Photo of fox in garden, by Angela Lansbury.
Problem
How to find and photograph a fox and other wildlife.
Answer
Always have your smart phone handy. Set up a camera near a window at a home or hotel.
Story
Foxes are a familiar feature of gardens and streets in the suburbs of London. They run across the street at night. However, we have seen foxes in daytime.
Foxes must be around in day time. That's how fox hunts operate in daylight. Do you remember the old song, 'Do you ken John Peel with his coat so gay? He lived at Troutbeck once upon a day ...' We used to sing this when I was in primary school and secondary school. (What Americans call elementary school and high school.)
I didn't realise how much family photography had improved until I looked back at my old family photographs. The good ones are taken in good light on summer holidays. But now I can take photos indoors, at night, and in poor weather. If not today, tomorrow.
Today, at 10 am in London it is frosty on the lawns and leaves. I have asked my family photographers to go out looking for photos in the frost and snow. I was hunting for photos of prize winners at a club through the past year for the class president, and I came across my summer time photos, brightly coloured flowers. Amazing. Next summer in the sizzling heat I shall be equally astounded to look back at my winter frost pictures. As L P Hartley said, the past is another country.
The real reason that we see foxes in our garden is that our neighbours feed the foxes. The family cat used to come to the house for dinner in a plate left in the garden. Foxes found the food. The cat died. The neighbours continue to feed the foxes.
The neighbours the other side used to have a rabbit. No more. You can guess who ate the rabbit for dinner. It was not the neighbours, not either side. It was the fox.
I can imagine the fox saying, 'Humans eat rabbit. Why shouldn't I? There are loads of rabbits.'
I have written a book called Larry, The Talking Labrador. It is about a dog which supposedly asks other animals questions and feeds back the answers to its owner, a teenage girl who is doing a school project on animals.
Tips
1 You could set your camera to video. Modern cameras and systems allow you to take still from videos.
2 On a smart phone I like to take a video and a still.
3 You can also familiarise yourself with the multiple shot feature on a camera in a smart phone.
4 Editing programmes can improve a photo: cropping makes the distant creature nearby or in the centre of the nine square grid. A stalking animal would be better on one side of the screen shot, approaching from the left, juxtaposed with two other photos, one with it in the centre, the third showing the stalking cat or other creature it moving off to the right.
5 If moving large animals are too much of a challenge, photograph fruit and flowers close up. We blew up some photos of flower petals and found that the almost invisible insects were amazing when enlarged. Yes, those pesky insects on your roses reveal pictures of delightful insects - or hairy monsters!
Here are the words of the John Peel Ballad:
D'ye ken John Peel with his coat so gay*?
D'ye ken John Peel at the break o' day?
D'ye ken John Peel when he's far, far a-way.
With his hounds and his horn in the morning?
Chorus
For the sound of his horn brought me from my bed,
And the cry of his hounds which he oftime led,
Peel's "View, Halloo!" could awaken the dead,
Or the fox from his lair in the morning.
Wikipedia has more about John Peel. (1776? – 13 November 1854). His exact birthdate is not known, only his baptism date.
Here's the 18th century ballad on You Tube illustrated with paintings and a photo of a fox.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxUIWmuJARg
If you travel to Cumbria you can visit:
1 Caldbeck where John Peel lived. See the John Peel Cottage and Barn house where he lived. It is a listed building.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listed_buildings_in_Caldbeck
Photo of John Peel home in Caldbeck by Paul Taylor in Wikipedia. See Wikipedia for license terms.
The name Caldbeck is derived from the words for cold and stream.
I was just singing the song to myself and somebody else when I realised it goes 'he lived at Troutbeck - once upon a day'. Not Caldbeck, but Troutbeck.
2 John Peel Pub which displays the song, and John Peel's riding crop and his stirrups.
The Old John Peel Inn,
Rayrigg Rd,
Bowness-On-Windermere,
LA23 3BZ.
Tel:015394 43699.
Open Monday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday 12 noon to 10.30 p.m.
Photos show the pub sign of John Peel in his high black hat. The TripAdvisor reviews mention that in winter it serves mulled wine and mince pies, and has a coal fire. The pub accepts dogs - as you might hope from a place featuring a song about John Peel and his hounds.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g190820-d3343406-Reviews-The_Old_John_Peel_Inn-Bowness_on_Windermere_Lake_District_Cumbria_England.html
Apparently there used to be three pubs named after three of John Peel's dogs. We also know the name of his horse, which would carry him home when he was drunk.
