Pest Files - Mammals
Urban Fox
Foxes have adapted well to life in towns and cities. Rural foxes quickly urbanised, taking advantage of the food and shelter provided in the relatively large gardens, from compost heaps, bird-tables and garden buildings.
They are now commonly found across London and other cities in the UK. There are now more opportunities of food and shelter for foxes in towns and cities than in the surrounding countryside.
Their diet is varied and will include insects and grubs, slugs, worms, small rodents, birds and mammals such as chicken and anything that they can scavenge from rubbish. It is rare for a fox to attack a cat. Most of the time, they ignore each other.
Badger
Badgers have lived in Britain since the Ice Age, and can be found throughout almost all of the country, being most numerous in the south west, rare in East Anglia and thinly distributed in Scotland.
Their population is now thought to be stable at about 310,000 animals. Badgers have a distinctive black and white striped face with grey furred body. Their total length, including the tail, is about 900mm, and they weigh up to 12kg.
A badger's diet is omnivorous and will include slugs and bulbs, earthworms and wild honey.
Mole
The European mole (Talpa europaea) is widely distributed throughout temperate parts of Europe and Asia. It does not extend south beyond the Pyrenees (and is therefore absent from the Iberian Peninsula) and is missing from the north of Scandinavia. It is also missing from Ireland.
Although broadly resembling a rather fat glossy mouse, the European mole belongs to the mammalian group Insectivora, along with hedgehogs, shrews and desmans. It is effectively a large (120-180 mm) subterranean shrew, living under deciduous woodland and grassland where there is sufficient depth of soil.
All talpids (moles) with the exception of the water-living desman (and the rather ambulatory shrew mole which lacks digging specialisations) live in self-made subterranean burrows.
Urban Fox
Foxes have adapted well to life in towns and cities. Rural foxes quickly urbanised, taking advantage of the food and shelter provided in the relatively large gardens, from compost heaps, bird-tables and garden buildings.
They are now commonly found across London and other cities in the UK. There are now more opportunities of food and shelter for foxes in towns and cities than in the surrounding countryside.
Their diet is varied and will include insects and grubs, slugs, worms, small rodents, birds and mammals such as chicken and anything that they can scavenge from rubbish. It is rare for a fox to attack a cat. Most of the time, they ignore each other.
Badger
Badgers have lived in Britain since the Ice Age, and can be found throughout almost all of the country, being most numerous in the south west, rare in East Anglia and thinly distributed in Scotland.
Their population is now thought to be stable at about 310,000 animals. Badgers have a distinctive black and white striped face with grey furred body. Their total length, including the tail, is about 900mm, and they weigh up to 12kg.
A badger's diet is omnivorous and will include slugs and bulbs, earthworms and wild honey.
Mole
The European mole (Talpa europaea) is widely distributed throughout temperate parts of Europe and Asia. It does not extend south beyond the Pyrenees (and is therefore absent from the Iberian Peninsula) and is missing from the north of Scandinavia. It is also missing from Ireland.
Although broadly resembling a rather fat glossy mouse, the European mole belongs to the mammalian group Insectivora, along with hedgehogs, shrews and desmans. It is effectively a large (120-180 mm) subterranean shrew, living under deciduous woodland and grassland where there is sufficient depth of soil.
All talpids (moles) with the exception of the water-living desman (and the rather ambulatory shrew mole which lacks digging specialisations) live in self-made subterranean burrows.
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