{"id":1549,"date":"2010-01-03T21:01:17","date_gmt":"2010-01-03T21:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/archives\/1549"},"modified":"2013-11-12T00:35:58","modified_gmt":"2013-11-12T00:35:58","slug":"the-mystery-of-the-bold-vixen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/the-mystery-of-the-bold-vixen\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mystery of the Bold Vixen"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

The picture I posted last night of the bold vixen was one of well over a hundred I took during a 30 minute period out in the sub zero temperatures. She was absolutely her usual friendly self, despite not having been around since late October. Well, I say she hasn't been around, but that's not quite true. She has appeared on the trail cam footage, most notably on the first video I posted on 19th December<\/a>. If you check the comments on that post you'll see a short discussion about a fox with either matted hair or bald patches. <\/p>\n

Now look at this.
<\/span> The bold vixen with 'alopecia'.<\/span>.<\/p>\n

The patches run down one side of her, and have a light covering of dark under-fur. There are signs of some regrowth, and no signs of any wound. I'm utterly puzzled by what could have caused it, but it is quite unlike the usual signs of mange and looks more like 'injury' than disease. Here's a close up.<\/p>\n

\"foxClick to enlarge<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

In a discussion over on Wild About Britain<\/a>, there have been several theories proposed, from a car exhaust to moult to some signs of shaving. It's unlikely that I'll discover the cause but I wouldn't be entirely surprised if she's had some sort of intervention to tidy it up, whatever it was. It doesn't look like the result of a bite (badger?) as I would have expected to see some more obvious scarring. She's otherwise very healthy, though she has picked up a small scar on her nose.
<\/span><\/p>\n

In terms of her behaviour, she hasn't changed a bit, and it took only a few minutes before she decided to settle down for a bit of peace and quiet.
<\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/span> <\/p>\n

All of which means I've not had time to post about other recent sightings, which include a little egret<\/a> from several days ago, and further encounters with the local kestrels.
<\/span>
\"Nature<\/a><\/span>
Camera note: all the photos of the fox were taken with the Canon 40D and EF 24-105 F4L IS USM lens. The kestrel was photographed with the EF 400mm f\/5.6L USM lens.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[990,4],"tags":[1128,1152],"class_list":["post-1549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bird-of-prey","category-foxes","tag-fox","tag-kestrel","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t