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| Shambling fox is caught out Shambling fox is caught out | |
| (1 day later) | |
| Halfway through the morning, with fog rising from the fen, a fox was caught out at the end of its night shift. It had opted to cross an open field of winter wheat, whose short, narrow blades offered no cover at all. Plenty saw the fox coming. A pair of Egyptian geese that had been grazing at the fringe made a precautionary lift off. A clamour of crows well and truly outed the predator by swirling in an umbrella of flaps and raucous jeers. | Halfway through the morning, with fog rising from the fen, a fox was caught out at the end of its night shift. It had opted to cross an open field of winter wheat, whose short, narrow blades offered no cover at all. Plenty saw the fox coming. A pair of Egyptian geese that had been grazing at the fringe made a precautionary lift off. A clamour of crows well and truly outed the predator by swirling in an umbrella of flaps and raucous jeers. |
| The fox paused to sit out the overhead commotion, then traipsed a little further before squatting down to swivel its eyes, ears and snout, and stare intently in the direction of my glinting binocular lenses. It was not the only animal that had been found out. | The fox paused to sit out the overhead commotion, then traipsed a little further before squatting down to swivel its eyes, ears and snout, and stare intently in the direction of my glinting binocular lenses. It was not the only animal that had been found out. |
| The day before I had watched another fox stalk a mouse at dawn, paws flattened on the ground, shoulders hunched, every muscle marshalled by complete concentration. And when it leapt up and pounced I thought it an object of balletic perfection. | The day before I had watched another fox stalk a mouse at dawn, paws flattened on the ground, shoulders hunched, every muscle marshalled by complete concentration. And when it leapt up and pounced I thought it an object of balletic perfection. |
| This one was more of a dozy lion. There is a looseness, a jauntiness in an off-duty fox, an actor out of costume, performance over. Yet even allowing for its dilatory offguardedness, there was something not quite right about this creature, and I could feel my brow crinkling against my binoculars in puzzlement. Why was it stopping so often in such an exposed spot? | This one was more of a dozy lion. There is a looseness, a jauntiness in an off-duty fox, an actor out of costume, performance over. Yet even allowing for its dilatory offguardedness, there was something not quite right about this creature, and I could feel my brow crinkling against my binoculars in puzzlement. Why was it stopping so often in such an exposed spot? |
| The fox shambled on, moving closer until it was standing directly side-on, the point when a beam of sunlight suddenly flamed its raggedy flanks. It held its brush so low that it seemed to form a fur extension, a trailing elongation of its rump. | The fox shambled on, moving closer until it was standing directly side-on, the point when a beam of sunlight suddenly flamed its raggedy flanks. It held its brush so low that it seemed to form a fur extension, a trailing elongation of its rump. |
| At this angle, its irregular movement made sense. As it brought one hind leg forward, the other dangled uselessly, bent stiffly at the knee. With every step, the afflicted limb swung forward, but did not touch the ground, and so the hobbled animal limped on. It passed behind some trees out of sight and I reflected sadly that a fox may kill a mouse but an injury will kill a fox. | At this angle, its irregular movement made sense. As it brought one hind leg forward, the other dangled uselessly, bent stiffly at the knee. With every step, the afflicted limb swung forward, but did not touch the ground, and so the hobbled animal limped on. It passed behind some trees out of sight and I reflected sadly that a fox may kill a mouse but an injury will kill a fox. |
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