First Outing of the Year

As I sit here in the middle of Whiteley Woods, birds singing, a woodpecker tapping away in the tree, blackbirds alarming in the distance and of course a nice hot cup of coffee you forget how cold it is. Just a great feeling of peace and relaxation.

Today I have seen a Buzzard, Spotted Woodpecker, the solitary Roe Deer and my favourite encounter of the day a Fox.

I have had close encounters with Fox before whilst on a zone in but this was different. Today I called a Fox to within a couple of metres.

I spotted him crossing the track ahead and walking through the fence line onto the local golf course. He stopped and sat at the edge of the fairway as if to check the coast was clear to cross.

I manoeuvred myself to the edge of the fence line and gave my attempt of a squeal from a distressed rodent or was it rabbit..  Ok something else for me to learn.. I gave a squeal...

Much to my delight the fox turned and came running straight at me. He came within a couple of metres of me and sat there looking at me as I carried on making the call. Even when he spotted me and started to move off he had to stop each time I called to make sure he really wasn't missing out on anything.

Well coffee is finished and its time to move on.......

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Here is a short video of my Fox encounter. I was a little disappointed to find that in all the excitement I managed to hit the stop recording button while he was sat checking me out...  But you get the idea..