Red Fox: What a treat, being able to spend a couple of hours with a local fox family as they lay in the sun, rolled around and foraged in and out of the undergrowth.
This family has been watched for a few months and they have become habituated to the presence of humans and are bolder than semi rural foxes I've encountered before.
The public park that they have chosen to live in is pretty busy too, with dogs, bikes and joggers so they are pretty bold.
Humans have a love hate relationship with foxes, some folk regard them as nothing more than bin bag tearing, chicken stealing vermin and think they should be exterminated. Some folk even get a kick out of hunting them for sport.
Although other folk see them as a beautiful and wonderful addition to Britain's native fauna. Foxes appear to be one of the few mammals doing well in an landscape which is changing fast, becoming increasingly developed, increasingly polluted and increasingly unwelcome.
Love them or hate them, foxes have an important role in Britain's ecology, some of which we've only recently begun to understand.
It was a real privilege to spend the evening with these charismatic, beautiful animals I look forward to returning for another session soon.
