to the survival of other species.

The real answer, is restoring habitat, but don't see that really happening in the Ireland of today.

The ones I see always look as though they’re starving though, just skin and bone. I don’t know how they survive. What do they eat…or not as the ones I see aren’t getting much.

When I'm out stalking or rabbiting I always ask the landowner what they might like me to do with respect to foxes? If their sheep farming, or some dairy, they'll generally want them gone. Where I live there are almost no sheep, though plenty of cattle. I don't shoot fox in my local area. When I'm dressing out a deer or a number of rabbits, I keep the off cuts, bones etc., I leave them out in my back garden, in reasonable clumps. Always gone by morning, and I've watched fox and cats come to dine. Haven't seen any mink, which surprises me as there a small stream close to my back garden. The fox's that I see in my local generally seem to be in fine condition.