19 August 2015

Winner

Over at the Geograph website, there is a weekly photo competition. First of all, a shortlist of photos submitted the previous week is drawn up and then the last winner gets to whittle down the list and select the new winner. This year several of my pictures have been shortlisted but alas no winning photo until yesterday!

In Week 31 a total of  6269 images were submitted to Geograph but this was the picture that came out on top:-

Yes folks, it is my vulpine friend Fred in our garden, backlit by evening sunshine.

Hundreds of Geograph contributors will look at this picture while Fred himself skulks in the shrubberies or sniffs around the dustbins, totally unaware that he is fast becoming a star - one of England's most famous urban foxes.

To reward him for being the subject of my winning picture I gave him something called "chub" last evening. It's like an enormous flesh-coloured sausage and is mainly made from tripe. I wouldn't recommend it for your dinner table.

By the way, Fred is limping quite badly again and there's a big bald patch near his back end as if he has been trying to scratch away irritating parasites. He is not in a good condition but I sense his strong Yorkshire spirit and hope he will survive another winter. Even though my actions may be somehow "against nature" I shall from time to time continue to supplement the food he manages to scavenge. After all, without Fred I wouldn't have been the Week 31 Geograph winner.

29 comments:

  1. Cracking!
    I haventforgot your photos will post asap

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    1. That's good because Fred has been in touch with his North Wales country cousins!

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  2. I love your photos of Fred. :)

    Congratulations on your win!

    Fred Fox of Yorkshire is well on his way to international stardom. :)

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    1. There will be a film - "Fred Goes to South Carolina" with promotional gifts including Fred Tails and Fred masks. You will have a starring part Jennifer as you welcome Fred into your home and later fight off the local animal hunters in a massive shoot-out ending.

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    2. I would love to welcome Fred to my home, and to the great state of South Carolina! He's got lots of distant cousins here that he would enjoy meeting....and fox hunting isn't much of a thing in these parts so he should be quite safe! ♡♡

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    3. Are you ready for stardom?

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  3. I was about to write that Fred will soon have Hollywood beating down his door, offers in hand, but I see that already you have the pen poised to sign the best contract!

    Continue on with your actions "against nature", Yorkie...it'd be against your nature not to do so. (Oops! I used "so"...so there!)

    I commend you for your kind heart; Fred thanks you in his foxy way. He's pretty cunning...he knows you've a good heart and won't let him down. :)

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    1. The sequel "Fred Goes to South Carolina" will be "Fred Goes to Tamborine Mountain" in which he rescues a damsel who has been pushed into the water at Witches Falls by a crowd of school children chanting "Kill The Witch!". Fred howls at the them and they tumble over the cliff like lemmings as the damsel laughs so much she wees herself!

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    2. Curb your enthusiasm, Yorkie....or I'll cast a spell on you!!!!!!!

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    3. Ooops! Sorry Gipsy Lee! I am not worthy. (Was that okay?)

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  4. NO, no, no! By the description of Fred's wounds, he is already forgetting how to fight for the right to survive among his peers. This is not right, Mr. Pudding. I know you don't want to hear it but Fred needs to find his own food or perish in his own time!! I know you don't agree with me, but in this case I know I am right. The shame for Shirley when the neighborhood is overrun with foxes looking for a handout!!!

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    1. I beg to differ Mama Thyme. How would you feel if you had an injured leg and a flea-bitten rump, wandering around the cabins at Evergreen Lake begging for scraps of food and all you got was doors slam shut and sneering looks?

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  5. Congratulations on your achievement!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you kindly Mr Red. Have you marked my homework project?

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  6. Well done Yorkie . A beautiful photo of Fred .

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  7. A well deserved result and he should stop within his square if you keep providing sausages. He may enjoy the venison version from Chatsworth.

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    1. Chatsworth Chub? Sounds expensive Adrian. Mine is from "Lidl" - 65p a shot.

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  8. Famous Fred. No one will know from this photo that he limps and has a bald patch on his rear end...

    Ms Soup

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    1. If I was rich I would bring in a vet to check Fred over and treat his leg and bald patch. He would need to be shot with a tranquilising dart. Mama Thyme in Colorado would be utterly disgusted with me.

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  9. Congrats on your winning photo! You've been able to get excellent captures of Fred -- much better than the fleeting glimpses I've been able to catch of our own urban foxes.

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    1. London foxes are probably more sly than Yorkshire foxes. They could well imitate the character of their human neighbours. Yorkshire foxes are friendly - the salt of the earth. They would do anything to help you.

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  10. You've captured Fred at his best there Pud !
    No gammy leg, or baldy rear end.
    He's a fine looking chap.
    Congratulations.
    ~Jo

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    1. Thank you Jo! Yesterday afternoon in Oxfam I was listening to a Dolly Parton song...
      Honeysuckle vine clings to the fence along the lane
      Their fragrance makes the summer wind so sweet
      And on a distant hilltop, an eagle spreads its wings
      An' a songbird on a fence post sings a melody

      Yes. "In my Tennessee Mountain Home". Do you know Dolly?

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    2. I've met her once, she's a firecracker !
      Lovely lyrics to that song...and so true I might add. Lots of green countryside and beautiful vistas....much like your Yorkshire views.
      ~Jo

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  11. You don't really need my congratulations and admiration expressed on top of all the others here, but you have them nonetheless. I can see Mama Thyme' s point and I can see your point also. I suppose it's better to err on the side of kindness. Or maybe that's just city-folk sentimentality.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Bob. You are so filled with wisdom you must be bursting.

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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