Category Archives: Wildlife

Samples of wildlife photography

Cormorant on the Pond (and a rat at the side)

October 23, 2013 by Words | Comments Off

I’m still making the early morning effort to see what’s going on at the pond, but poor light and the frequent rain is turning that into something of a lost cause. Fortunately the days improve as the hours pass, and at lunchtime it was really quite mild and I was able to enjoy a little bit of sunshine and blue skies.

I missed the moment it came into land (I was ‘rat spotting’ at the time) but I did manage to catch the departure of a cormorant paying a brief visit to the pond. It only stayed a few minutes… one swum circuit and then off.

Cormorant

Cormorant

Cormorant

Cormorant

Cormorant

And then it was back to rat-spotting. A few more wet weeks and the rapidly filling pond will flood the rat runs around the exposed banks. For now, there’s still enough room for them to lurk among the rocks, though occasionally they take to the water to swim round them rather than clambering over. No swimming shots today; just these.

rat

rat

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

Also posted in Birds, rats, water birds Tagged , , |

Snapshots

October 22, 2013 by Words | Comments Off

Nothing but gloom today, but an early morning and late afternoon pause at Seven Sisters produced a few good sightings. The photos don’t do them justice and are little more than snapshot records of the day, the first being two shots of a peregrine falcon.

Peregrine falcon

Peregrine falcon

Just as I was heading off to work, the klaxon-calls of Canada geese drew the camera.

Canada geese

Now to the end of the day and two little birds. The little grebe…

Little grebe

And the little egret (for once looking quite small).

Little Egret

The forecast for tomorrow looks quite promising for lunchtime… if the early morning rain clears.

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

Also posted in Bird of Prey, Birds, water birds Tagged , , , |

Rat Portraits

October 21, 2013 by Words | Comments Off

Two simple sequences of a young rat taken at lunchtime today. The light was poor and the dark corners of the pond make things even more difficult. The camera was set at ISO 1600 and the shutter speed ranges between 1/125 and 1/250 across the shots.

The first sequence is a rat peeking out of a drainpipe. The foliage overhanging the pond gave me the narrowest of angles to get the shots.

rat in a drainpipe

rat in a drainpipe

rat in a drainpipe

A short while later (and after a conversation with a local who asked if I was watching the water voles… I had to disappoint and say what they really were to which they responded ‘They’re still cute’), I spotted another rat (or possibly the same one) perched on a tree root. The heavy rain of the past few days has raised the water level so the previous runs are now inaccessible and to cut across the corners of the pond the rats have to travel up, not down.

Rat on a tree root

Rat on a tree root

Rat on a tree root

Rat on a tree root

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

Also posted in Behaviour, rats Tagged , , |