After the recent news about a 'giant' fox shot in Maidstone, Kent - it was about twice the size of a normal fox, that is to say the same size as a coyote (see picture) - I have found something else of foxy interest on a bottle of booze.
From my local independent retailer of fine inebriates I picked up a bottle by perhaps my favourite cider manufacturers, Dunkertons in Herefordshire. Dunkertons make the finest perry I've ever tasted and grow alomost-extinct apple and pears in their own organic orchards, pressing them in an 18th century mill. But I digress (in fact, I'm drooling) - this particular brand, previously unknown to me, is a 7% cider called 'Black Fox'.
The name comes, states the label, from a piece of rural folklore - also unknown to me. Dunkertons informs us: 'From earlier times, rural communities have told stories of fantastic creatures which have supposedly lived in their location. The lush rolling countryside of North West Herefordshire is no exception. Here stories tell of an animal which has evaded capture by farmer and huntsman alike: a Black Fox. The red fox has always existed but belief grew that there was a fox 'as black as night, so that it might live in man's shadow and never be seen'. A favoured haunt of the Black Fox is... the cider orchard.'
Genuine folk belief or a bit of cider-fuelled fantasy? I'd be interested to learn more.
4 comments:
In the United States, black foxes appear as a colour variant of the red fox. They must have done so in Ireland too, for I discovered in a medieval Irish work (Lecan Glossary) the word FUINCHE meaning a black fox (=sionnach dubh). If it can happen in Ireland, it must be possible for the occasional one to turn up in England.
That's interesting - the idea of an occasional melanistic fox kicking off the whole idea. (I'm sure we've got a brindle fox in our village, it's very dark). I'm still not sure whether the folklore is genuine, though. Guess I'll have to do some work!
Hello! did you ever find out anymore about this black fox?? I heard about the cider on Simon Mayo's show yesterday, and am intrigued, like you I can only find it with a Dunkertons reference!
You can now visit Black Foxes UK for more info on the melanistic red fox
Post a Comment