Cluny's a foxy lady; Cluny South talks about the joys and hardships of her three years spent capturing a community of foxes on film. By Sally Morgan.

Byline: Sally Morgan 

Creeping stealthily to his neighbour's den, Mr Dunlop leaves a gift for his mistress. Then, turning tail on her and their brood, the red-headed rogue returns to his wife of three years and their five offspring with an identical present. It's the stuff of pure soap opera, with one big difference - the key players are all foxes.

For three years, assistant producer Cluny South and her cameraman husband Justin Maguire kept tabs on a gang of foxes. And their insight into the animals' private lives is revealed in Sunday night's BBC wildlife documentary, Foxy Business.

"Justin and I were filming gulls on a landfill site near the mouth of the River Thames when we became intrigued by the foxes that also live there," says Cluny, 35. "Not only were there about 40 co-existing in a relatively small space, but they came out in the day and seemed totally at ease around humans.

"The most relaxed ones were a couple we nicknamed Mr and Mrs Dunlop because they'd built their den among a pile of rubber tyres. He was a distinctive- looking male who lorded it over an area way beyond his territory, and she was a pretty vixen with a centre-parting on her forehead."

Cluny met 30-year-old Justin at film school and they married ten years ago. Since then they have been colleagues as well as partners, collaborating on wildlife documentaries about everything from hippos and chameleons to penguins. Although the foxes they have been observing for the past three years were happy to be near humans, capturing their mating habits proved difficult.

"Because vixens come into season for only three days in December or January, we missed the action and had to shadow Mr and Mrs D with day and night vision cameras for their next mating ritual the following year," explains Cluny. "We knew when it was about to happen because Mr D followed her every move. When she stood up, so did he, and he was forever grooming her. He tried not to let her out of his sight, even to eat, for three days, in case another dog fox mated with her first. And when he made tentative advances, she'd snarl and cuff him away.

"I felt sorry for him at one point because when he dashed off to have a fight, Mrs D hid among some rubber tyres. He looked for her everywhere and the more he thought he'd lost her, the more frantic he became. He was circling around in a distressed state, barking, while she just ignored him.

"Finally, one morning, we saw them mate. We knew when she was giving birth because she disappeared into her den and Mr D started taking food in for her- mice, voles, berries and earthworms."

It was about this time that Cluny and Justin became aware that their Mr Dunlop was leading a double life. They watched as he started leaving food outside a den at the far end of the tyres, where another vixen was about to give birth. He had obviously fathered two litters at the same time. "Although it's not unusual for foxes to mate with more than one female, it is rare for two vixens to fall pregnant," says Cluny. "Normally the dominant female manages to suppress the other's hormones. This obviously didn't work in Mrs D's case.

"By the time the foxes reached the next mating season, we wondered which vixen he would choose. It was Mrs D again... but I bet he also had another fling with his mistress."

The couple learnt a lot from observing this community of foxes.

"Working so closely with them not only helped us establish a bond, but also captured behaviour rarely seen. We saw the dog fox display ritual where two males make themselves as large as possible by arching their backs and springing their tails high into the air.

"One yearling really made us laugh - he hadn't quite got the hang of it and stuck his tail up at an extraordinary angle."

It wouldn't have been possible to capture such extraordinary footage if the foxes hadn't been so tame and trusting.

"They were also very playful, and would try to take our boots off with their mouths, run away with our sound equipment and chew through rubber cables," recalls Cluny with a smile. "One young vixen we called Junior was very puppy-like in that she'd drop objects at my feet, as if she wanted to play.

"But we had our fair share of frustrating moments making this film. Our patience was pushed to the limit when we painstakingly constructed a den, only for the pregnant vixen to reject it.

"Luckily, Justin has a calm personality, whereas I'm fiery. So whenever we had an `artistic difference' I'd throw a wobbly and he'd wait for me to simmer down.

"It is a traumatic test of your relationship when you work together 24- 7, but it was worth it making this documentary. Those foxes really captured our imaginations, and our hearts."

Foxy Business, Sunday, BBC1, 7.30pm.

CAPTION(S):

TYRED OUT: Mr and Mrs Dunlop in their den. Left: Cluny and Justin