In message , Anthony Ward
writes
I have created my first lawn and decided to do it from seed. I made
what I hoped would be a good bed from the existing soil, horse manure
and bagged up topsoil and created a smooth level surface. The seed has
grown quite well and the desied effect is gradually taking shape. The
only trouble is that a fox keeps coming and digging holes in it. I
thought he would be put off when the grass thickened up a bit but no.
He is sometimes bringing food to bury. I have heard of various
suggestions for deterring cats but what about foxes?
Also I have been surprised by how much damage a blackbird can do just
by pecking for worms along the edges where the grass isn't so thick. I
blamed the fox for this when I saw the disturbed soil until I saw the
balckbird doing it.
I expect you have guessed I am one of those 'pristine lawn' types!

If you need to deter foxes from a newly planted/sown area the only thing
we have found effective is to place rags soaked in Renardine on short
(30 - 40 cm) sticks around the perimeter of the area to be protected.
It smells disgusting but it has worked for us. If it rains heavily then
'refresh' the Renardine on the rags. Foxes are quite lazy and when the
grass is established and the ground more difficult to dig in they will
move to softer ground - a flower bed or similar :-) Whilst people
suggest that you do something to kill the fox, invariably when an adult
fox is killed another just moves in to the territory. As for bird
damage, just wait until a woodpecker decides that you have ants or
interesting grubs in the lawn!
--
Robert