Introducing the urban Red Foxes
“A Fox tries to make its home near good supplies of food”
For most of 2024 I had been working with some urban Red Foxes that lived around a cemetery. The foxes were used to people due to the comings and goings of visitors to the cemetery, which made them much easier to work with than their rural relatives. There were three with whom I spent the most time, two males known as dog foxes and one female referred to as a vixen. The vixen had four cubs that year with one of the dog foxes, and from observing them, I thought the other dog might have been related to them both as well; he appeared bigger and older looking, so perhaps he was the father of the cubs.
ABOVE Leo, Girl and Willow.
I wasn't really one to give animals names; I thought it implied ownership. These were wild foxes, and no one should have been able to claim them. Having said that, I needed a way to distinguish them from each other, so I gave them names. Leo was the older dog fox; he earned the name by having a lovely big bushy chest like a male lion, so that’s why I chose it. The girl was called girl for obvious reasons, but the friendly vixen also received that title. Finally, we had Willow, so called because he always emerged from an area of willow trees. I initially thought he was a she until I observed him for a while and saw the obvious signs.
ABOVE Leo sitting proud and posing for me, he is striking with his bushy mane.
Each fox had its own character and personality. Leo liked to keep his distance but would happily sit upright and just stare back at me. He had initially been wary of me but now looked at me with something more akin to curiosity than anything else.
ABOVE Girl sleeping under a Rhododendron bush in the spring sunshine.
ABOVE Girl taking a break from being a mum to get out the rain.
Girl had been incredibly friendly until she gave birth. Once the cubs emerged, her demeanor changed; she became very wary of everyone around her. Although she still approached me occasionally, she often vanished shortly after. To illustrate the level of trust she had in me, there was a day I followed her until she settled under a bush for a nap. I managed to get close enough to take full-frame photos of her sleeping with my iPhone. She was aware of my presence; she would open her eyes, recognise me, and then drift back to sleep.
ABOVE Willow sitting with me under a tree.
Willow was by far the boldest and most trusting of me. He was like a pet dog. One day, when it started raining during my visit, I moved under a tree for shelter. He followed me and laid down beneath the same tree, curling up and having a nap until the rain stopped. It was an amazing experience, and I smiled from ear to ear.
ABOVE Willow from an unusual angle, his coat is showing signs of the summer moult.
I’ve got so many fox photos from the project I could do many more pages on them, this one was just an introduction to the three main ones I’ve worked with so far. I’ll do some more in time including cubs and more on the other foxes in the area.
I don’t think there is another animal that polarises opinion as much as a Fox, those who love them really do love them often spending a small fortune to feed them every night and worrying about ‘their’ foxes if they don’t make an appearance for a few nights.
Those who hate them treat them so incredibly badly blaming them for everything from killing livestock to cutting brake lines on cars, they are shot, snarred, hunted on horseback, dug out of their homes when young and ripped apart by packs of hounds. Although fox hunting is against the law there are loopholes that the hunting fraternity use to continue the ‘tradition’, how they can call themselves dog lovers and not see the similarities between foxes and dogs is beyond me.
There are many fox rescue charities across the country who are always looking for donations or Amazon goods from lists or release sites for cubs. One organisation that is dealing with the legalities of Fox Hunting is the League Against Cruel Sports who are working to change the loopholes to stop any hunts taking place.