Author Archives: Words

Foxes Mating

After a decade of photos and trail cameras I found my first image of mating foxes on the most recent set of trail cam videos. The video itself was woefully over-exposed and almost pure white. I almost missed it when I was scanning the footage (literally a white screen with the barest flicker of movement on it).

It was captured at the time of day when the camera stays on night-infra red mode, but there is sufficient light for everything to burn out. It only captured a few seconds. None of my video editing tools would cope with the exposure problems, but I was able to play around with it just enough extract a frame as a still. I then had to force the contrasts to an extreme level to get a viewable image.

Foxes mating, extracted from trail cam video

Posted in Behaviour, Foxes

Turnstones at Brighton Beach

Finally some beautiful winter sunshine. Sure it’s cold, but dry, clear days like today are perfect. And I was lucky enough to be down at Brighton seafront at lunchtime. I wandered down to the east of Brighton Pier.

Brighton Pier

Brighton Pier

It was quiet there and I spotted a small group of turnstones enjoying the sun. They were very relaxed, mainly ignoring the occasional passer-by.

Turnstones at Brighton Beach

Turnstones at Brighton Beach

Turnstones at Brighton Beach

Turnstones at Brighton Beach

Turnstones at Brighton Beach

Turnstones at Brighton Beach

Eventually they made a move and headed off to better feeding grounds along the coast. They were a delight to see, and so unexpected.

Turnstones at Brighton Beach

Turnstones in flight along the coast

The final shot today is the remains of the Brighton Wheel. The visitor capsules have been removed, and presumably the main structure will soon be coming down. A great shame. The wheel was a great populist attraction, quite unlike the corporate monolith going up further along at the West Pier site.

The Brighton Wheel after the viewing buggies had been removed.

The Brighton Wheel after the viewing buggies had been removed.

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF70-300mm 4.5-5.6 DO IS lens.

Posted in coastal, water birds Tagged , , , |

Kestrel at Seaford

After a very fallow period, things looked up today. Ok, I pushed them a bit by going in to work via Falmer. Sunrise is just about at the right time for me now to get morning views like this as the sun rises behind the South Downs.

Sunrise at Falmer Village, East Sussex

Sunrise at Falmer Village, East Sussex

I even chanced upon a cormorant as it was flying in…

Cormorant at Falmer, East Sussex

Cormorant at Falmer, East Sussex

The main sequence, however, came later in the day as I headed over to Eastbourne at lunchtime. The drive was punctuated by the sight of kestrels hovering over hedgerows. In most cases I had no choice but to continue driving, but I spotted a female kestrel as I entered Seaford. I parked up, and took this sequence.

Female kestrel at Seaford, East Sussex

Female kestrel perching on a shed at Seaford, East Sussex

Female kestrel at Seaford, East Sussex

Female kestrel at Seaford, East Sussex

Female kestrel at Seaford, East Sussex

Female kestrel at Seaford, East Sussex

Hopefully I’ll get more opportunities (helped if the weather stays fine), but it’s nice to be getting some shots again.

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens.

Posted in Bird of Prey, Kestrel, water birds, Wildlife Tagged , |