I’m writing a new book about the red fox in Britain. An animal that populates our children’s stories with tales of cunning daring, divides the country politically, likes eating pizza and watermelon and bouncing on trampolines and is a huge success in our cities.

The funniest thing is that on the day I decided to do this I saw one at my allotment in the morning and again in the evening. They topped and tailed my day as if to agree this was the right thing to do.

It’s a fun research project and I’ve learnt foxes make strange clicking noises, that they are model fathers and that in the Autumn a huge part of their diet is fruit. They also love eating worms…