Category Archives: Wildlife

Samples of wildlife photography

Back to the Routine

September 8, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

I’m back into the regular (working) routine again, which means more photos taken down at Falmer Pond. Nothing too exciting to report, though this young gull posed nicely for me.

herring gull

I will finish the long overdue ‘gull’ post at some point. It’s mostly written, but needs a couple more illustrations of one of the gull varieties. Meanwhile, instead of ‘Ratty’, here’s the slimmed-down version: a proper rat. this one looks quite young.

rat

The last shot (I’m keeping things relatively under control tonight) is a sunset taken this evening from the rear of our garden.

sunset

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

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Moorhen and Sand Martins

September 8, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

These are a couple of photos left over from the recent visit to Arundel WWT. They’re of a moorhen, which was lurking in very deep shade. Included here because I really like the shots.

moorhen

moorhen

One sighting I don’t mention in the previous post was the sand martins (a first for me) which were flocking around the hide where we were watching the great white egret. There’s a sizeable colony which nests in the walls of the hide. It was tricky getting a decent angle to photograph them (too many people pointing cameras and scopes out to the egret), but a couple of grabbed shots give an idea of the scene.

Sand martins

Sand martins

And one more shot of the water vole!

water vole

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

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Great White Egret – photo special

September 3, 2014 by Words | 6 Comments

I have some other great shots from today, but I’m going to concentrate on the absolute peak sighting: a Great White Egret. Unlike the smaller (and common) Little Egret, this large white heron is very rare indeed, and nationally their numbers range in the low double-figures (20-30 max). The first UK breeding pair was seen elsewhere in the country in 2012. This one is a hugely welcome visitor to the Arundel Wetland Centre, one of the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust reserves, and has been there – I think – since Sunday.

Great white egret

Apart from its size (roughly the same as a grey heron), the Great White is most easily recognized by its yellow bill. And unlike the Little Egret, it has black feet (visible in this next photo).

Great white egret

The hide where I took these shots was – not surprisingly – fairly busy. In the later afternoon it came in closer as it hunted for fish (all tiddlers it seems), which is when I took most of this next sequence.

Great white egret

Great white egret

Great white egret

Great white egret

That was definitely special, but I can’t not post one shot of the other star sighting of the day. This cute little water vole (the real ‘Ratty’) seen munching away on the banks of the waterway.

water vole

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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