Following on from my blog post on my camera trapping adventures in 2025, there was one British character missing from the action. With their iconic russet coat, pointy ears and bushy tail, the red fox is a recognisable animal of our countryside and cities alike. Over my last few years of exploring my local area in Dorset alongside my camera traps, I have grown to love seeing individual foxes and their antics, and hope to capture more of their lives moving forward.

My favourite foxy moments though, have to be following them raising families, from discovering cubs to watching them grow into smaller versions of their parents. From feeding to playing, fox cubs are delightful to watch, with some previous years allowing me to watch up to 3 families during the spring/summer at any one time.

Over the last 2 years, I have unfortunately watched as my local fox population has decreased in size, and this has included the number of individuals living on and passing through our land through the seasons. They have been significantly hit by local fox control, and it has been noticeable for not just myself. So with this in mind, I have grown to appreciate every sighting of a fox and every privileged moment I get watching their lives. After camera trapping last year, its now time for me to look back at what my camera traps did capture of foxes in my local area during 2025.

The Foxes

1. Repeat offender following a hedgeline

2. The one-off passer through (near the first hedgeline)

3. A fox captures sight of the camera trap

4. A blur of motion

5. Frequent fox motorway

6. A fox interested in a particular hole in a badger sett

6. Another fox sighting in the same sett

7. Keeping their identity hidden

8. Frequently seen passing through another badger sett

9. Passing through the wildflowers

9. Popular fox highway

10. Further along the fox highway

11. Even further along the fox highway

12. A passer through a paddock – could it be the same as in 1 or 2?

13. The mother of cubs

14. Back to the fox highway in high summer

Fox Cubs

I first caught sight of a litter of fox cubs at the end of April in person at the edge of a field. Whilst walking to move my camera traps, I had caught a glimpse of, from across the field, small brown shapes moving around. So on the 28th April, I decided to stake out this area along that particular hedgeline and wait to see what I would capture.

After 1 week, I then flipped the same camera trap around on the fence post it was attached to, to see what views I could also get from along the hedgeline in the opposite direction. Well by then the fox cubs were getting out more and more at nighttime and did not disappoint.

Flipping the camera trap back around again, I was able to continue watching the fox cubs grow bigger and bolder, harassing their mum for food and playing boisterously. This was the first week that the fox cubs started coming out of the sett during the daytime on their own, which allowed for some lovely colour photos.

To finish capturing views of this family and to actually see the cubs up close and personal, I repositioned the camera trap closer to the main hole that the family would appear from in the hopes this would work. I now have many, many photos of the cubs playing and enjoying growing up, like these photos below. This family were a joy to watch!

Later on in time, I even caught sight of one of the fox cubs a month later within the area above the main sett that they call home. This allowed me to know that they were still alive and well, and hopefully they would all survive to make their own ways in the countryside.