SHE was supposed to be playing up to the camera for her own photoshoot.

But a cunning fox cub turned the tables on a photographer when she began taking her own snaps.

The inquisitive five-month old vixen was so intrigued by the camera equipment that she clambered on top of it – and stood on the shutter button to fire off her own frames. Snapper Simon Czapp, 25, had visited the New Forest Wildlife Park in Ashurst to capture images of new arrival Jessie who had been rehomed after being abandoned by her mother.

Jessie was offered a few scraps of ham to entice her into posing but she decided to put on a performance of her own making.

Simon, from Eastleigh, said: “She stood on her hind legs to peer into the lens and then used a tree stump to get a better look at the back of the camera.”

Simon repositioned the camera on the tripod and Jessie soon hopped back up – at one point she had all four paws on the camera and was wobbling to keep her balance.

Simon added: “I thought I heard the camera go off but did’t think much of it.”

But when I checked the memory card afterwards, I was amazed to see Jessie had actually taken two frames of me photographing her.

“I couldn’t believe I had been outfoxed by a fox!”

The wildlife park’s head keeper, Shanna Dymond, 29, witnessed the impromptu photo shoot. She said: “Jessie is a lovely little cub.

She is a very girlie looking fox and very petite. There were some lovely photos of her but she obviously thought the photographer was worthy of a picture too!”

Jessie and another cub called Woody – named after characters from the Toy Story movies – were originally handed into an RSPCA rescue centre in the spring but were found to be too tame to be released back into the wild.