May 2016: Fox Cubs, Little Baddow

I took a break from writing to walk in the late afternoon sunshine. I am fortunate to live in a small village surrounded by countryside, including a large expanse of National Trust woodland. After leaving the minor road to take the lane into the woods, I noticed the young fox, above, about twenty metres away, among the trees.

It showed no fear or concern as I slowly moved towards it, taking care not to make too much noise treading on leaves and twigs. I looked around and saw two more, playing then chasing. I watched for about five minutes, during which time one brought a rodent to show to its companion. All three cubs were a similar size and were presumably born this year.

One of the two who had been playing together started scratching at a hole in the base of a tree, then slowly walked towards me.
To my surprise, it took no notice of me standing still and walked straight past me as if I were not there. You can see from the following photographs how close it was: I could have touched it.


I had not gone out with the intention of taking photographs. It was fortunate that I had my iPhone with me. Over the next few days, I plan to return to the site at a similar time of day with my camera in the hope of taking some quality photographs.