"I adore the fox for its magnificence; I hate the fox for killing my chickens. To love and loathe the fox is a British condition."
The fox is our apex predator, our most beautiful and clever killer. We have witnessed its wild touch, watched it slink by bins at night and been chilled by its high-pitched scream. And yet we long to stroke the tumbling cubs outside their tunnel homes and watch the vixen stalk the cornfield.
There is something about foxes. They captivate us like no other species. Exploring our long, sometimes complicated relationship with this magnificent creature, The Wild Life of the Fox examines the existence of Vulpes vulpes in vivid detail.
John Lewis-Stempel is a writer and farmer. His books include the Sunday Times bestsellers The Running Hare and The Wood. He is the only person to have won the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing twice, with Meadowland and Where Poppies Blow. In 2016 he was Magazine Columnist of the Year for his column in Country Life. He lives in Herefordshire with his wife and two children.