As we walked through Burley Old this morning we took the route which passed the decaying stump of a woodland leviathan. I've mentioned the tree in the past, it's one of my 'notable trees', a huge old Beech stump, which by it's size and nature I'd suggest pre-dates the 1700 enclosure...it really is that huge, way beyond any of the veteran trees of the wood. As we passed I saw a small furry face with big ears peer through one of the stumps many holes, having seen us it swiftly disappeared. It was a fox cub probably on one of its first forays. May is when the cubs are weaned of their mothers milk and the Vixen will bring small prey for it to learn from. On investigation, that's just what I found. Looking into the huge hollow stump I could see a mauled European Green Woodpecker adjacent to one on several holes disappearing underground. A Woodpecker would surely be too swift and agile for an inexperienced cub to catch. I didn't hang about and deftly moved away and on with our walk. Seeing foxes in the forest always makes me smile, as I'm still taken a back by them being there, seeing them so frequently in town I still imagine them as urban creatures, silly really. I feel blessed that the forest allows me the opportunity to see nature in all its many guises, and that nature continually teaches me, even if some of what I see and learn can be quite grizzly. Nature has many faces.
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