For the biggest single battle in the countryside goes on relentlessly, where predatory animals are kept at bay to help keep the balance of order. Both land-owners and farmers have joined forces to maintain the status-quo for centuries. Foxes have no natural enemies, other than man, and enjoy too big a population for defenceless livestock to be safe.

Two thousand years ago, foxes had a significant opponent which kept their numbers in check. Wolves then roamed freely and were the foxes' main adversary.

And it is all to do with feeding habit, or rather the part of the food chain affecting mankind. Today we are locked into a system which blanks out all the nasty bits, but they are still there and now cause conflict between city and country folk themselves! Modern shopping presents food in clean and friendly packages; easily understood coloured labels have turned this activity from a chore for city-dwellers into a pleasurable pastime. This visual development however does not sympathise with the harsh reality of losing livestock to the foxes every day. It seems that the inexperienced majority has become opinionated to the benefit of the fox. Even this battle goes on too!

Although the hunt by aggrieved farmers is the formal way of keeping the balance, interestingly, no party wins the long term war. And it is the livestock which is the true victim of both adversaries! The spectacle of riders dressed in their 'Pinks' is actually the most attractive part of this continual activity. Like soldiers dressed for seige of their enemy's fortress, hunters have a dress code for the occassion. However their prize during the Autumn Hunt is never guaranteed.