Christmas foxes

My mother's garden is at the edge of a village in Northamptonshire and is separated from the field by a beautiful old oak fence.  Smaller animals can just walk in from the field and we have briefly seen a fox and a badger on the trail camera previously.  At Christmas weekend I set up a camera again just by the fence.

The first fox to arrive on a cold wet Christmas Eve night was unusual in not having a white tip (tag) to its tail.  According to Marc Baldwin's website, 83% of foxes do have a white tip, as do all of mine.

The next night there were two foxes.  I can't see a white tip to either tail so it may be a familial trait.  They are obviously aware of the camera but seem very relaxed about it, considering that they very probably haven't seen one before.  My foxes are very suspicious of my cameras.

The foxes were facing the camera most of the time but I'm not sure whether that was because of the relative position of the peanuts and the camera or because they were keeping an eye on it, so to speak.  The eyeshine is caused by the reflection of the infrared light by the tapetum lucidum in the back of the foxes' eyes.

Later there were two foxes again.  The first was initially surprised by the second and seemed to submit before reasserting its dominance.

So no badger this time but there was a guest appearance on the first night by a hedgehog.  It probably should be hibernating by now but has perhaps been kept up by the mild weather.