Close Fox Encounters

Red Fox - Zandvoort, The Netherlands

It’s nearly five years now since I first photographed wild foxes, having spotted a pair from a local churchyard in early evening. Despite keeping a close watch on the site ever since, there has been no repeat performance.

A couple of trips to the British Wildlife Centre in 2015 yielded excellent images, but captive foxes don’t do it for me in reality.

We were therefore quite excited to find a guided trip to the sand dunes near Zandvoort in the Netherlands, where the wild foxes are habituated to humans. It was almost a no-brainer, a long weekend and flights from Bristol were arranged and off we went.

The four flights a day from Bristol to Amsterdam take around an hour and the transfer to Zandvoort is around 30 minutes. By taking the first flight out on the Friday morning we were in position by lunchtime, when they usually show up. At this point I should admit there is a 2-mile walk on paved paths from the car park to the designated site, but being Holland, it is flat.

On the walk through the park, we had spotted a couple of foxes about 100 metres away, but the other side of a stream and out of range. Our guides were quick to point out we didn’t need to worry, we’d see them much closer than that and they were correct.

Soon after we got into position foxes arrived and we had a most productive afternoon in beautiful light. In total we saw 6 different foxes and had a wonderful time.

Next day we started off trying to photograph Dippers, but the light was poor and the position was less than ideal, so it was back to the foxes. Again we were treated to a wonderful afternoon, but on this occasion only two females were around.

On the final day we were treated to more good light and entertained by the two females from Saturday afternoon, later joined by a male. We had seen a scrap between the females on Saturday, but the arrival of the male on Sunday afternoon added a whole new dimension and we witnessed and photographed some great action.

All too soon it was time to return to the UK, but we have some great shots and memories in the bank.

A few points about the trip that readers may find useful. Firstly, although we were on an organised trip, it is easy to arrange independently. This time of year is good, as the foxes are in their winter coats and look really healthy. Dependant upon when visiting, there is other wildlife in the park to photograph, including; Bluethroat, Roe Deer, Fallow Deer, Dipper and a variety of wildfowl. Anyone who wants more information please get in touch through the Contacts tab and we’ll be happy to help.

Pussycats Galore

Early Morning Playtime

If our first safari in 2005 was a total failure as far as big cats were concerned, the 2017 Kenya trip was the polar opposite. I’ve previously blogged the actual numbers involved and as I’m writing this and reviewing the files from the trip, I can still hardly believe what we saw. Bearing in mind this was only a 9-day trip, to far exceed the numbers encountered on previous longer trips was unexpected.

Arriving in the Mara mid-morning meant we had a game drive from the airstrip to the lodge for lunch. Before we set off we had a brief chat with our guide Alfred, to discuss our interests and what we hoped to capture. As usual I placed my order for Cheetah sightings, hitherto my favourite big cat. Rose wanted her beloved Elephants. Both were met with a ‘no problem’ from Alfred, but he widened the big cat agenda by confidently predicting in excess of 100 Lions would be possible.

Leopards are a different prospect altogether, due to their secretive nature and while we knew there were a few around, expectations weren’t high. Until our trip to Botswana in February this year, we had generally seen no more than one Leopard on a two-week trip and in some cases none. So to get sightings of 4 different Leopards was a huge bonus.

The consequence of this was, we witnessed a variety of sights and behaviours we had never seen before. It’s therefore no surprise we are going to return this year and we have been asked to look at the feasibility of taking a small group to the Mara in 2019. An exciting prospect.