No guarantees with this most wily foe

It will come as no surprise that foxes are the UK’s biggest predator of both ground-nesting birds and released game. Because we don’t have large apex predators to assist with their control, as they do in some other parts of the world, it is down to us.

If we don’t control foxes — and control is the key word here, not exterminate — our returns on released birds will drop and wild partridges — if you are lucky enough to have any — won’t survive. Foxes should be controlled year round and at the very least in spring and summer if you rely on reared birds. Not forgetting, of course, that foxing to protect gamebirds protects other ground-nesting birds such as lapwings and curlew too.

Add on issues for free-range egg producers and for those who