Category Archives: Foxes

A collection of foxes

Two Foxes

June 16, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

I took these shots about an hour ago in the garden. I was out there waiting to see if the foxes would appear. They seem to be becoming more accustomed to our presence in the garden, but it’s still very hit and miss. While I was outside I heard the sound of machinery coming from across the valley. The farmers were out working the fields up on the South Downs. This is the best photo I managed (with a 200mm lens, hand-held). The distance is probably about a mile.

Night farming

That passed a little bit of time (it needed several attempts to get a usable image) before the foxes appeared. The first to show was the nicked-ear male. He is now generally tolerant as long as I stay well back and don’t move.

fox (male)

His demeanour alerted me to the possible presence of a second fox, and sure enough I could see a vixen at the rear of the garden. She too seems to be getting more comfortable with us and eventually stepped forward out of the shadows. She’s a pretty vixen (but not ‘Pretty’). She was fairly cautious, but not spooked by the camera.

Fox (vixen)

I have several more images to process, but none of the pair of them together. I’m not complaining (but will try harder).

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM lens.

Also posted in Farming Tagged , , |

It’s About Time for a Fox Post

June 10, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

It’s been some time since I’ve posted any photos of foxes, or at least it seems that way. They’ve been around (as yesterday’s video shows), but they are prone to scarper as soon as they spot me. I’ve seen brushes disappearing beyond the fence or behind the pergola, but only occasionally do they stay still long enough to get something in focus. Yesterday and today have been something of a breakthrough (the mild weather may have had a part to play in that).

These first two photos are of ‘fox number 2’, one of the more elusive members of the tribe. I took these on Sunday night.

fox

fox

The boldest of the group (though still far from bold) is ‘Nicked Ear’. He is somewhat erratic, but of all the foxes is the most likely to tolerate my presence (at a distance). He showed up tonight and was in a reasonably cooperative mood (aided by some food scraps), staying for close on 15 minutes. That is something of a record for him. The photos were all taken from a distance 30 feet or more which stretches the capability of the flash to its limits. Still, a couple of the shots are passable.

fox

Sitting in the corner of the garden

fox

Cautiously crossing the pergola

fox

Getting the reward

Now if only they’d bring the cubs to visit!

Camera note: Tonight’s photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF70-300mm 4.5-5.6 DO IS lens. Yesterday’s (the first two) were taken with the EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM lens.

Tagged |

Seen from the Garden

June 8, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

The weather has been good this weekend, almost hot; and fine enough to spend more time in the garden. Inevitably most of the wildlife activity takes place at night (see video clip further down), but there were two or three interesting sightings to report.

The first of these is ‘seen from the garden’, but is actually taking place a few doors away from us. We always have herring gulls in the vicinity, and they usually appear to go through a nesting routine. This, however, is the first year I recall seeing any chicks emerge as a result of all their activity. Not the best shot, but cute in its way. I’ve only seen one chick, but there could be more (my line of sight isn’t great and the chick seems to spend a lot of its time on the far side of the chimney).

Herring gull and chick

We also have wrens locally, and late yesterday afternoon I spotted one perched in between the slats on the fence at the rear of the garden. It turned out to be a fledgling. I managed a couple of shots before it disappeared back through to the garden beyond.

Fledgling wren

Fledgling wren

The one photo from today is a hummingbird hawk moth, a large day-flying moth which is very well named.

Hummingbird hawk moth

To complete the set, I’ve resorted to a video sequence. There are two of the regular garden foxes here, plus the female badger which was shown in another recent video clip. The foxes look a bit on the tatty side. That’s partly their natural state at this time of year (cubs + moulting makes for a bad hair day), but they also show signs of recovering from mange and that skinny brush is a lot healthier than it was a few weeks ago.

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens. Video from the Bushnell Trophy Cam HD.

Also posted in Badger, Behaviour, Birds, mange, moth Tagged , , , , , , |