Garden Foxes (2)

Part 2 of my series of the Fox family currently in our garden. Originally we thought there were only three cubs, but one evening there were four on the lawn, accompanied by Basil. They were very excited, chasing each other around and play fighting. We have always fed Basil our food scraps which are mainly chicken leftovers and bones. I also put out peanuts which the Foxes and Hedgehogs like. But I decided it would be a good idea to get some dog biscuits, which the cubs soon discovered.

I am able to sit or lie on the floor to take the photographs without a hide, which makes things a bit easier, although at the early stages, any movement and they would be off, especially when they started coming up on their own.

Garden Foxes

Just over a year ago a very tame dog Fox started appearing around our garden. He was obviously very used to humans, as he would just sit or lie around the garden, not bothered by us at all.

My wife named him Basil and since then he has become part of the family. During last April it was obvious he was feeding a family of cubs, as he would take any food we gave him off into the woods. We hoped to see his cubs, but it was much later in June and July that we saw some almost fully grown, shy cubs.

This year in March he would take the food off again into the woodland and we soon realised that the den was very close to the house, much closer than we had thought. When April came we could hear what were obviously cubs making little squeaks and yelps. We eventually got a glimpse of three very small cubs playing with Basil in the undergrowth. A week later and they appeared on the lawn and the story goes on. I will do a series of blog posts as the cubs grow and mature. This one is just about Basil though.

 

It's hard work feeding those cubs and he gets very tired. Trying to find a bit of peace and quiet for a quick snooze.

Foxes in the Garden

This post is a collection of some of the Fox images I took throughout early Summer. The cubs first appeared in the garden whilst I was in Iceland. By the time I was back they had grown quite a bit, so I missed the really "cute and cuddly" shots. Hopefully next year I will be able to photograph them at this stage. There were 5 cubs this year, from 2 broods and gave me lots of opportunities for photographs. I have added 40 new images of them to my main web site.

Sunbathing

Competing for the food by trying to push each other away.

More Foxes

I have really done well with the foxes this year. It was a planned project that actually went to plan, for a change. I now have several hundred images of them to sort out. Here are a couple from this week of the cubs mother, she is the most confiding of them.

Fox Cubs Growing Up

It's just over a month since I first started photographing the Fox cubs. I thought It would be a good time to do another post, to show how they have grown. They have become very independant now and will come to feed on their own or with their mother.

Foxes

I have been regularly putting food out for the Foxes in the garden for several weeks. They will be busy feeding their cubs now and are obviously very hungry as they are coming to feed throughout the day. I am just starting to get the first decent photographs of them as they are becoming more relaxed with my presence, they even lie down and sunbathe now after eating. Hopefully the cubs might soon put in an appearance if I am lucky.

Daytime Visitor

The Fox has been coming for food scraps again in the garden. As it is a paved area that it comes to and not very photogrenic I thought I would concentrate on some head shots.

Daylight Fox

I have Foxes that regularly visit the garden. I put out peanuts for them each evening and have had up to six at one time. Photographing them isn't easy as they usually appear at dusk when the natural light is poor. Occasionally they turn up at different times, but usually don't hang around long enough to get any shots. Yesterday one appeared at lunchtime and was quite obliging. I grabbed the camera and although I had the wrong lens on and the light wasn't too good, I managed a few shots through the kitchen window.