I blogged before about the menagerie on the railway I travel every day to go to and back from work. The cats at the station where I wait for my train home especially, but also the pheasant. And there are rabbits, deers, other things too I haven't blogged about yet. Yesterday evening, a new fellow showed up: a red fox. They are very common here in the UK, I remember seeing them very often around the university residences where I lived. I loved seeing them, foxes being among my favorite animals. I cannot remember the last time I had seen one live. When I heard him ruffling in the shrubbery, I thought at first it was one of the cats, then he came out of the open. I could see him very well for a few moments, he was very close. But only for a few moments. He looked at me, I looked at him. I had this brownish orange-red colour (red foxes are never red, they are more orange foxes really) and I think he had something in his mouth, maybe a black bird, maybe some rodent. Or maybe he had nothing. When I tried to take a picture he moved away, then he started walking on the tracks, so all I could get of him was this shot. He is the brown blur on the right rail. The fox carried on walking away from the station, while the train was coming, just as oblivious as the cats seem to be in the same situation. But it made my day.This of course reminded me a lot of Springwatch, where foxes are often featured. This year, they are quite a lot anyway. In the moment I saw the fox, the thought crossed my mind that, if I could take a good photo, I could send it to the program. A lot of viewers do it. But this one will certainly not make the cut. Nobody would believe this blur is a fox. A shame, really. But I was always a lousy photographer. This fox will still be around I hope for Autumnwatch. I might get lucky (okay, very lucky) then. I associate foxes far more with Autumnwatch and of course autumn. The fiery fur of the fox fits the autumnal surrounding perfectly. Nevertheless, it was nice to see one yesterday. I love to see them in any season.
5 comments:
I love foxes too, Paris is hopelessly without animals ... we don't even have squirrels !
i grew up in a place called fox chapel!
I have thought in the past that wild animals had a fear of humans, but have changed my mind a bit. There are possibly coyotes that maraud around on the farm where one of our daughters lives, and most of their chickens and one of the geese have been taken as prey - during the day!
I enjoyed your siting of the fox. and yes I agree they are more an orange brown shade. The fox population around here seem to go in cycles... some say a seven year cycle .... each year they build up a little more till the higher population of them is greater than their food supply and then the next year we see a significant drop. Lately they are in the beginning stages of building up their numbers again. possibly because I have been seeing more rabbits.
Thank you all for commenting. I hope next time, if there is a next time, I will be able to take a much closer shot.
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