Summer is only a momentary reprieve for an Arctic vixen. Already half-way through the season of the midnight sun, and she has not had time to shed all of her white, winter coat.
With the ground in Ny Alesund relatively free of thick snow, she casts a protective eye over her playful pups as they romp near the shelter of research-station residences.
As well as shelter, there is plenty of food here. Arctic terns have nested beside the cleared paths between scientific buildings. The birds foolishly launch themselves at passing humans when their true threat stands only one foot at the shoulder.
For the main, researchers ignore the fox. She has tags in each ear, betraying the fact that she has research value, but the ease and comfort with which she uses manufactured props to give altitude to her watch, proves how little she has been scarred by these encounters.
In the next couple of weeks, the sun will begin to set, and then the nights will lengthen. By then, her pups will have weaned and begun fending for themselves. In the meantime, they will learn and play. All the while, she will be their guardian.
