Last week I spent what seemed like a long time balancing precariously at the top of ladders or crouched low behind walls in the East of London. Such is the life of someone photographing wild urban foxes.
(Image: female Fox resting on a Clematis-covered flat roof. Canon EOS 1DX, EF500mm f/4L IS II + 1.4x III, 1/500 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 2000)
I'd been invited to see the foxes by Gill, a lovely lady who is passionate about her local wildlife and has been keeping an eye on the foxes for several years. She provides food and medical care to them throughout the year - Mange is a nasty disease that is fatal to Foxes, and Gill has treated many animals with the help of The National Fox Welfare Society. Talking to Gill, I learned all sorts of new things about foxesl. For instance, urban foxes typically live for less than two years - traffic accounts for a depressingly high number of early deaths.
The foxes I went to see live in gardens in the centre of a very populated area. As many of the houses have dogs, and dogs are not generally friendly towards foxes, the foxes had developed a cunning strategy. By keeping to rooftops, shed roofs, walls and trees the foxes live life on a separate level to the dogs and can move freely around their territory while the dogs watch from below (hence my need for a ladder).
I'm hoping to document the foxes' progress going forward. Here are a few initial pictures from the weekend.
(Image: Watching the photographer from a shed roof. Canon EOS 1DX, EF500mm f/4L IS II, 1/250 sec @ f/4L IS II, 1/250 sce @ f/4, ISO 4000)
(Image: Urban Fox on the prowl. Canon EOS 1DX, EF500mm f/4L IS II. 1/320 sec @ f/4, ISO 5000)
(Image: Fox safe in a tree, Canon EOS 1DX, EF500mm f/4L IS II, 1/125 sec @ f/4, ISO 4000)