Category Archives: Birds

Heron in Autumn Light

November 2, 2016 by Words | 6 Comments

When the mornings are clear this has to be one of my favourite times of the year. The light is great early in teh morning (but ‘early’ is late enough to be comfortable). The sun was up today and so I took a slightly circuitous route to work, stopping off at my old Falmer Pond haunt to see what was around. I was rewarded with a fine grey heron.

Grey heron at Falmer Pond, East Sussex

Grey heron at Falmer Pond, East Sussex

Grey heron in flight

Grey heron in flight

Grey heron perching

Grey heron perching

The fox is still around in the garden… and still playing the keep-your-distance game. I’ve stopped trying to get any closer. He’s happy, and that’s good enough for me.

The fox in the garden

The fox in the garden

Camera note: heron photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens. The fox was photographed with the EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM lens.

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Sunday Summary

October 23, 2016 by Words | 2 Comments

Another irregular catch-up post, partly because most days I’ve simply been photographing our fox during his nightly visits (and most of those photographs are pretty much indistinguishable from each other). There are some occasional other subjects and this Sunday Summary pulls some of them together (themelessly) 😉 Oh, there is some worthwhile fox action at the, so do keep reading.

sunset

This is a sunset taken from our garden. The i-360 is just visible in the centre, peeping over the horizon.

sunrise

This was taken a few days later and is just after sunrise, looking across the South Downs

The only bird in this set is this rather fine buzzard, photographed over Falmer Village last week.

Buzzard over Falmer Village

Buzzard over Falmer Village

As well as foxes, the garden is frequented by badgers. They’ve been rather more elusive lately, but I did grab a few images of one towards the end of the week.

Badger

Badger

Badger

Badger

This third shot utilizes various Photoshop filters, but was taken the same night as the others.

Badger through a fine art filter

Badger through a fine art filter

Now to the fox… a couple of photos first, but them some cool video…

fox

Fox prowling

fox

Camera avoidance 😉

And now for the video… I’ve caught similar clips once or twice in the past, but this one is easily the best yet.

Camera note: daytime photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens. Badgers and foxes were taken with the EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM and the EF70-300mm 4.5-5.6 DO IS lenses

Also posted in Badger, Bird of Prey, Foxes, sunrise, Sunset Tagged , , , , |

Little Egret at Seven Sisters

October 14, 2016 by Words | 4 Comments

I took these on a trip out to Eastbourne today, at Seven Sisters Country Park. As well as the little egrets, I was lucky enough to see a kingfisher (but it was too fast to photograph). The egret was rather more accommodating, posing primly on a fence by the edge of the water.

Little Egret on a fence

Little Egret on a fence

It had been wading when I first spotted it, and soon returned to the serious business of hunting tiddlers.

Little Egret at Seven Sisters Country Park, East Sussex

Little Egret fishing

Little Egret at Seven Sisters Country Park, East Sussex

Little Egret at Seven Sisters Country Park, East Sussex

There were some other little birds the water, and these ones really are little.

Little grebe at Seven Sisters Country Park

Little grebe at Seven Sisters Country Park

Two more shots from today… As I was heading home I spotted a gathering of swans (11 in total). It was difficult to get a good angle from the bank, but I quite like this one.

Mute swan

Mute swan

I can’t go without adding another photo of the fox from this evening.

Fox on the garden steps

Fox on the garden steps

Camera note: all the bird photos were taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens. As ever, I used the EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM for the fox.

Also posted in Foxes, water birds Tagged , , , |