3 John Peel Grave in Caldbeck's churchyard. See Find A Grave.
The number thirteen figures twice in his history. Unlucky for him, he died on the 13th. However, he lived to a good age, especially for those days, and was lucky enough to have 13 children, all but two of whom survived long enough to survive him. He had married young. When his wife-to-be's mother said they were too young to marry, he took his young bride-to-be to Gretna to get married.
John Peel was a farmer, who stood over six feet tall. That was tall, in those days. He rode a horse, across his farmland after the fox, but dismounted on the steep hillsides which were too steep for the horse, following his hound dogs which were following the fox back to its lair. The names of the dogs are in the song.
John Peel and the songwriter spoke English in a Cumbrian dialect which is preserved in some versions of the song. (Ye instead of you; ken for know.)
One controversy over the song is whether John Peel's coat was gay (pink or red) or gray. Apparently written copies of the song by the writer of the song use the word gray, which would have been local wood from a farmer's black and white sheep.
The sheep were Hardwick cattle. Beatrix Potter used to breed them.
What Else To See Nearby
Beatrix Potter Centre is opposite the John Peel Farm.
Doggie Pubs
Three pubs were named after John Peel's dogs mentioned in some versions of the song.
The Towler Inn
460 Walmersley Road
Bury
BL9 6OE
Named after the lead beagle in the former Holcombe Hunt.
https://whatpub.com/pubs/ROB/286/towler-inn-bury
The Hark to Bounty
Townend
Slaidburn
BB7 3EP.
https://whatpub.com/search?q=The+Hark+to+bounty&features=Pub%2COpen%2CRealAle&t=ft&p=1
The Bellman Inn
Closed. Now a private residence.
http://www.closedpubs.co.uk/lancashire/clitheroe_bellmaninn.html
Where to Stay and Eat
If you like pub food, there's the John Peel Pub. For something grander, Miller Howe, or Sharrow Bay Hotel.
Story (Personal)
One year we visited the lake district. I had the Good Food Guide and/or similar guidebooks to good food and good hotels. I wanted to stay at or eat at one of the grander hotels and restaurants. We drove around the lake and I saw Miller Howe.
My husband did not want to stop on the grounds that they were too expensive for out budget. So I said, "I just want to get a photo of the outside of the place and the inside and the menu."
I popped in, asked permission to take a few photos, and left my business card in the bowl or box. We continued getting updates on the expensive meals for high summer, special occasions, Christmas and so on.
All of a sudden, in came an off-season offer at one of the upmarket hotels in rainy spring time for two nights for the price of two, breakfast and dinner included. We booked it! I still remember the meals, the pyramids of coloured vegetable purée, the recipe book we bought.
I also recall our meal at Sharrow Bay Hotel. I notice that the Sharrow Bay hotel is still operating under that name in the area.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186330-d951152-Reviews-Miller_Howe_Hotel_Restaurant-Windermere_Lake_District_Cumbria_England.html
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g1450266-d210050-Reviews-s1-Sharrow_Bay_Country_House_Hotel-Pooley_Bridge_Penrith_Lake_District_Cumbria_England.html
Searching and Researching The John Peel Song
The song was written by John Peel's friend who used to go hunting with him, after the songwriter's daughter asked him for words to the lullaby her granny was singing to a baby. The songwriter was sitting with John Peel and wrote the words. The songwriter's words were changed and improved, a new tune was added, and the song was made popular when it was sung at a leaving party for a Benevolent Association in London. The songwriter died in Tasmania.
Full details from this website which has a photo of the portrait of John Peel.
http://www.stevebulman.f9.co.uk/cumbria/john_peel_f.html
The song is now well-known worldwide, from America to Australia. The song features as the regimental march of one section of the Canadian troops.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorized_marches_of_the_Canadian_Armed_Forces
Tasmania, the island off the coast of Australia, has the grave of the songwriter, John Woodcock Graves (1795-1886). You can read more about him in Wikipedia.
I have a previous post about feeding foxes and rats.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my Angela Lansbury writer / poet / author blogs and posts, also Angela Lansbury on Facebook, AnnatheAuthor on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, webpages, and books on Amazon.com and more and more recent self-published books on Lulu.com Thanks for reading and please follow me, like my pages and share.
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