Red fox (Vulpes vulpes)

[Jonathan Ashton]

No great photographic merit in this but a moment I wanted to share with you. This was a chance encounter, I had gone onto the marshes hoping in vain to see a Short eared owl or Marsh harrier, no luck there but I got a Wren a a couple of Chaffinches and a Redpoll. The weather took a turn for the worse, heavy clouds starting to roll over, snow or heavy showers were imminent, I went back to my car and put my gear away, as I exited the car park I noticed (what I presume to be) a courting couple of foxes. They were at the far side of the field and the light had gone dull. I stopped the car got my camera out and shot a few images at different exposures, needless to say they spotted me in no time and scampered off.
I have some sharper images at 1/2500sec but only of single foxes.

Hand held, cropped image
OM-1, 150-400mm
Focal Length (35 mm conversion) : 1002.0mm
ISO : 2500
Exposure mode : Manual exposure
Exposure compensation : 0.0 EV
Shutter : 1/1000 sec
Aperture : F5.6

ACR/PSCC

[Gabriela Plesea]

Always interesting to see behaviour aspects when it comes to wildlife and you captured some nice interaction here. Cute expression from the two foxes and you are right, there's a little game going on between them. Of course, I wish you had more from this sighting and it would have been great if you managed to get closer...but such is life
Subjects sharp enough IMO and I like the wet fur. Pose is good with those two looking at each other. FG a tad distracting, quite bright in comparison with the BG which is much darker. A fun image, very glad you shared, thank you so much Jon - I enjoyed viewing

PS. There will be pups at some point...so worth visiting the area every now and then?

Warmest regards,

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks Gabriela glad you liked it, yes I will be returning, the foreground has been underexposed by about 1 stop using graduated filter , the foxes and shrubs were in relative shade.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thanks Gabriela glad you liked it, yes I will be returning, the foreground has been underexposed by about 1 stop using graduated filter , the foxes and shrubs were in relative shade.

I do understand, such were the conditions, not much you could do about it. Still so nice to see this interaction Jon, lovely sighting. Nice to see the two foxes so playful and hopefully some pups on the way, yay

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Jon ... i am glad that you had the chance to witness the scene , i bet i would have enjoyed as well .
As an image it does not grab me that much ... but it illustrates your story .

TFS Andreas