It's been ages since I've seen one of the Cambridge foxes during the day, so to say I was chuffed to see the beautiful male is an under statement. He spent about 15 minutes in the field snuffling around and lounging about. As is evident, he's in fantastic condition.
Dark Tail - the male fox
I wish I could say the same for the resident vixen, Robyn, but she's had a severe limp for the past 2 weeks. Today, I saw her in the daylight for the first time in almost 2 months. She's so beautiful but sadly clearly unable to walk on her front right leg. A slight swelling around her wrist suggests it may be broken. I'm burying food for her every night so that she has a chance to maintain her condition while she recovers. Most nights she gets some or all of it.
A couple of images of Robyn, the vixen with a severe limp (click to enlarge)
Update:
Robyn still has a severe limp, but is otherwise in good condition. I'm placing supplemental food out for her most evenings which she mostly eats before the other local foxes arrive. I have a trail camera set up to observe her and every now and again she stands or walks on the leg and it appears that she's healing only to have the same severe limp the next night. She has a rather constant male companion at night, a magnificent large fox with a heavy coat. I haven't seen him during the day but we've named him 'Boyfriend'.
During the week January 9th -16th there's been some very interesting interaction and behaviour between Boyfriend and Dark Tail, with an initially submissive Dark Tail becoming increasingly dominant. Check the video at the end of this post, to see this change.
Dark Tail in a rare moment of January sun
Most evenings my trail camera simply provides a record of which fox was present and when. However, every so often it captures some fascinating behaviour.