Wow, half way through 2013 already - where have the last few months gone! I have been pretty busy with shows, workshops and of course photographing so my apologies for the lack of updates recently!
Anyway, I have been lucky enough spend some time over the last couple of weeks photographing a Fox family in the West Wight. the family, consisting of the Dog and Vixen along with 8 (yes, 8!) Cubs have been a pleasure to watch and photograph.
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| Two of the eight Cubs |
My usual setup for photographing the Fox Cubs has been a Canon EOS 1D Mk iv with a 500mm f/4 L IS, occasionally with a Canon 1.4 II Extender, mounted on my Benro Gimbal mount on a Gitzo tripod. Camouflage and patience have been essential and sitting under low branches of a tree, midges and other 'biters' have been a constant pain, although any thoughts of that are soon gone as soon as the Fox Cubs come out!
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| A pair of Fox Cubs in the late evening sunlight |
As much as it has been great photographing the Fox Cubs, I have also enjoyed photographing the parents who are never far away from the Cubs. On my first two visits the Vixen came right out to watch over the Cubs allowing for some nice profile photographs.
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| Vixen on watch |
One of my personal favourite photographs from my time with the foxes was this one below. At one point after taking this photograph nearly all the Cubs were suckling off her!
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| Fox Cubs suckling with Mother |
As for the Fox Cubs themselves, they have been wonderful to watch. I could immediately notice the youngest from the older and more mature of the Cubs and they all have their own personalities and features. The youngest are just like fluffy balls of fur and so cute!
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| One of the younger Fox Cubs, watching birds overhead |
My third visit to the site, a week later, and the Fox Cubs were even more active and showing really well which gave me the opportunity to get some great portraits.
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| Young Fox Cub |
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'Tongue in cheek'
Red Fox Cub |
My third visit to the site also allowed me the opportunity to see the now maturing Cubs starting to get more playful and there were a couple of Cubs who were definitely staring to show dominance. I was lucky to get both Cubs in the photograph (below) in frame!
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Fox Cubs at play.
I only just managed to get these two cubs in the frame! |
The above photographs are just a few of over 200 taken in my time watching this family. I have yet to process most of the other images but I will add a few when I get more time.
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Fox Cub with a flash of
Buttercups and Daisies |
