Fox cubs - finally

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks travelling around Bristol in search of foxes and fox cubs. As you can see from my previous location in Bristol, I’ve seen no foxes but have been looked after excellently by my hosts with many cups of tea.


My most recent location was a back garden in Fishponds, near the centre of Bristol. I was sent an email guaranteeing me urban foxes and up to 5 cubs, this I could not resist! I set up in the back garden, lying on the floor in a dark area with a lot of shadow so I could make myself as invisible as possible. The great feature with this location was that the outside light  was triggered by motion. This gave me enough light to shot without a flash, so the foxes were not scared off. My host told me that when she made a clicking sound and called "grubs up" these foxes would appear on que. She made the sound and in a matter of minutes there were 4 fox cubs playing around right in front of me. I could only take pictures whilst the outside light was on, so I had to wait until the foxes triggered the sensor which meant I only had about 1 minute at a time to take photos.



What’s more, the couple in this house have built a fox flap into the side of their fence enabling these foxes to visit the garden as often as possible!

Urban Fox update (2) Southmead

 I received an email from a lady in Southmead who had been having foxes visiting her garden over a period of two years! I was invited over to see if I could capture any images of them for my book next year.

As I sat drinking a lovely cup of tea in her kitchen in pitch black waiting for the cheeky fox to apear I had a good feeling tonight I would get some images.

As we sat looking into the garden I was told that the light out the back of the house in the drive area is triggered by movement and would come on when a animal was in the area. Handy for her when she is watching East Enders when  the light comes on she rushes in to the kitchen and watches the fox.

Above pic: is the view from the window looking out to where the foxes can be seen.

Once the light had faded  we sat and waited for the fox to turn up I was told he was here between 9-10pm every night! The time now was 945 and not a single animal has been in the garden!

Above pic: The light has been triggered by movement its only a matter of time now.

As I sat looking out of the window hoping a fox would a appear the securty light came on! Eurika! I was thinking about time too!

As we both Squinted and looked out the window  we saw an animal slowely make its way slowly into the light!

Its was a bloody cat!

The cat stayed and finished off the food which was left for the fox and then disappeared back into the dark!

That was it for me. I was off back home. No foxes but I did have a lovely cup of tea tho.

Urban Fox update (1) Clifton

After my recent article in The Bristol Evening Post I have been contact by quite a few people living in Bristol with Urban Fox locations and foxes which visit gardens on a regular basis.

Reading through my emails I decided to head to a spot near Clifton Village where I was told about two locations where foxes could be spotted often.

The location was near Clifton Village, I got there about 1 hour before dusk with my camera equipment and waited. As I was sat in the street near the possible location a large chap leaving his house near where I was sat was shutting his front door and saw me sat in the street with a large telephoto lens. Before he could ask what I was doing I asked him "Silly Question, do you see many foxes here" The chap replied "yes I have hundreds of photos Ive taken of these foxes some are of living foxes and others of dead ones!"

At that point I realised I was in the right location. The man disappeared and I wait and waited and waited. The problem with urban fox photography you are often hanging around in streets after dark so the locals get twitchy and there is a lot of curtain twitching going on.

After two hours no foxes and quite a few people looking nervous out there windows at me I decided to head home and call it a day.

Avon Wildlife Trust - News Letter - Summer

Its always nice to know your images are going to a good casue and one of our best-loved wild creatures the hedgehog is under increasing threat.
Log on to:

http://www.wildhedgehogs.org.uk/

Pond skater, common water-strider

Took time out today whilst working on my final proofs for my book to see what was going on in my parents pond. You can tells spring...

Easter Rabbits

Yet again another blog which is not in the city of Bristol...sorry, but its close. These photos were taken just on the outskirts yesterday evening in a village called Felton. I m living here for a couple weeks so most of the images will be from the country side...sorry.

These pictures were hard to get. I have been after some rabbit shots and seeing it was Easter Monday yesterday I thought I would give it go.

I headed out with my camera and a 100mm -400mm lens looking for rabbits in field which would have spring flowers giving the back and fore ground a spring and summery feel. After finding that field and seeing lots of rabbits in the location I lead on my front and waited near a rabbit warren after a couple of min utes and the rabbits started to appear. I slowly edged towards the rabbits trying to hide in the grass so the rabbits could not see me after a while I managed to get close enough to start taking images. After 2 hours and lots of insects bites I decided to call it day and headed home. Here are a few of the images I took.

Red kite update

After my blog on the Red kite I saw gliding over my parents home on Sunday afternoon I was email by a person which had seen a couple of posters stuck around the village of Felton. It seems a bird handler on Felton common was flying a harris hawk and the bird seemed to disappear! From what I gather the bird is still lose in this location.

Fingers crossed the bird is reunited with its handler.