The sun was out today, and so were the broad bodied chasers. So far only the males have put in an appearance. Photographing the males tends to rely on them landing on pondside vegetation. Their flight is rapid and irregular, making flight shots over the pond a combination of good and better luck. In contrast, the females (when they appear) spend a good deal of time hovering while egg laying and are relatively easy to photograph on the wing. So I was delighted to manage to capture one of the males in flight as it was approaching a stalk.
Finally an in-flight shot 😉
That was lunchtime. This evening when I got home from work I stepped out into the garden, looked to the skies and caught a brief and distant sight of a peregrine as it was starting its long, rapid swoop. No apologies for a less than perfect image. I had no time to do anything other than point and shoot.
Peregrine falcon swooping
Later in the evening I did see a fox. Impossibly shy, I think it had been disturbed by a cat entering the garden next door. I heard it come over the fence, looked up and caught a glimpse as it raced across the rear of the garden. To make up for that missed chance, here's some video from the trail cam taken over the weekend. The fox clips were taken at around 5.00 and 6.00am.
Camera note: all shots taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.
gdare
19 May 2009Even though third photo is in flight, a lot of wing details could be seen :eyes: Excellent shots :up:
Flying Red Fox Blog
19 May 2009Very nice photos and the video is great too, looks quite dark in your area for the badger at 5am – 6am. 🙂 Might be the trailcams light though, bet you were tucked up in bed at that hour, i was up at 5am.
Words
19 May 2009Mark, thanks. I think the badger clip was a bit earlier than 5.00 (I'd need to check the original again), but whatever the time it was too late for me.
Words
19 May 2009Thanks Darko! It helps that these are quite large dragonflies 😉
SittingFox
19 May 2009That badger is very handsome. Great sighting of the peregrine :up:
Words
19 May 2009Adele, thanks! I'm so pleased about the badger. But I must persist in trying to get a proper photo.
Ukwildlife
19 May 2009great photos, especially the dragonfly in flight
Words
19 May 2009Thanks Neil!
annoushkiss
20 May 2009Dragonfly pictures are very good, great colours and detail on the wings :up: You've caught a falcon also, that's not bad for one day.
Still cannot watch video :awww:
Words
20 May 2009Anna, thanks. The video is just an embedded YouTube video. Here's the link.
anonymous
22 May 2009Firefox writes:
hello, what camera did you use to take the videos
Firefox
Words
22 May 2009Firefox, hi! I'm using something called a GL80 Stealth Trail Cam. Fairly basic, but it uses infrared so it doesn't disturb the widlife at all.