A photographer has captured a heartwarming moment of three fox cubs sleeping piled on top of each other in a secluded area of a Surrey forest. The image, which has been highly commended in the British Wildlife Photography Awards' animal portraits section, shows the young animals in a "cub sandwich" formation.
Photographer Ben Nicholson spent a spring and summer with a fox family, setting up a hide near their den to allow the adults to become accustomed to his presence before the cubs emerged. Over several weeks, the cubs grew more confident, exploring the woods and engaging in play-fighting before eventually collapsing in exhaustion.
One evening in April, the cubs played around Nicholson's hide before one by one climbing onto a log beside him and falling asleep together. Nicholson described the scene as more than he could have hoped for, calling it a "picture of a fairy tale."