Stuck in Ashleigh Scully, USA Winner 2017, 11-14 years old Canon EOS 7D Mark II + 500mm f4 Mark II lens; 1/640 sec at f5.6 (+1.7 e/v); ISO 1000. Deep snow had blanketed the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park, and the day was cold and overcast. This female American red fox was hunting beside the road, stepping quietly across the crusty surface of the snow. Every so often she would stop, stare, tilt her head from side to side and listen intently for the movement of prey – most likely a vole – beneath the snow. Ashleigh was also poised, her camera lens resting on a beanbag out of the back window of the car. Just as the fox came parallel with the car, she stopped, listened, crouched and then leapt high in the air, punching down through the snow, forefeet and nose first and legs upended. She remained bottom-up for about 10 seconds, waving her tail slightly back and forth before using her back legs to pull out of the hole. Ashleigh, who has been photographing foxes for many years, though mostly near her home, captured the whole sequence. ‘It was funny to see but also humbling to observe how hard the fox had to work to find a meal. I really wanted her to be successful.’ Unfortunately, she wasn’t. But then the image, says Ashleigh, ‘illustrates the harsh reality of winter life in Yellowstone’. 

The Winners Of The NHM Wildlife Photography Awards

by Team Nature inFocus

Stuck in 

Ashleigh Scully, USA 

Winner 2017, 11-14 years old 

Canon EOS 7D Mark II + 500mm f4 Mark II lens; 1/640 sec at f5.6 (+1.7 e/v); ISO 1000. 

Deep snow had blanketed the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park, and the day was cold and overcast. This female American red fox was hunting beside the road, stepping quietly across the crusty surface of the snow. Every so often she would stop, stare, tilt her head from side to side and listen intently for the movement of prey – most likely a vole – beneath the snow. Ashleigh was also poised, her camera lens resting on a beanbag out of the back window of the car. Just as the fox came parallel with the car, she stopped, listened, crouched and then leapt high in the air, punching down through the snow, forefeet and nose first and legs upended. She remained bottom-up for about 10 seconds, waving her tail slightly back and forth before using her back legs to pull out of the hole. Ashleigh, who has been photographing foxes for many years, though mostly near her home, captured the whole sequence. ‘It was funny to see but also humbling to observe how hard the fox had to work to find a meal. I really wanted her to be successful.’ Unfortunately, she wasn’t. But then the image, says Ashleigh, ‘illustrates the harsh reality of winter life in Yellowstone’.