I had been asked to deal with a fox problem on a number of neighbouring smallholdings. The fox in question had lately favoured a small field containing an insecure run that held about 20 mixed breed chickens. Some of the bantams weren’t using the coop, preferring instead to run the gauntlet and roost in the thick hawthorn hedge. The pond next-door had also once held 14 geese, but the rogue fox had reduced this number to just one.