Why do red foxes walk through British residential streets at dusk?
In British urban neighbourhoods, red foxes can sometimes be seen at dusk, moving between garden walls, pavements, and front gardens. A fox walks along a low brick wall, passes beside a wheelie bin, a rubbish bin on wheels, and slips through the narrow space between parked cars.
A resident inside glances out of the window, then goes back to what they were doing. Someone walking along the pavement passes the fox without stopping. What stands out in the scene is not simply that the fox appears, but that the people around it barely react.
Research has found that in England and Wales, red foxes were present in 91% of urban areas where they had once been expected to be few or absent. A Bristol study also found that foxes crossed roads more often and became more active later at night.