The less shy fox

Wonder of wonders, the shy fox is becoming less shy.

Early this evening I looked out through the window into the garden and saw a young fox on the centre of the lawn. It looked 'different', and when it turned my way as a second fox emerged from the corner of the garden I realized that the one on the lawn was the shy fox. It stayed motionless for a moment or two, and then shot off through a gap in the fence.

Later, I was outside with camera and the regular cub popped out, coming up close and being as cooperative with the camera as ever. The winds were fairly strong this evening and whenever the weather is like this the foxes tend to be quite skittish, looking around and slightly jumpy at every noise. So at first I didn't pay much attention to all the backward glances. That is, until I saw this.

Shy cub highlighted top left

Every time until tonight the shy cub has bolted on sight, but this evening it plucked up enough courage to trot slowly across the back of the garden. Still not too close, and it certainly made no attempt to approach, but this is something of a breakthrough and allowed me to get a closer look.

Venturing forth.

The most noticeable feature is a wonderfully white tip to its tail.

Amid all the fox activity, the wood mouse braved the bird feeder, hanging on despite the wind.

Meanwhile, we've seen precious little of Roofy apart from a possible sighting a few nights ago. A fox shot through the garden carrying some food (pigeon?). Almost certainly Roofy, but it was too brief a glimpse to be absolutely certain. So it seems he's around and possibly still taking food back to the youngsters, but this shift in behaviour is to be expected. The old dog fox (not seen since early April) used to vanish for weeks on end, leaving his cubs (including Roofy) to fend for themselves. And as autumn approaches (I'm going to assume that we skip summer entirely this year… ;)) there will be more territorial games. Of course, if we do eventually get some sunshine sightings may be more frequent.

One last picture for today, as it's a 'first'. Seen at lunchtime today.
Pied wagtail (juvenile and adult)