SS15 wildlife watching: My Red Fox and Badger library

My local patch site around St. Nicholas Church has provided regular opportunities to watch Red Foxes since I set this blog up in March 2020 and started visiting the area regularly. In addition, between May and October 2020, it also provided several opportunities to watch Badgers which hopefully will continue this year.

Photo source: Wild Things

I have enjoyed watching both these mammals so close to my home and I have learnt a lot about them through casual observation.

However, I have also built up a library of Red Fox and Badger books which has significantly increased my knowledge of the ecology and the culture and, yes, politics (think hunting of the former and culling of the latter) of these wonderful UK mammals which have lived alongside us for thousands of years.

So, this is my library of books.

First up are 3 mammal identification guides that I have had for some years. Each provides a general description and additional information to support identification of what, to be honest, are easily identifiable Red Foxes and Badgers.

Collins Field Guide - Mammals of Britain and Europe

WILDGuides of Britain and Europe – Britain's Mammals

Britain's Mammals: A Concise Guide

Secondly, there are a couple of book series that include Red Fox and Badger.

The RSPB Spotlight series provide a much more in-depth species accounts of a number of UK mammals, birds and other wildlife. In addition to the RSPB Spotlight books on Red Fox and Badger, I also have the books on Otters, Hedgehogs and Bats.

RSPB Spotlight: Foxes

RSPB Spotlight: Badgers

The “Encounters in the Wild” series by the well-known Scottish nature writer Jim Crumley are very short monographs on a few UK species including Red Fox and Badger. These books are neither identification guides nor species accounts but instead they describe memorable experiences and insights (encounters in the wild) in to the particular animal that is the subject of the book. As BBC Countryfile say: “Virtuoso writing …. Jim Crumley’s books come from an intelligence drawn from place”.

Finally, I have a number of books specific to both Red Foxes and Badgers.

Lucy Jones – “Foxes Unearthed: A Story of Love and Loathing in Modern Britain”.

Lucy Jones is a writer and journalist. She previously worked at NME and The Daily Telegraph. Her writing on culture, science and nature has been published in BBC Earth, BBC Wildlife, the Guardian, TIME and the New Statesman.

In “Foxes Unearthed”, Lucy investigates the truth about Red Foxes in a media landscape that often carries complex agendas. Delving into fact, fiction, folklore and her own family history, Lucy travels the length of Britain to find out first-hand why these animals incite such passionate emotions, revealing our rich and complex relationship with one of our most loved - and most vilified - wild animals. This compelling narrative adds much-needed depth to the debate on Red Foxes, asking what our attitudes towards the Red Fox say about us and, ultimately, about our relationship with the natural world.

John Lewis-Stempel – "The Wild Life of the Fox"

John Lewis-Stempel is an English farmer and writer on a range of subjects including nature and the countryside. Exploring a long and sometimes complicated relationship, “The Wild Life of the Fox” captures our love – and sometimes loathing – of the Red Fox in vivid detail and lyrical prose. As John says: "I adore the fox for its magnificence; I hate the fox for killing my chickens. To love and loathe the fox is a British condition."

Jane Russ – "The Fox Book"

Jane Russ is a nature writer, contributing author and series editor for Graffeg's “Nature Books” series. Her highly-popular titles to date, covering the physiology, habitats, myth, legend, art and literature of some of the UK’s most popular creatures include the Red Fox. “The Fox Book” offers a unique insight into the Red Fox from its place in the UK countryside and cities, to its vibrant history in myth, art and legend throughout the world.

Martin Hemmington – "Fox Watching: In the Shadow of the Fox"

Martin Hemmington had already been studying Red Foxes for more than 10 years when he wrote the first edition of this book in 1997. His admiration for the Red Fox grew so much that he formed the National Fox Welfare Society to which he has devoted himself full-time for the past 20 years. The society sends out free treatment for Red Foxes suffering from sarcoptic mange and rescues sick, injured, orphaned and abandoned foxes from all around the country via a network of like-minded volunteers.

For the new second edition of his book, Martin updated his information on how to find, attract and watch Red Foxes, as well as how to photograph them and how, using wildlife cameras, you can gain an insight into what is happening with the them when you are not able to observe them. The author also explains how to analyse droppings in order to record the annual diet, how to age a road casualty and how to make casts of their footprints.

Adele Brand – "The Hidden World of the Fox"

In “The Hidden World of the Fox”, ecologist Adele Brand shows how the astonishing senses, intelligence and behaviour that allowed Red Foxes to thrive in the ancient wildwood now help them survive in our towns and cities.

The result of a lifelong obsession with Red Foxes, Adele adds a wealth of first-hand experience whether she’s fostering their cubs, studying their interactions with humans or catching them on hidden cameras everywhere from the Białowieża forest of Poland and the Thar desert of India to the classic English countryside of her home in the North Downs.

Patrick Barkham – "Badgerlands"

Patrick Barkham is a natural history writer for the Guardian. In “Badgerlands”, he follows in the footsteps of his Badger loving grandmother, to meet the feeders, farmers and scientists who know their way around what he terms “Badgerlands”: the mysterious world in which these distinctively striped creatures snuffle, dig and live out their complex social lives.

As the debate over the Badger cull continues, Patrick weighs the evidence on both sides of the argument and delves into the rich history of the Badger from their prehistoric arrival in the UK and their savage persecution over the centuries to Kenneth Grahame’s fictional creation in “Wind in the Willows” and the Badger who became a White House pet.

I have written more about “Badgerlands” here.