Category Archives: Birds

Friday Fulmars at Rottingdean

May 3, 2014 by Words | 2 Comments

A short post tonight. The day has mainly been shades of grey though there was the hint of some light this morning when I had the chance to go down to Rottingdean. Inevitably I detoured along the cliffs where the fulmars were in full flight. There’s a strong colony of them roosting on the cliffs and their distinctive cackle now dominates the more raucous squawking of the gulls.

fulmar at Rottigndean

fulmar at Rottigndean

fulmars nesting at Rottigndean

fulmar at Rottigndean

fulmar at Rottigndean

And as it’s Friday, here’s a fox as well. This shot was taken a few minutes ago in the garden. I’m not really getting any closer but the 200mm lens may make it seem that way. The reality is that the foxes are still extremely cautious, but it’s progress. 😀

fox

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

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Goslings at Falmer Pond

May 2, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

I had a lovely surprise this morning when I arrived at Falmer Pond. The greylags have produced a clutch of goslings. There are eight youngsters and they seem to be doing very well indeed. Here they are sheltering from the drizzle under the safe wing of mother goose.

goslings sheltering under goose

One of the characteristics of geese is that they are very protective of their young. There’s always one or two adults in very close proximity, and often the other geese lend a hand forming a phalanx or circle around the new brood.

goslings

goslings

As the day grew busier the adults sensibly ushered the chicks to the safety of the water. As in previous years the local white goose has adopted the role of protector-in-chief, making sure no harm comes to the babies.

greylag goslings

There’s also been a little more progress on the fox front. We’re still in the lurking stage (the fox hangs back in the undergrowth and I daren’t move), but the fox is slowly becoming more tolerant and curious. To make things slightly easier on myself, I’ve started using a longer lens! This is one from tonight.

fox

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

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Fighting Moorhens (and an almost bold fox)

May 1, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

I’ve devoted a good number of recent posts to the admittedly very cute little moorhen chicks. Today though, I’m going to concentrate on the adults. Three of them were engaged in a mass punch-up on the pond (I’m not sure they’re all visible in these shots), the equivalent in moorhen-speak to a deer rut. There’s no doubt that mating rights are the main agenda.

moorhens fighting

moorhens fighting

moorhens fighting

moorhens fighting

I was going to post some photos of the local greylags, but I’ve just enjoyed a moderately successful encounter with one of our garden foxes. He was still acting shy, but did linger for several minutes. Here are two photos. I took a total of seven (very restrained for me), and they were all from 30+ feet away, but it’s a noticeable advancement on previous sightings. The shy fox is almost bold!

fox

fox

Camera note: all moorhen photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens. Fox photographed with the EF 24-105 F4L IS USM lens.

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