Category Archives: Birds

Blackbird (male and female)

February 5, 2015 by Words | 3 Comments

Some more images of commonplace birds, this time the blackbird (Turdus merula). For the male at least, the naming is clearly descriptive: the blackbird is indeed black. It generally also has an orange beak, tongue and eye-ring. Less often the beak and eye-ring are red, but orange is the classic and most common form.

blackbird singing

Blackbird (male) singing

Blackbird (male) eating berries

Blackbird (male) eating a berry

Those were taken yesterday (but were put to one side in favour of the wren. The next three shots were taken today, on the edge of a woodland path. It’s the female of the species, and she is brown… from beak to tail.

Female blackbird

Female blackbird head on

Female blackbird

Female blackbird side view

Female blackbird

Female blackbird in angry mode!

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

Also posted in Wildlife Tagged |

Jenny Wren

February 4, 2015 by Words | 2 Comments

Her real name of course is the much earthier Troglodytes troglodytes, and she is the UK’s commonest breeding bird. Her tiny size, and preference for shaded corners and thick undergrowth, means that despite being so common she is relatively difficult to see; at least, that is, unless you look for her.

I took this sequence in the churchyard of St Laurence Church, adjacent to the pond at Falmer. She was hopping long the flint wall, occasionally diving down to peck at spider webs (see second and fourth shots).

Wren on a flint wall

Wren on a flint wall

Wren on a flint wall

Wren on a flint wall

Wren on a flint wall

Wren on a flint wall

A pretty little thing, and one of my best sequences of a wren. Even the light was good.

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

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Animals Being Active

January 30, 2015 by Words | 4 Comments

No great theme today, and indeed I’ll start with a photo taken on Thursday at Falmer Pond. A number of people were out feeding the gulls (a mix of herring gulls and black-headed gulls), and the inevitable feeding frenzy followed. I decided to go for motion blur shots this time, despite the quite reasonable light. They were taken at between 1/13 and 1/15s at f/18 (I needed the small aperture to get the shutter speed down).

Motion blur gulls at Falmer

Motion blur gulls at Falmer

Sticking with motion blur, I photographed this little rat in mid shake. The shutter is around 1/125 which is fine when they keep still. I like it though. It had just jumped up on to the branch after a quick swim across the corner of the pond.

rat shaking itself dry

Rat shaking itself dry

Rat swimming

Rat swimming

The robins (who seem to share the same corner of the pond as the rats) were active again. I caught this little bird stretching its wing.

Robin stretching its wing

Robin stretching its wing

The last trio of photos were a chance sighting of a dog out in a local field. That’s not unusual in itself, but I’ve not previously seen one having this much fun playing with a broom!

Dog playing with broom

Dog playing with broom

Dog playing with broom

It seems there was a theme after all. Not planned, but there you go. Sometimes these things just fall into place.

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

Also posted in dog, rats, Wildlife Tagged , , , , |