Ali Henderson finds out how an urban fox inspired Marian Pierce to write
When Marian Pierce stumbled upon a fox in her garden, amazing things happened. Ali Henderson meets the first-time author to find out more.
MARIAN PIERCE didn’t know about the foxes that visited her garden.
Back in March 2020 she was a busy hospitality worker, who was often out in the evenings.
When the pandemic struck, she was furloughed and found herself at home with time on her hands.
“We live in a basement flat in East Sussex,” Marian explains. “We have a very small sort of patio at the front with brick red steps that come down to it.
“We’d put up an outside light that goes on when anyone’s there. One night we’d just had dinner, and it went on.
“I thought it was a cat at the front door, but no, it was a fox.
“She was just sitting there and looked a bit bedraggled. I didn’t know then, but she was a vixen and she was looking for food to feed her cubs.
“I have a couple of cats, so I started putting down cat food every night.
“Over the following weeks she obviously told the others, as she brought along some of her friends. It went on from there.”
One fox particularly captured Marian’s heart.
“He turned up last September. He was obviously the runt of the litter, or an orphan; he was being bullied by the others.
“Nature can be harsh, but when it’s happening on your doorstep it’s really hard to ignore it.
“When I put food out, the others would all get to it before him. That was horrible to see.
“I have a photo – he’s sitting at the top of the steps, all hunched up.
“His head was down in a submissive pose and it broke my heart. I said to my partner, ‘I can’t let this carry on. He’s not going to make it.’”
Marian took advice from friends who knew more about foxes.
“They suggested giving him his own bowl. The next time he turned up by himself I did that, and he wolfed down a big bowl of chicken and dog biscuits.
“He’s never looked back since then. He turns up most evenings, has a quick nibble and off he goes. And he’s grown so much!
“He has a nice thick coat and he’s able to stand up for himself against the others.
“If they come down the stairs to try to feed, he sort of turns and yelps at them and off they trundle.
“He’s made my home his territory, I suppose. He’s such a funny little character!”
Marian’s knowledge of foxes has increased considerably.
“I’d never seen a fox up close before,” she admits.
“Small Tom, as I named him, is a partial melanistic fox.
“One of his parents must have been a red fox; the other would have been a melanistic fox, which is a black, silvery fox.”
Foxy relationships have flourished and Marian has named all her regulars.
“I gave them names to identify them right away, as a lot of foxes look the same. I called the first fox who turned up Miss Fox.
“There’s Nicky, who has a nick in her ear – she comes to the back garden. Pumpkin has a bend in her tail, and there’s Henrietta.
“They all have their own individual characters. There’s a pecking order in a fox unit. You can tell that when three or four of them walk in.
“One will eat first, then disappear, then another will come forward. Poor Small Tom was the last!”
There have been touching moments.
“When I went back to work in July, I had the most horrendous migraine when I’d only been back a couple of weeks. I came home and
slept it off for a bit.
“I woke up at about eleven o’clock in the evening, looked out of the window, and there was the first fox who had turned up sitting there – she had brought her cub to see me.”
Marian stresses that she keeps a safe distance between herself and the foxes.
“I don’t get close. I take all my photos on a zoom lens. I would never touch them or hand feed them. That’s when you cross the line.
“They are still wild animals, no matter how much they need our help.
“When Small Tom comes down the basement steps, I go back indoors as I don’t want them getting too close.
“If you don’t have that boundary, you’re encouraging them to trust humans too much and not all humans are kind.”
Soon Marian, who had never written in her life, found herself penning stories about her foxy friends.
“I was involved in musical theatre and the arts before, singing in an operatic company, which all stopped because of the pandemic. Maybe it was another creative outlet,” she muses.
“I’d joined Facebook groups Walk The Mind and the Self Isolating Bird Club, where people share pictures of wildlife and nature.
“I put a couple of the stories up there and people said they were really good and I should think about getting them published.
“I got Mark Lockwood, an illustrator who’s a friend of mine, on board and asked what he thought. He said, ‘Let’s do it!’”
“Small Tom’s Big Adventure” was written in a few days.
“It just seemed to flow,” Marian enthuses. “It’s like something switched a light on and, now I’ve started, I can’t stop.
“I wanted Tom’s story to be told. It’s a work of fiction, aimed at children, based on him helping some fox cubs get back to their mums.”
A publishing deal turned up when Marian’s stories were spotted on one of her social media groups.
Another book is due later in the year as part of the series “Tails Of The Foxy Café”.
Every story has a message with themes of happiness and kindness running throughout.
Marian’s debut as an author has definitely been sparked by lockdown and furlough.
“If we hadn’t put up that outside light it might never have happened,” she reflects. “I believe things happen for a reason.
“The foxes definitely helped me through lockdown, too. I’m not the kind of person who’s good at being stuck indoors.
“Having something else to focus on made it much easier for me and my mental health.
“On days when I was stuck inside, climbing the walls, I’d go outside and a fox would be there.
“I’d just stick my head through the kitchen door and take a few photos.
“There’s a whole world at the bottom of your garden if you just open your eyes and take a look.”
I wonder how it feels to have immortalised Small Tom in book format.
“It makes me feel quite emotional, actually!” Marian admits. “He has a special place in my heart. He deserves to have this.
“It’s been incredible. I’ve been very, very lucky.”