A family picnic

This was amazing.  The dog fox had arrived early for his supper and then wandered off.  The next time I looked out there was a cub, the first I have seen this year.  It sat chewing peanuts while looking round nervously.

A few minutes later it was joined by two adults which I think are both vixens.

It was particularly attached to the darker female - darker, I think, only because of angle of the light on her wet coat.

The cub was more interested in pulling tails and playing than eating.  It enjoyed teasing the lighter-coloured vixen.

A few minutes later the dog fox returned.

The cub kept close to its mother(?) and all four were happily eating together.

The cub was quite excited and ran off from time to time, only to come back to join the group.

It also showed a lot of affection for the dog fox, which I guess may be the father.

Eventually the dog fox left the other three and the cub was still more interested in playing than eating.

I am not sure of the family connections here but my guess is that the "darker" vixen at the back is the cub's mother, the dog fox is the father and the other vixen is related in some way.  I expect they had more than one cub but this is the only one I have seen this year, and only the second one ever in the garden.  I'll keep an eye out for more.

Here are a couple of video clips.