Ö÷²¥´óÐã

High Ash Farm in Caistor St Edmund near Norwich is run by wildlife lover Chris Skinner who believes nature should be left untouched and undisturbed.

Chris Skinner lets nature be on his farm

"I don't carry out any control measures for any of the wildlife, if I have too many rabbits, I have too many rabbits," he said. "Nature over a course of time seems to level itself out completely."

So it was disappointing for Chris to discover a pair of dead foxes that had been killed by trespassers with high-powered rifles. He took his shovel and buried them close to where they were found.

High Ash Farm used to be a working, animal-producing farm until Chris decided to change things. In June 2007, he opened over 5km of footpaths through the farm to the public so that he could share it with everyone.

Some people don't agree with Chris' ploy to leave nature to balance itself out so come onto the farm to shoot hares and foxes illegally.

Orphaned cubs

It was a day or so later when Chris was driving around the area of the shooting when he saw six or so fox cubs that had been orphaned due to the previous day’s events.

Over the next few evenings Chris witnessed an unusual sight as another adult vixen nursed the orphans and carried a number of them back to her own earth, half a mile or so away from where they were found.

"That vixen has, heroically, brought up nine of the cubs, with only one loss," said Chris.

It is very unusual for foxes to bring up that number of cubs, especially as many of them were not her own.

Keeping a record

In line with his other passion of recording birdsong, Chris has been keen to record and document what the cubs sound like.

Using small recording devices, carefully hidden in the ground when the cubs are away, he captures feeding time for the fox cubs.

Chris Skinner can be heard on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Norfolk the first Monday of each month, between 6 and 7pm.