Wildlife encounters, you can research and plan all you like but sometimes the best experiences just happen by chance and in the most unexpected places, and today just proves the point. 

I will set up the scene , I’m home alone with total control of the TV remote watching a box set when a strange light fills the room . A sort of deep orange glow . It’s just past 9 pm here in the U.K. and I open the door to the most amazing display. The setting sun has illuminated the low lever rain clouds , and the scene is completed by a perfect rainbow. And then I notice it.

A female fox has just appeared from the side passage that leads to my rear garden . Normally the sight of a human is enough to make even the boldest fox run for cover , not this one . She stares back at me . Slowly I retrieve a quarter of cold roasted chicken and pull a piece off , throwing the chicken piece in her general direction. And she takes the bait. 

One piece is followed by another until it’s all gone. At all times she remained more than three metres away from me and the whole ten minute experience was only interrupted by the arrival of a visiting hedgehog , who walked straight between myself and the fox , down the side passageway towards the rear garden and the hedgehog feeding station. 

And then the fox disappeared. I waited on the door step for a few minutes , long enough to watch another two hedgehogs arrive for their evening meal , but no returning fox. But what an end to the day. Stunning light show in the sky , a close encounter with a beautiful fox and three hedgehogs to boot ! 

Happy weekend everyone.