It's gone two in the morning. A shriek cuts through the dark — thin, rising, horribly like a child in trouble. You're out of bed with your heart going before you've properly woken up. Then silence. Four minutes later it happens again, from the same corner of the same garden.

In the overwhelming majority of cases, that noise is a fox, and nothing at all is wrong. Foxes are among the most vocal mammals in Britain, and their loudest nights fall between December and February, when the air is cold and still and sound carries much further than it does in summer. Here's what you're actually listening to.

Why foxes scream at night

A fox's main way of holding territory is scent. It marks fences, paths and gateposts constantly, and those marks tell other foxes who lives where. Scent has one obvious limitation: it only works if the other fox walks past it. Sound doesn't have that problem. A scream carries across several gardens, a field, or a whole street of back-to-backs, which is exactly why foxes use it after dark.

So the scream is a message aimed at other foxes, not at you. It might be a female advertising that she's ready to mate, a male answering her, a pair reinforcing the boundary of a shared territory, or a fox telling a neighbour to keep away from a food source. Several foxes screaming back and forth across a neighbourhood is a conversation, not a massacre, however much it sounds like one.

Two things make it worse in towns and suburbs. Fox densities are higher, so there are simply more animals within earshot. And hard surfaces — walls, roads, wheelie bins, parked cars — bounce sound around instead of soaking it up the way hedges and leaf litter do. A vixen screaming in a residential street can sound closer and louder than she really is.

What each call actually means

• The vixen's scream. A long, drawn-out shriek that rises and falls, often repeated two or three times with a pause in between. This is the classic "someone's being murdered" sound. It's most often a female, and it peaks in the mating season.
• The dog fox's bark. Lower and hoarser than a dog's bark — often a quick triple "wow-wow-wow", sometimes answered by another fox further off. This is a territorial call, a statement of presence rather than a mating one.
• Gekkering. A fast, harsh chattering, like a machine gun of tiny yaps. You'll hear it during play, squabbles and excitement, often from cubs tumbling around a garden in early summer.
• Whines and whimpers. Short-range contact calls within a family group. Cubs beg with them; adults use them to keep track of each other.
• The alarm call. A single sharp, explosive bark or yelp when a fox is startled, followed by silence and a quick exit.

How the seasons change what you hear

December to February: the noisy months

This is mating season, and it's why so many people assume foxes only scream in winter. Vixens come into season, dog foxes travel further looking for them, and territories get contested. Screaming, barking and the two mixed together can carry on for long stretches of the night. If you only ever notice foxes for six weeks a year, it will almost always be these six.

March to June: cubs and family noise

Vixens give birth in spring and cubs stay close to the earth for the first weeks. You'll hear less shrieking and more whining, chattering and the odd high-pitched squabble as cubs start exploring above ground. Adult alarm barks become more common too, since there's something worth defending.

Late summer and autumn: dispersal and disputes

Cubs grow up, the family group loosens, and young foxes set off to find a territory of their own. That means unfamiliar foxes turning up in established areas — and a fresh round of barking, chasing and the occasional scream as boundaries get sorted out. It's quieter than January, but not silent.

Is that definitely a fox?

Not always. Muntjac deer bark loudly and repeatedly, often at night, and their calls can be mistaken for a fox. Cats fighting make a similar yowling racket but tend to break off sharply and end in hissing or a scuffle rather than settling into a rhythm. Peacocks, if you're near a collection of them, are a law unto themselves.

The most reliable clues are rhythm and repetition. A fox scream usually comes in sets of two or three, with clear gaps, often from the same spot. Fox barks are hoarse and low, and often answered. If you genuinely can't tell, and it sounds like a person in distress, ring it in. Nobody will mind a false alarm.

When a scream is worth worrying about

Healthy fox noise is intermittent and seasonal. Something is wrong if a fox screams continuously, moves oddly, appears unusually tame or bold, or is out in bright daylight looking thin and ragged. Mange and road injuries are common in urban foxes, and an animal in real distress sounds different — more frantic and less rhythmic.

Don't approach it, and don't try to catch it. Contact a wildlife rescue or the RSPCA for advice and let them decide. If you have pets, keep cats in at night during the noisy weeks and make sure hutches and runs are secure; a scream outside a rabbit hutch is worth taking seriously.

What to do when it wakes you

First, check the time and the pattern. A few screams between midnight and three, fading after a week or two, is normal winter behaviour and will pass. If it's been going on nightly for months, or the fox sounds injured, that's the case worth a phone call.

1. Note the date. Mating-season screaming typically runs from December into February.
2. Listen for the pattern: rhythm and repetition tell you far more than volume.
3. Look from a window with a low light rather than going outside. Foxes usually stop once they see a person.
4. Use earplugs or a fan for white noise if you're a light sleeper — it's a seasonal problem, not a permanent one.
5. Don't leave food out overnight. Fed foxes return, and a well-fed fox still screams.
6. If the animal looks sick or injured, ring a wildlife rescue rather than intervening yourself.

Give it a few weeks. The nights will go quiet again by spring, and the fox that kept you awake will be somewhere else, doing exactly the same thing to somebody else.

Photo: Juan / Pexels