Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Environment

I've been photographing urban foxes for years. Here's what you didn't know

Forget what you think you know about the urban fox. Their lives are full of play, tenderness and surprises

Photo: matthewmaran.com / @mattmaranphoto

Photo: matthewmaran.com / @mattmaranphoto

I started photographing foxes, an animal I’ve been fascinated with since my childhood, close to my home in North London nearly six years ago.

The fox has been unfairly maligned for centuries so I feel it’s time to shed some positive light by telling the truth about their lives. I want to show that they are merely our neighbours – and hopefully change a few hearts and minds along the way.

Support The Big Issue and our vendors by signing up for a subscription.

Fox cubs are born in mid-March and remain underground for three to four weeks while the vixen nurses them. Seeing a cub for the first time is a delight.

1458 Urban Foxes
Photo: matthewmaran.com / @mattmaranphoto

This vixen was the first fox I photographed back in 2015. She is still around today and on her fifth litter of cubs. Extraordinary, given the average life of an urban fox is 18 months.

1458 Urban Foxes
Photo: matthewmaran.com / @mattmaranphoto

The vixen (below) and her adult cub scrap. It’s likely she wants her cub from last year off her territory. It’s tough love but an important survival strategy.

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
1458 Urban Foxes
Photo: matthewmaran.com / @mattmaranphoto

I encounter many people when photographing foxes. This leads to myriad conversations about whether they pose a threat to us, where they live, what they eat, how many litters they have and so on. My job has evolved from fox photographer to fox interpreter.

1458 Urban Foxes
Photo: matthewmaran.com / @mattmaranphoto

matthewmaran.com / @mattmaranphoto

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

Buy a Vendor Support Kit for £36.99

Change a life this Christmas. Every kit purchased helps keep vendors earning, warm, fed and progressing.

Recommended for you

View all
COP30 marks 30 years of COP climate summits. Has it actually made a difference?
COP30

COP30 marks 30 years of COP climate summits. Has it actually made a difference?

This couple tried to turn their street into a power station: 'We had no idea what we were doing'
Solar power

This couple tried to turn their street into a power station: 'We had no idea what we were doing'

Thames Water wants permission to pollute Britain's rivers until 2040. No, seriously
Water

Thames Water wants permission to pollute Britain's rivers until 2040. No, seriously

If people don't trust climate science, how will we ever get them to change their ways?
Climate crisis

If people don't trust climate science, how will we ever get them to change their ways?

Reader-supported journalism that doesn’t just report problems, it helps solve them.

Every day, Big Issue digs deeper – speaking up for those society overlooks. Will you help us keep doing this work?