The vixen

We were up early, had breakfast and took Xena to Brancaster beach for a walk. There was no wind and it was a lovely morning on the beach. As we left the beach we stopped off to say hello to some friends (from home) who were in Brancaster for a couple of days, but we did not stay long as we had to get on our way to drive home again.

The traffic was awful, it was so sticky that we were getting slightly panicky that I would not be able to leave home in time to get to the meeting place to photograph the foxes. Gavin had arranged to play golf with Luke this afternoon so he was also worried about the time. No idea why the traffic was so slow, but it took us an hour longer than expected to get home.

Once we finally got home, it was a very quick turnaround at home. I did not have time to cook and eat lunch as planned. I made a slice of toast, grabbed an apple, quickly packed my camera bag and headed off again down the M25 to meet Tom Way at a pub car park in Iver. He only accommodates three people in the hide for these photography shoots (it can take four) and I was so surprised to see a friend from my camera club was also there.

Of course there is no guarantee that the foxes will appear, but Tom leaves food for them every day - even when he is abroad on his photography trips which is most of the year, he has someone to feed them. As a child he spent hours in this same field which was part of his dad's farm, watching the foxes, which is where his love of wildlife photography developed from.

We were lucky to see three vixens and one scarred male - the extra is of this male. The food also attracts buzzards and red kites, and plenty of magpies too. As my camera was mounted on a tripod plate in the hide with only a narrow opening for the lens to be at the right level for the foxes, I could not get any photos of the many red kites circling above us, but on a few occasions the red kites landed in the field - see extra.

It was a very enjoyable afternoon/evening. Tom was brilliant, he helped me set up my camera so that I had the eye tracking on which made a difference in getting the shot. He has the same camera as me, the Nikon Z9,  having switched from his Canon camera system 6 months ago. My friend from the camera club also has the same camera so it was good that we could compare settings. It is the best camera for wildlife! We finally left the hide just after 9pm, and I had an easy drive home again, it only took 35 minutes.

It was a wonderful experience and I have many photos to go through. I quickly chose these images to upload tonight. I am now off to bed after a long day, I will catch up tomorrow.