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You are here: Home / Community / Views from My Window – Foxes

Views from My Window – Foxes

January 16, 2015 By Mark Braggins 8 Comments

I live in a semi-rural location near Fair Oak. There are pros and cons to everything in life and, for me, getting up in the dark to travel to work is definitely one of the cons. I use public transport and walk to the nearest bus stop, or sometimes the railway station when the weather’s decent.

Grumpy tweet

A few days ago I posted a photo on Twitter showing the track I walk along as part of my daily commute. The track is full of pot-holes, is extremely muddy and – to be honest – it was a grumpy tweet.

The snapshot showed mud, water, and a moment in time. It didn’t even hint at some of the magical moments I’ve also experienced in the same place over the last few years.

I’m not normally grumpy on Twitter, and to mitigate my grump I went on to share a few of my favourite pictures taken in the same vicinity. They included a deer ambling in front of a pony, a fawn with its mum, a fox cub, and a fox inside a bird table.

Fox inside bird table
Fox inside bird table

Making a connection

I’ve been enjoying reading the posts on Chandler’s Ford Today for a while. Fascinating articles, on a wide range of subjects, written by people living in-and-around Chandler’s Ford (which is just down the road from where I live).

I was delighted to be asked to share a blog post about open data a week or ago, a week or ago, and when Janet spotted my tweets and invited me to write a photo blog post as well, I jumped at the chance.

Chandler’s Ford Today meets WeeklyBlogClub

I’m doubly-pleased, as it doubles as my contribution to this week’s weeklyblogclub (run by another Janet). If you haven’t encountered WeeklyBlogClub before, the clue is in the name. It’s just returned after a well-earned break, and is well worth following. It’s a friendly group of bloggers, who tend to work in or around the public or voluntary sectors.

The bigger picture

I’ve taken thousand of photos of the local wildlife over the last few years. Often – usually – it’s completely unplanned, and I’ve just grabbed my camera as I’ve spotted an animal walk past the house or do something that’s grabbed my attention.

Here are a few of my favourite photos of foxes. Like them or loathe them, they’re certainly characters.

We returned home having been away for a few days and looked out of the kitchen window. Peeking out from the roots of an oak tree was a tiny cub.

Fox cub: image by Mark Braggins
Fox cub

The cub was one of several. As they grew, they would accompany the mother wherever she went, frequently demanding feeding.

Fox and cubs
Fox and cubs

This little chap – presumably wanting to out-do his parent inside the bird table – ran away with an entire bird feeder.

Fox cub running with bird feeder
Fox cub running with bird feeder

There was lots of fun and games directly in front of the house. I always smile when I look at this shot of a cub skidding to a halt.

Fox skidding to a halt
Fox skidding to a halt

Sometimes, games end in tears

Sometimes, games end in tears.
Sometimes, games end in tears.

I usually take photos with a digital SLR camera, which can take quite a few frames a second to capture movement. I experimented* with a tiny clip-on camera called Narrative Clip. It takes a shot every 30 seconds automatically. I left it in the garden with some pieces of bread near-by. The two photos below are examples – they aren’t great, but it gave some different angles and perspectives.

Fox standing
Fox standing
Foxes images with narrative clip
Foxes images with narrative clip

Foxes hunt in all weathers, even in a snow storm.

Fox in heavy snow
Fox in heavy snow

It never occurred to me that foxes go fishing, until I saw this…

Fox with fish
Fox with fish

This last picture shows two cubs underneath a giant cedar tree. They are both watching a deer, which you can just see in the foreground.

Two cubs underneath a giant cedar tree.
Two cubs underneath a giant cedar tree.

That’s it for this post. If you’ve made it this far, I hope you enjoyed some of the photos. If you’d like to see more of different wildlife, I’d be happy to share them here.

* Note
I’m very wary of the privacy issues around tiny wearable cameras, so don’t use mine very much. As an aside, I conducted another experiment at an event I co-organise, called BluelightCamp.

I used the Narrative Clip camera to create a brief time-lapse video showing local artist Matthew Buck of Drawnalism at work. It’s here. Enjoy!

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Tags: blogging, community, Hampshire, local interest, nature, open data, photography, storytelling, travel, writing

About Mark Braggins

I’ve worked with technology for many years, in various roles. I have a background delivering, managing and exploiting tech across a variety of sectors, including financial services, retail, software services and local government.

I’m an open data enthusiast. Back in my local government days, I founded the Hampshire Hub data store on behalf of 20+ organisations in-and-around Hampshire. I also founded Open Data Camp and co-organise BlueLightCamp (the unconference for emergency services).

I run “Open Data – Aha!”, which is gathering and sharing ‘stories’ involving open data, from across the world. I’ve also recently set-up a company AHA Digital Ltd which, as the name implies, doing digital and open data stuff, so you can hire me if you wish.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Janet Williams says

    January 16, 2015 at 9:48 pm

    It sounds like Fair Oak is a more interesting place than Chandler’s Ford. Now I have the urge to move……

    I wouldn’t think these are the same foxes that killed my innocent hens last time……..Now we no longer have hens, and no fresh eggs.

    Reply
    • Mark Braggins says

      January 19, 2015 at 5:47 pm

      That’s really sad foxes killed your chickens, Janet. We did consider keeping chickens when we first moved in, but saw foxes in the distance and decided against it for that reason (also the fact that we have greyhounds!)

      Reply
      • Janet Williams says

        January 20, 2015 at 11:41 am

        The best thing was having fresh, free range eggs every morning (“How do you like your eggs in the morning?”), but rats and foxes were problems.

        I thought the Eglu Chicken House we bought was ‘fox-proof’, of course nothing can be fox-proof. We had not been good at locking the hens at night. Sometimes we forgot. Then the foxes came.

        We enjoyed a few happy years with the hens and once they were gone, silence fell in the garden.

        Reply
        • Mark Braggins says

          January 20, 2015 at 5:22 pm

          Such a shame – I can imagine the simple pleasure of fresh, free range eggs in the morning. At least you had a few happy years.

          Reply
  2. Mike Sedgwick says

    January 20, 2015 at 2:08 pm

    Only once saw a fox in my garden. It was a hot afternoon and he was asleep under a tree.
    In my young days I used to go pigeon shooting. Once, in a wood with snow lying, I hit a pigeon but it fell out of my sight. I noted the spot to collect later. While standing quietly I saw a fox coming through the wood with a pigeon in his mouth. I am sure it was my pigeon. Later I found it was by seeing the imprints in the snow.

    Reply
    • Mark Braggins says

      January 20, 2015 at 5:25 pm

      That’s a nice story, Mike. They are certainly great survivors, foxes, and grab any opportunity for a free meal

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Considering collections, communicating, clutter | weeklyblogclub says:
    January 18, 2015 at 10:13 pm

    […] Views From My Window – Foxes by Mark Braggins on Chandler’s Ford Today. […]

    Reply
  2. Views From My Window – Deer - Chandler's Ford Today says:
    January 31, 2015 at 9:45 am

    […] final photo in my previous post, Views from my window – foxes, showed two fox cubs watching a deer, which is just about visible in the long […]

    Reply

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