Country Diary: Northumberland

After a mild autumn, winter is now on its way here; local bird tables are being replenished, but avian guests have been slow in coming forward. So far, I have seen only one robin. Usually there is an eager queue of them by now. This is clearly due to the summer abundance and mild autumn having provided natural berry seeds. The dykes have been choked with brambles, and I have made lots of jars of jelly.

After years of watching foxes, I believe that no British mammal is more susceptible to surrounding influences. Weather controls the foxes' forays in search of food. They seem to know when it is no use raising ground game; they wait until early morning conditions are favourable. Now, as dawn breaks on a fine morning I can see a fox from my bedroom window setting out from his earth by the church wall. This will be a serious business, and not until the cravings of hunger are satisfied will he return home. Short intermittent hunts made during the day are less well defined.

It is surprising that this animal's fine tail does not suffer more in a lifetime of creeping about in undergrowth. I have seen weather-beaten, ragged brushes, but only one fox with a shortened, broken tail.

This month our roe bucks cast their horns and almost immediately growth commences. With a friend, I went for a preliminary sortie to a nearly thick wood on her estate to look for berries and evergreens for Christmas decorations. We watched four roe deer, all females, grazing in a clearing. Two of them appeared to us to be siblings - one-year-old twin roe does. I was thrilled to see them because, although park deer may have twin fawns, they are extremely rare in the wild, where there is no rich feed.