With Falmer Pond now flooded, the rats have taken to scurrying around the exposed roots of the trees. This makes them more difficult to spot, and means they are in almost constant deep shade. But crank up the ISO (1600), ignore slow shutter speeds (between 1/30s and 1/160s), and this is what you get.
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.
Just another day at Falmer Pond, which is now filled to overflowing following the recent heavy rains. The rats are having to find other ways of getting around now their dry runs are flooded, but water isn’t a barrier to a tenacious rodent. They simply get down to swimming.
Meanwhile an altogether more colourful inhabitant, a robin, has found a nice dry perch.
Finally, this is close to a shot I’ve been after for a long time… a decent image of a collared dove in flight.
I think I’ve previously mentioned that the recent rains have filled Falmer Pond to its banks, creating new challenges for the population of rats that I’ve been watching these past few months. To be exact, there is still a narrow beach along parts of the pond, though these are receding quickly with each passing day. It was here that I spotted my first rat of the day, peering out of a narrow run.
Having seen one rat, I kept my eyes open for more. I scouted around the usual haunts (those remnants of beach), and then cut through the small wood on the far side of the pond. To my surprise (because the rats really do tend to hug the pond fringes) a rat scurried away through the undergrowth. I kept sight of it, and then watched as it emerged from the leaf cover and proceeded to climb up into the bough of a tree. There were too many branches and foliage to catch the climb, but it came to rest about 7 feet above ground level. That was my chance.
The tree rat – of course – is the ‘high’ of the title. You may think I’ve already shown the low in the first image. Possibly, but this next rat managed to get even lower. It was further around the pond. The water was more or less lapping the bank and a couple of rats were scurrying around the exposed tree roots as a means of navigating their way along the pond edge. They were difficult to photograph because of the tight angles, but I was doing my best when some movement a few feet away grabbed my eye. Another rat had found a better way of getting around. It was swimming.
And as I lined up that shot and was tightening the focus, it dived underneath.
I lost track of its movement under the water, but imagine it emerged just a few yards further along the bank where more trees provide plenty of cover. It seems that a full pond is not going to stop the rats for a while yet.
(p.s. I was once again asked if I’d seen the local water voles! People really don’t want to admit to themselves that they’re fascinated by rats.)
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.
