Incredible days with the Dixon's Hollow fox

It reminded me of a similarly soggy July camping there two years ago when I spent a stormy afternoon tossing dog biscuits to a wild fox and admiring her as she caught them in the air like a pet dog.

I had gone there after a visitor to an exhibition at my gallery told me about a fox that was so bold it regularly ran in front of cyclists like a ruthless highwayman demanding food on one of the main bike trails from Dixon’s Hollow.

I set off on the next free Saturday I had, ready to camp there so that I could maximise my chances of seeing the fox. I took my mountain bike and cycled round the whole area.

By 4pm I was getting disheartened. But then as I cycled into the car park nearest to the Dalby Activity Centre I noticed a group of cyclists by their van. Five metres away from them sat a fox looking at them intently, begging for tit-bits.

It was a vixen and I could see by her swollen teats that she was lactating. I suspected her cubs were somewhere nearby.

I had brought along some dog biscuits and threw a few to the vixen. She ran forward to pick them up and I began taking a series of photographs in quick succession.

Soon the group left and I was alone with the fox. I kept throwing her biscuits and noticed she was gathering them in her mouth, probably to take to her cubs. I was keen to find them. If they were as tame as she was then I might get some great shots.

Mouth full, she headed off through the undergrowth. I went the long way round, but she soon appeared on the track in front of me and crossed it before disappearing into the forest.

I didn’t fancy following her along this demanding route on my 20-year-old bike so I decided my best tactic was to head back to the car park. I thought she’d return there since she knew I was handing out food. Sure enough, she came back.

Again she gathered the dog biscuits in her mouth and headed to her cubs. I raced round to where I knew she would cross the track and this time followed her a little further before circling back to the car park to feed her the next instalment.

Each time she disappeared in the direction of the cubs, I followed her a little further and eventually two cubs peered warily through some ferns at me.

It was getting late, so I headed back to the campsite, and as I left I noticed the grass near the track at the bottom of the valley was flattened and realised that this was where the cubs probably played.

The next day I headed back to where I first saw the fox and set off on my bike towards the den with my camera.

Sure enough there was the vixen going down the track in front of me. I offered her dog biscuits but she was much more wily now she was near the den site. She turned and went away down the hill where, all of a sudden, she was ambushed by her three cubs. I tried creeping forward to get some photos but she barked an alarm call and the cubs vanished into the forest.

She trotted off in the opposite direction, crossed the field and I caught up with her at a children’s playground. I gave her a few biscuits and again she headed off with them back to her cubs. I didn’t go near the cubs again. She clearly didn’t want me there. Instead I followed her on and off throughout the morning.

By late afternoon light showers turned into a heavy downpour. I was absolutely soaked and decided to call it a day.

When I got back to my bike near the playground I found the vixen dragging around my camera bag, which had some dog biscuits in. I gave her a few and she set off with them in her mouth again.

I headed back to the car and lit the stove I had in the boot and started to cook four sausages - two for me and two for the fox. Soon the fox was back.

I let her sausages cool whilst she watched me eat mine. But then she got tired of waiting and she found a plastic bag with a sandwich inside in a bush. I didn’t want her to take the bag to her cubs so I ran towards her to scare her away from it.

She dropped the bag and I placed it out of the way on the roof of my car. I turned to get her the sausages – I wanted to make up to her for scaring her - but before I’d turned back she jumped onto my car to get at the plastic bag. I shooed her off and gave her the sausages instead.

A thunderstorm was brewing and the wind began to whip around me so I sat down on my folding chair with the rain lashing down to photograph the vixen at eye-level. She sat patiently waiting for more biscuits like a pet dog.

As dark clouds gathered overhead, the fox came right up to me and jumped up to my knees with its front paws. It looked me in the eyes and sniffed at my pockets for biscuits, tugging at the flap of my pocket and nearly pulling me off the chair. It was a bit too close for comfort – and for photography - so I threw more biscuits, tossing them a little away from me. As I spun them into the air one at a time, she sat before me catching them in her mouth with the rain came down on her. It was quite an incredible experience.