Intrepid fox travels down M27 hard shoulder during 25km voyage
and live on Freeview channel 276
The female fox, or vixen, was fitted with a GPS collar by Fordingbridge-based Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) as part of the charity’s research into fox behaviour.
The charity’s predator ecologist Mike Short fitted the fox with the tracker at a New Forest site in April - revealing the remarkable journey.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThe tracker showed she travelled about 25km across the New Forest, before settling near Totton.
After a few days she ventured into Totton town centre. On another occasion she was tracked doing some risky foraging along the hard shoulder of the M27.
After a week or so the adventurous vixen was on the move again, this time heading south-west. Leaving Ower near Totton around 10pm, she covered about 20km back across the New Forest to the Avon Valley, following the A31 for some of her journey.
By 5am she had arrived at the edge of a country estate just south of Ringwood which is an internationally important breeding ground for several threatened species of wading birds including lapwing and redshank.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdMike said: ‘We don’t know where our vixen came from, but she showed how easily a fox can travel 20km in one night. This could indicate that some of the foxes that threaten the Avon Valley’s wading birds may migrate from Southampton or Bournemouth and Poole.
‘GPS tracking is helping us unravel the lives of foxes and their habits.’
A message from the Editor
Thank you for reading this story on portsmouth.co.uk. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.
With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.
Subscribe to portsmouth.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to local news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit our Subscription page now to sign up.
Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.
Comment Guidelines
National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.