During lockdown, I was lucky enough to have a magical experience with foxes. I often look for fox dens and badger setts when I'm out walking in the woods and, upon finding a likely candidate, I put my trail camera on a nearby tree and come back the next morning to see what has been captured. I collect my trail camera and put the memory card in my laptop full of excitement. More often than not, I am met with huge disappointment!
However, you get lucky when you least expect it! One night, I put my trail camera on a tree near a badger sett. I suspected it was a disused badger sett so wasn't very hopeful. Imagine my delight when I saw this footage:
At last, I had found a fox den! I went back to the same area the next evening and hid in my pop-up camo hide. That first evening I was rewarded with a wonderful experience as I saw the cubs suckling from their mother. They were not in the least bit bothered by my presence. As well as taking some photos, I also took a quick phone video to capture the moment:
The poor vixen could barely stand with all these hungry mouths jabbing at her!
These foxes were very much rural foxes and looked in excellent condition. Urban foxes are much less timid and will often scavenge from bins. Foxes are not fussy eaters at all and will eat any small mammals and birds as well as frogs and berries. They will even eat worms if they have to! The main prey that I saw this mother bringing to her cubs was rabbit. It is common for both the vixen (female) and the dog (male) to look after the young but I never saw any sign of the male.
It was delightful to watch the cubs play-fight and explore. You could see that every little adventure was all part of their learning. The cubs had very distinct personalities. One was very shy and would run back into the den at the slightest sound. Another would wander very far from the den to explore, and another was always wanting to jump on his siblings!
The cubs grew up very quickly and before long, there was no sign of them at the den. Fox cubs are almost always born in the spring and by September/October time they are usually fully independent. Often they will go off and find their own territories, but, interestingly, some will stay behind and help their mother rear the following year's litter. I will certainly visit this den next spring to see whether it will be used again.
You can see in this picture how the snout area gets much longer as the cub grows up, and the fur becomes a more reddish colour. This no longer looks like a cub, but more like a young adult.
To see more photos of this fox family, take a look at my main website, Instagram and Facebook.
Trail cameras are truly fantastic. You never know what you might capture. They are not as expensive as you might think - why not try one in your garden and find out who visits it at night?!
Feel free to let me know what you discover!
