Young wildlife

By Words | Published June 20, 2009

Yesterday (Friday) was one of those slightly odd – but all too welcome – days where although I had little time to go in search of wildlife, some ideal subjects more or less landed in my lap.

The first encounter was late morning. I was heading for a meeting and something caught my attention. I had just passed one of the footpath bridges when I took a second look. There was something just jutting out from beneath the line of the bridge. Something suspiciously like a fox's leg.

I had a couple of minutes to spare so went back to look. Sure enough, one of the rabbit-catching vixen's cubs was out in the sunshine. I presume it was waiting for meal to be brought back.
Fox cub by its den

I wasn't able to stay around to wait for lunch to be delivered, and the cub had much the same idea and soon disappeared back down the fox hole.

I did take a look about an hour later, but all was quiet.

Late afternoon I was working on my computer and glanced outside. A pair of pied wagtail fledglings were sitting on the low wall of an ornamental pond. I opened my window and took a couple of shots.
Pied wagtail fledglings

I carried on working, but kept half an eye on what was going on outside. Sure enough an adult appeared. After a moment or two it decided I was sufficiently far away not be a concern and got on with the serious business of feeding the youngsters.
Grubs up


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Camera note: all shots taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

This entry was posted in Birds, Foxes and tagged , , .

10 Comments

  1. SittingFox June 21, 2009 at 2:06 pm #

    Great shot of the cub – it's got that lanky growing-up-a-bit a look in the first shot 🙂 The wagtails are great too 🙂 Very cute.

  2. Ukwildlife June 21, 2009 at 10:06 pm #

    excellent photos, I love the wagtail chicks especially.

  3. Words June 22, 2009 at 9:06 pm #

    Thanks Neil! I had a perfect viewing point for the wagtails.

  4. Words June 22, 2009 at 9:06 pm #

    Adele, thanks. The cub's grown quite a bit since the earlier shots I got. I was pleased to see it was still living 'at home'. The wagtails were a nice treat at the end of the week.

  5. cakkleberrylane June 25, 2009 at 8:06 pm #

    Beautiful – especially the chicks.

  6. Words June 26, 2009 at 12:06 am #

    Thanks Lois!

  7. Flying Red Fox Blog June 28, 2009 at 10:06 am #

    Beautiful post i love the cute Fox cubs! :heart:

  8. Words June 28, 2009 at 11:06 pm #

    Thanks Mark!

  9. anonymous July 12, 2009 at 8:07 pm #

    Nicky writes:

    I love the picture of the young wagtails, I have just found a wagtail nesting in one of my hanging baskets, 5 little warm eggs.

  10. Words July 12, 2009 at 10:07 pm #

    Nicky, I hope they all hatch safely! They're such cute little birds. 🙂