The little fox is washing itself

by Miriam van Dun

This spring, I went for a lovely walk through the Amsterdamse Waterleiding Duinen with a good friend. We walked along the deer trails to enjoy nature as much as possible. This is one of the few nature reserves in the Netherlands where that is permitted. Suddenly, we saw something dart away in front of us. We couldn’t quite make out what it was, but I had my suspicions. So as not to disturb anything, we carried on walking. The next day, I went back to this spot and walked towards it cautiously. We’d already noticed an old rabbit burrow there, one of the entrances to which had been dug out to make it wider. My hunch was that a fox had done this to make it her den. I sat down at a safe distance to wait. Luck was on my side, because at one point a young fox emerged from the burrow. He set off to explore the surroundings.
I was sitting low to the ground and far away, so he wasn’t bothered by me. I was able to observe him undisturbed as he discovered all sorts of new things. And once he’d had enough, he went off to wash himself. He looked absolutely adorable doing so, with his little ears flattened and his fluffy teddy-bear coat. This pure nature photograph is sure to look great on your wall. It has a green, but above all, a gentle feel to it.