Everything is Permuted

We heard the distinctive noise of the foxes outside at around midnight tonight. In a vain attempt to get a decent photo of the vixen I snapped a shot through the window without first checking what was out there (catch them unawares). It was only with the flash of the camera that I saw that it was the dog fox. He hangs around anyway, so I went outside. For some reason, instead of waiting for me in the hope of an egg, he disappeared to the back of the garden.

I followed him to the rear and tempted him forward with some markies, but he was clearly distracted. He quickly deserted the treat to go the bushy area behind the trees. It was only then that I realized that another fox had been lurking. I watched as the dog fox disappeared behind the cover of the shrubs and was then treated to an aural array of scuffling and shrieking and squealing. This lasted maybe a minute, before one shot off to the right, and one to the left. It was too dark to see who went which way. I've no idea if they were fighting, hunting something down, or simply playing.



This first photo is the one taken through the window (that's a cobweb you can see). The dog fox is centre-right in the middleground. Over to the left another pair of eyes peers through the darkness.


This is the shot of the dog fox just after he was through eating the crumbs I gave him. You can again see a brightly lit pair of eyes watching from the rear right. It was a moment or so after this that the squabble (if that's what it was) broke out.