Fox

In the Natural World

The red fox is one of Britain’s most familiar wild mammals, although much of its life passes unseen. With its reddish coat, dark legs, pointed face and great brush of a tail, it is instantly recognisable when it does step into view.

Foxes are extraordinarily adaptable. They live in woodland, farmland, coastland, hills, gardens, suburbs and even the centre of towns and cities. What they require most is somewhere to find food, enough cover to move safely and a quiet place in which to rest.

Although foxes belong to the order Carnivora, their diet is varied. Small mammals such as mice and voles are important prey, but foxes also eat rabbits, insects, worms, fruit, berries, carrion and whatever other seasonal food their surroundings provide.

Fox in Folklore

Few animals have gathered quite so many stories around themselves. Across European folklore, Fox repeatedly appears as the clever traveller: difficult to deceive, quick to notice opportunity and rarely inclined to meet strength with strength.

Medieval tales gave this character a name: Reynard the Fox. In the stories surrounding Reynard, the fox survives a world of larger and more powerful animals through wit, persuasion, deception and an impressive ability to escape the consequences of his own behaviour.

That reputation became woven deeply into language and storytelling. To be “foxy” or to “outfox” somebody still carries the idea of cleverness, strategy and finding the route that another person failed to notice.

Yet the living fox is more interesting than the simple idea of a trickster. Its success lies not merely in cunning, but in adaptability. Woodland disappears, fields change, towns expand — and Fox studies the new landscape and learns how to live within it.

Through the Seasons

Spring

Spring is the season of young foxes. Cubs remain close to the earth during their earliest weeks before gradually beginning to explore the world immediately around the den.

Summer

Growing cubs become increasingly adventurous. Much of their apparent rough-and-tumble play is practice: stalking, chasing, pouncing and learning the movements they will need as independent adults.

Autumn

Young foxes begin dispersing and searching for territories of their own. Autumn roadsides, woodland edges and field margins may briefly reveal a fox travelling through unfamiliar ground.

Winter

Winter nights carry fox voices farther than we sometimes expect. During the breeding season their calls can sound startlingly human, particularly the sharp cries often associated with vixens.