Fox Watching

pictures of foxes

My techniques for watching wild foxes and some of the resulting pictures of foxes, sketches and finished paintings. Detailed information about my working methods including both the creative processes and my techniques for observing foxes. I hope that you find some of my fox / wildlife watching tips useful.

Rural foxes are one of the most difficult mammals to watch. Foxes have to be alert to the slightest hint of danger. Centuries of persecution by man have made it a matter of survival.

They have the keenest senses and an intelligence to match. Watching foxes without them detecting your presence is quite a challenge.

Over three years I made an intensive study of foxes on a local farm, by the end of which time I had constructed seven tree hides overlooking all the areas of greatest fox activity.

There are several advantages to an elevated viewing position:

• my scent will drift away above the heads of any nearby animals
  
  
• you are not expected to be up in a tree so animals are not looking there for danger
  
  
• there is a better view over uneven ground, I can see over hedges and into blind hollows
  
  
• I will not be stumbled upon by an animal

This last point is particularly important with fox watching. If I were stumbled upon by the vixen while hiding in the undergrowth near the cubbing earth she would probably move the cubs as soon as she could. If they were doing well at their first earth it would be my fault if they moved to a less suitable location.

You can see foxes regularly once you know their behaviour patterns and by continually asking yourself the question - what would I be doing now if I were a fox? With the hides in place and a knowledge of the local foxes' routines I could watch hours and hours of their behaviour each year without disturbing them.

Two fox cubs playing

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