After a very hectic week at work (hence so few posts) we took time out today to head over to Pulborough Brooks, the RSPB wetland bird reserve. It's a beautiful spot and on a day like today it attracts more than a few bird watchers and photographers. It's almost worth a visit just to see the array of hardware people are prepared to carry around 😉 The visitors tend to divide between the spotters (with over-sized spotting scopes, tripods and binoculars) and photographers (with over-sized camera gear, monopods, and binoculars). It's a close run thing as to which group carries the greater weight around the reserve. But for me, it's the camera and I turned up with three lenses and the monopod. Two of the lenses got used (the 100-400mm and the 105 macro).
Oh and of course there are birds… Here are some of the highlights:
Lapwing showing off its aerial skills
A lone teal… I think a first for me.
The canada geese were present in good number.
The wigeons were a delight to watch… such wonderful colours.
And I even got a shot of a nuthatch. Yes!
Technically, of that little selection the teal and wigeons are a first (at least in terms of knowing what I was looking at), and although not a true first (I've seen them before) that is the first usable photo of a nuthatch I've managed.
But all that pales into the margins when we came across this.
It was sunning itself on the edge of some woodland. Finding it was easy… its location was clearly marked by the number of people crowding round with all manner of cameras, from macros to zooms. To be fair though, everyone was being extremely careful not to disturb it… a bite from a venomous snake is something to be avoided. I did wonder though about the sanity/safety of the person filming it on a camera phone. A bite from one of these is absolutely not to be recommended.
A couple more of the shots I managed… The undergrowth hadn't made things easy, but these are of a second adder spotted about 30 yards from where we came across the first one.
No new fox photos at the moment, though I've been getting nightly clips on the trail cam. There are definitely two foxes. The one with the kink in the tail is the more regular visitor, plus there's a second with a shortish brush (though working out quite what has happened to it is difficult from the fleeting video clips). Visits tend to be quite late, rarely earlier than 11.00pm and often closer to 3.00 or 4.00 in the morning. I'll attempt to get real photos soon and will edit more of the video together over the next couple of days.
There are more shots from today in my Pulborough Brooks album. They start about two thirds down with the first shot of the wigeon.
Camera note: all shots – except the adder – taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens. The adder was photographed with the Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG macro, mainly on manual focus to get through the undergrowth and stabilized with the Manfrotto 685B Neotec monopod.
Vulpes vulpes
21 Mar 2009Some fabulous shots here! Gosh, weren't you lucky!
Words
22 Mar 2009Thanks Vulpes. It was an excellent day. That's the first time I've seen an adder, and only the second time I've seen a snake in the wild. No point me asking if you have any locally 😉
Vulpes vulpes
22 Mar 2009…St. Patrick has an awful lot to answer for! :p
gdare
22 Mar 2009According to your photos the snake must be Vipera berus, a common venomous snake in Europe. Their bite is painful but doesn`t have to be fatal. I saw it last time while I was in army in mountain area of western Bosnia, about 20 years ago. It was close encounter, I haven`t seen it until I almost stepped on it :insane:
Words
22 Mar 2009Darko, yes that's the correct name, though we tend to call them 'adders' as the common name. As you say the bite can be serious, though very unlikely to be fatal. It does need urgent medical attention though.
It's illegal to kill or harm an adder in the UK (they are a protected species under our Wildlife legislation).
SittingFox
22 Mar 2009Congrats on finding the adder :yes: A great creature to see. I love Pulbrough Brooks but I haven't been there for a while. It's a good place for melanistic fallow deer.
gdare
22 Mar 2009As far as I know, they are protected in Serbia too. I will check on list of protected species. I would never kill it, I like snakes 🙂
Words
22 Mar 2009Adele, finding the adder was easy… just look for the cameras 😉 There was quite a large herd of fallow deer in the distance at one of the hides, but the sun was behind them making photos next to impossible.
Words
22 Mar 2009Darko, we don't have many snakes here so it's always fascinating to come across them. I guess the protection is Europe-wide. I just checked and yes, they are protected under the Bern Convention. 😀
gdare
22 Mar 2009:hat:
cakkleberrylane
24 Mar 2009Very beautiful. The Canada geese are so graceful!
Words
24 Mar 2009Thanks Lois!
annoushkiss
25 Mar 2009Great day and great pictures you've got!
My favourite is the first Adder's shot… It has a hypnotizing look… Wow!
Words
25 Mar 2009Thanks Anna!
Ukwildlife
30 Mar 2009Nice one on the adder. Ive finally found trhem near me but havent got round to posting about that yet!
Words
30 Mar 2009Will look forward to reading it!