Category Archives: Wildlife

Samples of wildlife photography

It’s About Time for a Fox Post

June 10, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

It’s been some time since I’ve posted any photos of foxes, or at least it seems that way. They’ve been around (as yesterday’s video shows), but they are prone to scarper as soon as they spot me. I’ve seen brushes disappearing beyond the fence or behind the pergola, but only occasionally do they stay still long enough to get something in focus. Yesterday and today have been something of a breakthrough (the mild weather may have had a part to play in that).

These first two photos are of ‘fox number 2’, one of the more elusive members of the tribe. I took these on Sunday night.

fox

fox

The boldest of the group (though still far from bold) is ‘Nicked Ear’. He is somewhat erratic, but of all the foxes is the most likely to tolerate my presence (at a distance). He showed up tonight and was in a reasonably cooperative mood (aided by some food scraps), staying for close on 15 minutes. That is something of a record for him. The photos were all taken from a distance 30 feet or more which stretches the capability of the flash to its limits. Still, a couple of the shots are passable.

fox

Sitting in the corner of the garden

fox

Cautiously crossing the pergola

fox

Getting the reward

Now if only they’d bring the cubs to visit!

Camera note: Tonight’s photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF70-300mm 4.5-5.6 DO IS lens. Yesterday’s (the first two) were taken with the EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM lens.

Also posted in Foxes Tagged |

Seen from the Garden

June 8, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

The weather has been good this weekend, almost hot; and fine enough to spend more time in the garden. Inevitably most of the wildlife activity takes place at night (see video clip further down), but there were two or three interesting sightings to report.

The first of these is ‘seen from the garden’, but is actually taking place a few doors away from us. We always have herring gulls in the vicinity, and they usually appear to go through a nesting routine. This, however, is the first year I recall seeing any chicks emerge as a result of all their activity. Not the best shot, but cute in its way. I’ve only seen one chick, but there could be more (my line of sight isn’t great and the chick seems to spend a lot of its time on the far side of the chimney).

Herring gull and chick

We also have wrens locally, and late yesterday afternoon I spotted one perched in between the slats on the fence at the rear of the garden. It turned out to be a fledgling. I managed a couple of shots before it disappeared back through to the garden beyond.

Fledgling wren

Fledgling wren

The one photo from today is a hummingbird hawk moth, a large day-flying moth which is very well named.

Hummingbird hawk moth

To complete the set, I’ve resorted to a video sequence. There are two of the regular garden foxes here, plus the female badger which was shown in another recent video clip. The foxes look a bit on the tatty side. That’s partly their natural state at this time of year (cubs + moulting makes for a bad hair day), but they also show signs of recovering from mange and that skinny brush is a lot healthier than it was a few weeks ago.

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

Also posted in Badger, Behaviour, Birds, Foxes, mange, moth Tagged , , , , , , |

New chicks, fledglings and some colourful adults

June 7, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

It really was a good day today. Warm sunshine, and so much to see. I gathered far too many photos so what’s here barely scratches the surface. I’ll try to keep things simple.

The day started down at Falmer Pond where I took some lovely shots of a trio of juvenile moorhens, and one or two of the heron. No room for any of those. Instead I’ll open with a photo of the male great spotted woodpecker.

Great spotted woodpecker

I did get one or two shots of the chicks high in their tree, but nothing to improve on yesterday’s photos, so I’ll leave those out.

Staying on the woodpecker theme, the much larger green woodpecker is also quite active. I saw this one (another male) in the woods at lunchtime.

Green woodpecker

The big news though is that the local colony of herring gulls have been busy and we have lots of new chicks on the roofs at work. This first photo is by the car park.

Herring gulls and chicks

And this little family group is nesting outside a window of one of the main buildings. She has three chicks, and produced a simialr clutch in the same location last year.

Herring gulls and chicks

Herring gulls and chicks

Herring gulls and chicks

We also have two breeding pairs of lesser black backed gulls. No sign of their chicks yet, but they were a couple of weeks or so behind the herring gulls in 2013. It will be interesting to see if there’s a similar gap this year.

Finally, a short sequence of blue tits, a bird I’m paying close attention to at the moment. The fledglings are getting to that very active and demanding) stage and were hopping between the feeding station and the surrounding trees. This is a very small selection from today’s photos.

blue tit fledgling

blue tit fledgling

blue tit fledgling

blue tit fledgling

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

Also posted in Behaviour, Birds Tagged , , , , |