Out riding today, Ettrick Valley, a fox ran accross the track in front of me. Definitely a fox, it was fox shaped and fox size. However, it’s colour was, for want of a better word, tabby, kind of grey and black mottled/strippy with a white bit at the end of the tail. Too quick for a camera obviously.

Never seen a tabby fox before. Any one else spotted one, are they rare?

Seen plenty of green pheasents, but my sample of pheasents seen is much larger than my foxes sample.

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Also, why does the word tabby only seem to apply to cats, is anything else (other than this fox) tabby?

Just a stray dog?

Foxes have been breeding with badgers recently. That might be it.

Fadger or box?

(Snigger)

I’ve seen them like that, there are heaps of foxes around leith, All colours and shapes, some super foxey with big red bushey tails, some look like mangy stripey dogs with ratty thin tails and dark brown. I have also seen them elsewhere with mottled brown and streaky markings. The leith ones come really close, couple of metres away as they run round you giving you the look.

It’s fair to say none of them look like Basil Brush

Yes ..I once saw one very similar to how you describe it having a drink from the Tarset burn in Sidwood while I was riding a section of singletrack ..a lot larger than normal ..scared the crap out of me and I nearly fell into the burn !

Not that rare then. Also not that far from kormoran’s ones.

Wife did suggest it might have been a Wild Cat, really hope so, colouring was right but it was definitely fox-shaped. Never seen one of those.