Stunned Nature Lover Spots Rare BLACK Fox

Robert Burn at his Halifax home, West Yorkshire (SWNS)

A rare black fox plays with a red vixen (SWNS)

A nature enthusiast couldn’t believe his ‘bad luck’, when he spotted a rare black fox.

Chuffed Robert Burn, who has since dubbed himself Black Fox Bob, spied the striking beast playing in fields, from his kitchen window.

The scarce animal was playing with another fox, near his home in Halifax, West Yorkshire.

Robert said: “I was looking out of the window thinking there was a black cat at the other side of the valley.

“I got my binoculars and thought ‘It’s a black fox’.”

Stunned Robert made a note of the time and set up a camera the next day, to try to capture the black fox on film. And he did!

The unusual sight was captured on camera from the kitchen window (SWNS)

He explained: “There were two vixens and this black fox. The old vixen, she went away and stayed well away for days on end.

“But these two foxes got together and that’s how I got the footage.

“It was 7am and that’s very unusual. They’ve done all the things of pairing up but they should have done it in January not June.

“If he’s mated with the young vixen now, will it produce cubs in the next nine weeks? Who’s to know?”

The black fox - there are only a handful in the UK (SWNS)

A black fox is, in fact, a red fox, going through a phase where its fur colour becomes particularly dark.

The unusual colouring is normally seen in growing cubs , before the fox develops its dark chestnut coat.

However, some red foxes remain black, due to a rare genetic flaw, dating back hundreds of years.

Only a handful of them are thought to exist in Britain.

If the spritely pair mated, there may be babies in nine weeks (SWNS)