Payday

At last. This weekend saw me staring at a sandy hole for another 10 hours. Two very early mornings,  I was in position at 5.15 am already, in anxious anticipation of events that would unfold in front of me. Or not. On Friday, at 6.15 I saw movement in the not too tall grass. A patch of wooly grey fur made its way through the grass and I knew it was a fox pup. I could not see the head or face, as the pup was still a tiny one. After a few seconds, the fur retreated into the safety of the den again. This procedure repeated itself around 9.15 and that was it for the day. At least now I knew there actually live foxes in the den. I was surprised though to see only one.


A well-needed sleep in on Saturday was followed by a second early session on Sunday. I had good hopes, but it was not until 8.30 that a fox pup appeared in my viewfinder. This time a little further to the back and more in the little open space available. With shaky fingers I pressed the shutter button, happy to have finally gotten the first shots of the season after all these hours of painstaking research and observation. With these in the bag, I could relax and enjoy the sighting of a young fox pup exploring a still tiny world in the morning sun. Again, I was surprised to see only one. I will definitely be back at the scene for more kiddy fox experience, but not before we have finished our holiday. Hope they (?) will still be there by then.

Fox pup; Canon 5D Mark II w. 500/4L IS and 1.4x; 1/640s at F6.3 and ISO200; tripod and camo cloth

Lack of Luck

Another week has passed and still no decent visual observation of a fox (except for one crossing the road in front of the car long before dawn). I spent two very early and very long mornings at a den that looks promising, but the only thing I got during 11 hours of observation was a glimpse of something tiny trying to get out into the open, but returning into the den immediately. Hard to judge during a split-second, but it seems the cubs at this location are still very small. That might explain the lack of prey remnants and feces outside the den. I'll go back this weekend and see what happens. Especially Thursday (Ascension Day) got me a bit frustrated, because a cold night yielded one of the most beautiful foggy mornings I ever saw.

For a short moment I was in doubt whether to go for the foxes or change into landscape mode. I decided to stick to the plan and head for the den. In hindsight of course a wrong choice. From underneath my camocloth, I saw a Roe Deer buck pass behind me in a semi-circle. I slowly turned around and envisaged a splendid image of the buck walking in front of the rising sun. But of course, as always during a spell of bad luck, the buck suddenly changed from walking into running mode just when he was about to walk in front of the sun. And slowed down again only a few meters further. So no buck in front of the rising sun, but at least I got to press the shutter button once over 11 hours of waiting.

Yesterday was the same cup of tea: I hoped for a nice sunrise over the local fens and headed out, got into the wading suit, into the fen, got bitten by millions of mosquitos, only to discover that the tripod was still at home. It usually never, ever leaves the car, but now it did because I needed the trunk space for something else during the weekend. Not too easily deterred, I got back into the car (after first getting out of the wading suit...) and went to look for Roe Deer in the fields. I found a couple and a treesome at different locations in nice light and nice settings. However...at the first location the Roe Deer were frightened by a passing car with a loudly shaking and clinking trailer, on it two metal hunting blinds. If I were a Roe Deer, I would have run for my life too. At the second location, two very loudly talking bicyclists sent the Roe Deer running very fast into dense forest cover. I must say I get used to the continuing disappointment, but still I would not mind it coming to a stop. The sooner, the better!

Roe Deer buck; Canon  5D Mark II w. 500/4L IS and 1.4x; 1/160s at F8 and ISO200; tripod and camo cloth

Consolation Prize

Rewind and repeat. Same sh#t, different year. From early April on, I spend a lot of time in the field looking for fox dens that show signs of recent occupation. Somehow, I never find one early on in the season, thus increasing the pressure by every passing week. Why? The pups usually explore the outside world for the first time around the end of April. About 6 weeks later, life is no longer concentrated in and around the den, thus enormously slimming chances for good photographs. In previous years, I had the same problems finding inhabited dens, but in the end still managed to find and photograph them. In the process of searching, my library of fox dens increased over the years.


So when I first went to look for them this year, I had very good hopes, with many wonderfully located (and previously used) dens in the area to check on. But now, 6 weeks later, I still haven't found any of the telltale signs. It may be a housing crisis, but not in the fox world, they all seem to have moved house.

All of the dens I know of in the area are discontinued, but the foxes must be somewhere closeby at a new location. I found lots of prey remnants (mostly piles of feathers), but no den. To illustrate: last year, I spent many hours at a den with prints, feces and prey remants, without any luck. Only to find the den they actually used back then (but not now) last week (and thus a year late), well hidden some 50 meters further into the heathland. I assume they must have made a fool out of me from a safe distance last year. All is not lost, as there are still a few weeks left. The pups might not be the cute little fur balls anymore, but adolescent fox pups are a treat to photograph as well.

With other subjects, I don't mind skipping a year, but fox pups are a serious addiction. Believe me, once you have seen them frolicking around the den, you want to go back and back again. So if anyone has a tip for an inhabited fox den around my area, please let me know!

I spent a few hours at the Kingfisher site and had better luck over there. To my suprise, the male was still busy getting the nesting pipe ready, the female checking the progress from a short distance. I had expected them to have eggs or even chicks already. Must be the relatively cold weather we have had over the past weeks. To be continued, with either foxes or Kingfishers.

Female Common Kingfisher; Canon 5D Mark II w. 500/4L IS and 1.4x; 1/200s at F5.6 and ISO800; tripod and camo cloth