© Paul Nuttall
It was captured by Paul Nuttall, a digital production manager at Time Inc (UK), who discovered a family of cheeky foxes living at the bottom of his garden in Tooting.
The photo, taken this morning, attracted hundreds of thousands of views within hours of Paul posting it on popular online community website Reddit.
It fast became a trending story, rising to become the site’s most popular post.
At the time of writing, Paul’s Reddit post had gone viral, garnering well over a million views.
Paul, who was stunned at the reaction to his image, said: ‘We’d noticed a few weeks ago that the overgrown bushes at the end of our garden were rustling and moving, and at first we didn’t think much of it as it was probably just one of the local pigeons.
‘However, after a little while we spotted a fox head popping up above the shrubs!
‘One sunny afternoon I heard her and fired up my iPhone and managed to catch a video of the mum appearing a bit cautious, while the cubs didn’t seem to mind at all.’
Paul added: ‘We were a bit cautious of their presence at first, but they’ve caused us absolutely no trouble and are a nice addition to a city garden!’
The image, shot on an IPhone 5S, was captioned ‘I’ve got a family of foxes living in the bush at the end of our garden. The mum is particularly sneaky…’
© Paul Nuttall
The image quickly captured the imagination of Reddit users.
One asked: ‘Do you live in a fairytale?’
Paul said someone posted online that the image must be a fake.
But Paul has a video of the fox family playing at the end of his garden to show it’s a genuine image (see below).
There are reportedly 10,000 foxes living in London.
The first foxes descended on the capital in the 1940s, according to thefoxwebsite.net
Time Inc (UK) is the publisher of Amateur Photographer magazine.
© Paul Nuttall
