Fox dating and mating season

A vixen has between 4-5 cubs, born March and mid April after a gestation period of just under two months

Young fox in Killarney National Park. Picture: Valerie O'Sullivan

We’re now in a period when people may hear strange, eerie calls in the dead of night. Plaintive sounds like a woman wailing can carry for long distances across quiet countryside, and chill people.

Sitting around winter firesides (not too long ago!), our ancestors would tell tales of the banshee’s haunting call — the fairy woman only heard from when somebody was about to die in a locality.