I knew there were foxes nearby but it was not until my trail camera picked up a little cub over a week ago, that I realised there was a family. A neighbour then told me she had seen the cubs one evening, so, for several nights I was out, hoping for a sighting.
Unfortunately, even with regular evening trips out, I never saw the cubs. I did see their father one evening though (pictured), he came out and sat on a mound in the field for a couple of minutes. I did wonder if he was surveying the surroundings before the cubs arrived, but no, they never did.
So a change of tactics. I put my trail camera out where I thought their den was; left if for a few nights and was very happy with my decision!
When I went to collect the trail camera I got more than I hoped; both in terms of video captured and what I saw when I collected it.
The video is a short edit of just a few of the many videos from the camera. It was great to see evidence of the cubs and even better seeing them at play. There are about six or seven cubs, though only three appear at any one time in this video edit.
A real treat, when I went for the camera, was that a couple of cubs came out.
I was moving as slowly and quietly as I could, toward the camera. Just as I was about to get it from a fence post two cubs appeared from their den! I froze on the spot, partly hidden from their view by a tree, but one of the cubs stopped and looked straight toward me. For about a minute he kept looking in my direction. I don’t think he could figure out if ‘something’ was there or not – or maybe because I was so still he didn’t feel threatened. Anyway, the two siblings carried on, ignoring whether something was nearby or not. I made sure I stayed behind the tree as much as I could whilst also watching and taking some photos.
Then what happened was a real surprise!
This was both exciting and frustrating! I noticed some movement to the left of me and when I looked it was ‘father’ fox, walking toward the den, with a bird in it’s mouth. It had obviously brought some food for the cubs. I say frustrating because at that exact moment I was changing the SD card in the trail camera, so I had to quickly put it down, pick up my camera and hope to get photos of the fox feeding the cub. By doing this though, the fox noticed me! He decided to make a quick exit leaving the food ( a bird), with one of the cubs. The cub by the way hadn’t noticed me; it was far more interested in father and food!
Anyway, I did get some sort of photo which you can see below, together with a couple of others I got from this experience.
Once again I’m remined as to how fortunate I am to live in such a wonderful place! And with that I left; as quietly as I arrived, leaving a cub curled up and snoozing in a sunny, secluded spot.
What a wonderful story. So exciting for you. Thank you for sharing your beautiful photos.
Hi Mave
Thanks very much for your comment and really appreciate you visiting the blog.
Nigel
This warmed my heart. What wonderful sightings of these beautiful creatures. Thank you so much for sharing.
Hi Trudy
Thanks very much for your comment and really appreciate you visiting the blog.
Nigel