The title more or less sums up what was a fairly average day. I jest. It was a good day, even if the photos aren't of the highest standard.
The swifts were flying high this morning, and flying low. I watched as they swept over the surface of the pond at Falmer, sweeping up any and all available insect life.
Swooping swifts are not an easy catch. They're fast and unpredictable, though at least they do tend to repeat their runs over the water. Easier are the house martins. They just require patience. When house martins come into land they gather in small groups so it becomes possible to plan the shot. Pick out their landing site and simply wait for them to come into view. Occasionally it works. (There's a swallow lurking in among the house martins in this shot).
The majority of the herring gull chicks at work have fledged, but the lesser black-backed chicks are still a little short of being flight ready. They've got another week or two to go.
Meanwhile the young foxes continue to play and fight. This was taken as the sun (the glorious, ever present sun) was beginning to set.
The final shot was taken in the last hour. The adult foxes have been becoming slightly more tolerant of me in recent weeks and here are two of them sharing some peanuts with Red and Pretty. The adults are Nicked Ear (far right) and Shy Boy (far left).
Camera note: first three shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens; fourth shot with the EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM; final shot with the EF 24-105 F4L IS USM lens.
gdare
17 Jul 2013House martins, the name always remind me on a band from 80s 😀
Nice little bird :up:
derWandersmann
17 Jul 2013A good day, indeed!
Words
23 Jul 2013dW, it always makes up for the quiet days, though in truth it might amount to 5 minutes or so with a lot of waiting in between.
Words
23 Jul 2013Darko, they were quite poppy if I remember correctly (though I could be wildly out… I never did understand 80s music!). House martins were on my school badge when I was very young. I don't think I actually saw one until recent years (ie quite old!).