Garden Fox Cubs

The fox den in the garden has been largely unused in recent years. After spending the late winter patrolling the street, calling out for a female, things were looking promising when the resident male fox had gone quiet and had started doing a bit of digging. Then in March I actually saw him, not just using the den but taking food down there. Suddenly there looked to be a very real chance of having cubs in the garden den for the first time since 2021.

This was confirmed the following month when I caught sight of the first cub at one of the entrances. It was so small it was still unsteady on its feet. It wasn’t long before another three cubs appeared.

The den is quite large, with two entrances in my garden and two next door. They are all perfectly positioned for me to see from my bedroom window. Being able to take photos from the window, using a silent shutter, has meant that I have been able to watch the fox cubs’ hijinks for hours on end. I can do that, safe in the knowledge that my presence has caused no disturbance or had any detrimental effect on the foxes behaviour. Despite my close proximity to them, I am essentially in an oversized hide with central heating so I have no physical presence within their environment. Even when they have glanced up in my direction, where I have perhaps twitched the curtains or maybe slurped my tea slightly too loudly, they have only been cursory glances. No threat has been identified and they have continued doing what they were doing.

“What they were doing" was usually fighting one another. This quite often involved grabbing another cub's tail and attempting to drag them by it. There was never a dull moment when all four cubs were out and I very seldomly needed to put the TV on, of an evening, knowing that there would be far more entertainment going on outside my window.

It probably won’t surprise you to hear that I took A LOT of photos of the cubs so there are plenty to share on here. I’ve kept them in order so you can see them gradually growing as you scroll through.