Category Archives: water birds

Splashing Duck (and a couple of treats)

April 10, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

There are always plenty of ducks to photograph, but this one caught my eye today at Falmer. It’s a hybrid mallard (of which there are many), and it was enjoying a splashing good time in the sunshine.

duck

duck

duck

duck

duck

I’m tempted to leave it at that for today, but I couldn’t resist this adding in this photo of a very grumpy looking young moorhen.

Grumpy moorhen chick

The final shot is rubbish, but it’s the first night photo of one of the new tribe of foxes that are visiting the garden nightly. It’s clearly a very shy (wise?) fox and wouldn’t come out from its cover while I was in the garden.

Shy fox at the rear of the garden

Camera note: all bird 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 24-105 F4L IS USM lens.

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Reflections in the Pond

April 9, 2014 by Words | 2 Comments

I’m going to risk the wrath of the weather gods and say that it really does look as though spring has arrived. Another bright sunny day at Falmer, a touch cool but it really is now beginning to look and feel like springtime. So to celebrate, some cute shots of a rat down by the water’s edge, with some nice reflections.

rat

rat

rat

It did eventually scramble up the bank in search of the bread left out for the ducks.

rat

Two other seasonal moments: first a chirpy little blackcap spotted at the edge of the Westlain Plantation at Falmer:

Blackcap

And to close, my favourite shot from today of the baby moorhens.

Moorhen chicks

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

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Baby Moorhens at Falmer

April 8, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

It’s been a few days since I’ve posted, a combination of circumstances, poor weather and very few decent photos. Still, a break is like a punctuation and so it was good to have something new to photograph. New as in ‘new born’.

I’ve been watching the Falmer moorhens nesting for the past few weeks. A nice secure spot, largely hidden by overhanging branches. I looked again today and the place was buzzing… with tiny little moorhen chicks. I counted 6 or 7, but as they were already up and about, there may actually be more than that. Here are a few of the photos of what I still think are possibly the ugliest baby birds on the planet… but certainly among the cutest!

Moorhen chick paddling

Paddling in the shallow water

Moorhen chicks

The lookout gang!

Moorhen chicks

On the nest

Moorhen chicks

Proud mum and chicks

Moorhen chicks

Feeding time!

Moorhen chicks

There you go!

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

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