Poor Fox

Our tame pheasants were a bit put out because their 'pond' which is an iron container sunk in the ground, half filled with pebbles then topped up with water, had dried up.

They paraded up and down outside the kitchen door until I got the message and refilled it. Our hose also drips so I've wedged a bucket underneath. They can reach that as well.

The pigeons soon let me know if their bird bath runs dry. They fly straight at the windows, then bank sharply away at the last minute. A bit like a Lancaster bomber in the Dam Busters.

Call me unkind but I have stopped filling up our birdbath because the pigeons rewarded me by eating my aubretia as well as many other things. If only I knew a way to just let the small birds visit .

"like a Lancaster bomber in the Dam Busters"

Thanks both for reminding us to leave water out for the wild life.

Yes, handy reminder tanith, I haven’t fed and watered the birds yet today ...

I’m quite good keeping the bird bath washed and refilled (bloody filthy pigeons??) I’m wondering whether to leave a bowl of water in the drive for wildlife passing through?

Aww maybe put a bowl of water there for future use. We have had no real rain all in the south or a while now so maybe there is a shortage of puddles etc for wild animals

We have three bird baths and we have to refill them everyday, used for bathing, drinking by birds bees and other insects and they have been evaporating due to heat.

We also have three or four watering point in the garden, used by everything that passes through - foxes, birds, badgers, hedgehogs, cats.
One is a very large plastic plant pot tray, about three inches deep and set on a bench near some bushes, where the birds have a bath as well as a drink. We've had as many as thirteen blue tits in there, splashing around like pubescent schoolboys at the swimming pool. By the time they have finished there is not much water left.
The others are smaller, shallower dishes at ground level and a lovely small glass poppy on a stand used almost exclusively by the blue tits.
They all get refilled every morning if there has been no rain.

I’ve now put a bowl of water out ther I already have several in the back garden.

DH bought a shallowish circular container in which he has created a pond.
The birds love it. They drink the water and bathe in it. Our visiting hen pheasant has been for a drink three times today.
The photo isn't the best, but I've taken it from inside the house, zoomed as far as my phone can manage.

I leave a large pottery dog bowl out for when my daughter comes with her dog but, I have cats so can't encourage birds into my garden, unfortunately. My 2 year grandson lets his toy dinosaurs drink there too!

You can get bird feeders that have a kind of cage around them so that only small birds can get at the food. For ground feeders there are also cages, rather like a gauze cake umbrella in effect except to keep pigeons out rather than flies, that you put over your feeding area.

Getting back to foxes. I was leaving my daughter's house very early in the morning last summer. Driving up the road I saw a fox walking in the middle of the road. He was in no hurry and just sauntered along well aware of me behind him. I stopped to let him get ahead and eventually with a glance behind him at me he went into a garden that had a water feature for his morning cuppa.

I've got the usual type of birdbath (pigeons seem to hog it) and a small, pottery one which is on the ground. Hedgehogs and small birds use it. From Amazon.