After a dismal start to the day and a couple of hail showers, the weather cleared to provide a beautiful sunny day. A cormorant was busy at the pond (photos tomorrow), and around the fringes several rats were navigating the fringes, clambering over rocks and swimming across the more difficult gaps. Tonight’s blog features a few of the shots, but there are more in the new Falmer Rats 2014 gallery.

On the edge

Testing the water

Swimming past a rock

And back on dry land.

And off once again…

Friday looks like rain, so I’m holding back a few treats until then. Today though was as good as it’s been for a long time.

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

These photos were taken yesterday (Tuesday), early morning. A rat on a rock, just as it says in the title.

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

The drive into work this morning was beautiful. There were clear blue skies above, and in valleys the low mists shrouded the fields and the distant city. Of course I was in the car driving down into the mist and by the time I arrived in Falmer there was nothing but gloom and fog. The low mists are caused by a temperature inversion where the low lying land is cooler than the higher ground and air.

Scouting around the pond in the mist there was little to see. Anything more than a few feet away disappeared into the grey, so it was left to a lone rat to provide the photographic interest. This is a shortened sequence.

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