Author Archives: Words

A Few Fulmars

It was pretty windy today, and turned cloudy in the afternoon, but this morning a few of the fulmars were active at Rottingdean.

Fulmars at Rottingdean

A pair of (not very active) fulmars perched on the cliffs at Rottingdean

Fulmars at Rottingdean

Fulmar taking off from the cliff face.

Fulmars at Rottingdean

Fulmars spend a lot of time sweeping along the cliffs looking for landing sites.

Fulmars at Rottingdean

And we even had some blue sky…

And because I like the photo, a starling (one of the other cliff residents).

Starling perched in the cliffs at Rottingdean

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 Birds, water birds, Wildlife Tagged , |

Sports Day at Falmer Pond

All it takes is a bit of sunshine and, so it seems, the local wildlife organize themselves a bit of a sports day.

Here are the greylags, neck and neck in the 50 metre dash.

Greylag geese racing

Neck and neck

They weren’t all as quick. This one got left at the starting gate.

greylag goose

Dipping a toe in?

The moorhens were also busy. Here’s my favourite taking part in a high speed sprint across the pond.

Moorhen running on water

Just look at those legs go!

Meanwhile, at the far end of the pond, the rats were taking things more sedately in ‘the rodent marathon’ swimming race.

rat swimming

Keeping your head above water.

As for the mallards. No, they were taking it easy, laughing and joking at all the watery antics. Their time will come!

Mallard duck (female)

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 rats, water birds Tagged , , , |

Portraits of a Dunnock

I was really pleased with these two photos of dunnock, taken today at the edge of Falmer Pond. Dunnocks are very plain birds, so getting a slightly dreamlike portrait wasn’t what I would normally set out to do. This one was being ultra bold and was perched just above the water. I took a number of shots through the branches, but all of them were marred by branches across the face and wings. The only clear angle I could get was by getting down low and partially shooting through the foliage. At least though, its face was clear, and that was the main thing I wanted.

dunnock

dunnock

Two other shots from today to go with that pair, both scoring on the cuteness scale. First is a muddy chiffchaff. It was hanging around near where I photographed the dunnock, perching briefly before flying down to the muddy bank of the pond.

chiffchaff

Last, a baby rabbit. There were several of them hopping about at the edge of the churchyard, but as with the dunnock getting a clean shot was not easy. In fact I didn’t, and this one has been cleaned up a little in photoshop.

baby rabbit

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 Birds, rabbit Tagged , , |