Fox

Encounters in the Wild

by Jim Crumley (Contributor)

Renowned nature writer Jim Crumley gets up close and personal with some of Britain's most iconic and loved animals - here, the fox. With his inimitable passion and vision, Jim describes some of his most memorable encounters with British wildlife - and reveals the startling ways they continually adapt to the relentless encroachment of humans on their habitats. The Encounters in the Wild series not only offers insights into their extraordinary lives, but also considers the conservation efforts to protect them and how the future looks for these much loved animals.

Genres: Nature, Natural History, Nonfiction, Animals

64 pages, Hardcover

First published November 20, 2014

About the author

Jim Crumley is a Scottish nature writer with almost 20 books to his name, mostly on the landscape and wildlife of Scotland. He is renowned for his style - passionate, inspiring, visionary, sensitive, majestic - no work of his should be missed. He is also a columnist and presenter of radio programmes.

He has also received the accolade of '...the best nature writer now working in Great Britain...' from David Craig in the Los Angeles Times Book Review.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

For several Sunday evenings in a row, I would see a fox around 8 pm. I am not sure if it was the same one as I would see it in different places. It was quite bold and was utterly unphased by me being in a car going past it. We have even had them in the back garden on occasion. It goes to show that the urban fox is a mammal that is readily adaptable to the challenges that we throw at it.

Crumley is an admirer of these animals too and in these chapters, he tells us six stories of foxes beginning with one that appears from under his plane as it is sitting on the tarmac at Heathrow. Mostly he finds them as he moves around his beloved Highland landscapes, sometimes at the end of a pair of binoculars but occasionally a face-to-face encounter.

I like Crumley’s writing style so this is a perfect little book. I would have really liked more of it too, as I felt bereft when it had finished. I have read one of the others, and that, like this, has a stunning cover too. Must buy some of the others now.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

More please!

[cardulelia carduelis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect nature writing. Sublime. I've been to many of the places in this book and he captured them perfectly.
Apparently this is a series? I'll have to go check out the next one.

Highly recommended.

[Sophy H · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love Jim Crumley's love of foxes.
I love that he despises those who hunt them.
I love that he derides those who can't live alongside them.
I love foxes too Jim, they're magical, beautiful, mysterious, clever, resourceful.
I love this book, the ode to the fox.

Just sublime.

[Ivan Monckton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful. The first natural history writer since Richard Mabey in the 70's whose books are 'must reads'. How did I not discover him sooner?

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short and sweet series of fox encounters which are more about the human perspective than delving into the nature of the fox itself. The author is a strong advocate of the fox and its persecution was touched on multiple times. I thought the author was a tad harsh in dismissing the urban fox as a mere shadow of its wild cousin. I for one adore the urban fox, marvel at its ingenuity and always find my day brightened if the little dash of orange can be glimpsed the most unlikely of places. And although they don't live long due to high mortality and road kill, they are more adored within the city than in the countryside. The prose is soft and poetic as one would expect from Jim Crumley and whilst reading one of these short 'encounters in the wild' books is never a profound experience, it is always a worthwhile use of an hour.

[Gareth Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb! a wonderfully lyrical evocation of foxes in the wild and less wild places of the United Kingdom. A compelling argument for toleration of a species long denigrated and persecuted as vermin. I was particularly taken by the observation that no fox has the keys to the hen-house.
Crumley’s prose is the luminous product of painstaking years of observation coupled with a poet’s soul. Read anything he writes. you will be the wiser for it.

[Kathleen Newton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, lyrical, funny. I highly recommend this book that I found purely by chance in a little book shop in Glastonbury.

[Richard Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very short book about the fox as a natural and cultural animal in Britain. It is even-handed, not denying the fox is a killer of chickens and livestock but also accepting that this is a fox's nature and not an indication of wickedness or spite. There are important observations on the 'sport' of fox hunting pointing out that it's very much a relatively recent phenomenon and not 'a natural and historical part of rural life' as it's proponents declare.
I came away with an increased admiration for the fox's guile and intelligence.