.
New images present themselves readily.
Many more than I could ever capture.
.
Which doesn’t stop me trying.
In this case, it was a reflection in the garage door.
.
Same trees, different day.
A whole other colour scheme.
.
That morning was very misty.
Which is always good.
.
Because of images like this.
.
Spiders had been hanging tightropes in the yucca flowers.
.
It would appear that yucca is a very hardy, determined plant.
It propagates rapidly and takes no offense at being cut back which we have put some energy into in order to prevent it taking over.
But considering the current state of the flowerbeds, perhaps we should revise that policy.
Let survival of the fittest prevail.
.
“We nibbling your weeds as fast as we can, missus.”
(Weeds, flowers, it’s all the same)
Bless them.
.
2025 is the year of the fox, no matter what the Chinese zodiac says.
Ever since we saw fox kits playing in snow near a country lane on April 12th, we seem to have seen foxes constantly.
For the first three years we were here, we barely caught sight of one in the distance.
.
Then, it seems one of them developed a taste for the offerings I threw out for birds.
We named her Peanut and while we make no attempt to befriend her which would do her a disservice, she is clearly far more trusting than most foxes which flee at first sight of a human.
.
However, a second fox now visits the patio and feeders, which we realised only because one has a torn ear.
We didn’t know who was who.
So they became Peanut and Torn Ear.
.
Torn ear or no, it’s a beautiful creature.
This was in front of the kitchen window where it found a pile of peanuts.
.
The baby foxes that were living behind the garage appeared to have moved on some weeks ago, but last week suddenly…
Two kits turned up.
.
Sometimes with Torn Ear, but sometimes apparently with Peanut, so presumably they are a family, but we don’t think this is the one we saw earlier because that mother fox was very different.
It’s getting hard to keep up.
.
We do know that Peanut is a female, so is Torn Ear her mate, or perhaps one of last year’s kits?
Female kits may stay with their mother and help raise the next litter.
.
This little love is a bit lame on its front right paw.
But it manages to rush off in a tearing hurry, so hopefully it’s nothing serious.
.
If only foxes had different colour schemes, like skunks, we might have a better chance of knowing who is who. But it doesn’t matter. They are all lovely.
Thank you, Carolyn, for the beautiful and heartfelt photos of the family of foxes and your words of wisdom. They certainly love visiting your field and garden, with good food and water, and lush grass. What’s not to like?! I like the names you gave them!
Joanna x
Urban foxes around London became so used to humans that you could walk right past them and they wouldn’t move. Some people even used to hand feed them. Better to see them in the wild, as you do,
Best wishes, Pete.
I think the groundhogs are going to sign a petition … ‘Too many fox pictures missus’! But I do love them!