Rare Black Fox Spotted in Isleworth

Around one in a thousand of the UK's population is this colour

The black fox has been spotted several times in an Isleworth garden
The black fox has been spotted several times in an Isleworth garden

Participate

Sign up for our weekly Brentford newsletter

Comment on this story on the

A rare black fox has been caught on camera prowling around a garden in west London. It was spotted by Faroz and his daughter Sophia, from Isleworth, who first thought it was a wolf, or a wild dog.

The animals are a type of North American red fox with a trait that makes their fur silvery-black. They make up about 0.1% of the UK fox population.

"It was so big, I'd never seen anything like it before. Just pure amazement, really," Faroz said.

He added, “The first time I spotted it I literally thought a dog had been let loose in my garden. I’m only used to seeing orange foxes. But this particular fox was black. It’s just such a wonderful sight.”

The fur of the black fox is dark because of a rare genetic variation, but the campaign group Black Foxes UK say sightings have risen across several London boroughs since 2016 with around 40-50 reports.

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.

 

March 5, 2021

Bookmark and Share