Tag Archives: duck

Dancing Swallows and other local wildlife

August 29, 2018 by Words | 2 Comments

I’ll start with the barn swallows. I took these photos yesterday of them swooping high above farmland at Falmer.

swallows

Swallows flying over Falmer Pond, East Sussex

swallows

Swallows flying over Falmer Pond, East Sussex

Being Falmer I also kept my eyes open for the local rodents. After a relatively barren period they do seem to be back, though not in quite the numbers of a few years ago.

rat

Brown rat at Falmer Pond, East Sussex

rat

Brown rat peeping out from the undergrowth

As always there were plenty of gulls and ducks, but less common is the common sandpiper. These birds are very shy and extremely difficult to approach.

common sandpiper

Common sandpiper at Falmer Pond, East Sussex

Plus one from today, a splendid white duck (a pond resident), imitating a water lily…

duck preening

Duck imitating Lily

And just because I can, here’s a portrait of Long Nose, the young male fox in an ultra relaxed frame of mind.

fox

Portrait of Long Nose

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 1DX Mark II and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens.

Posted in Birds, Foxes, rats, water birds Also tagged , , , |

Just Ducks

August 7, 2018 by Words | 6 Comments

I tend to ignore the ducks when I visit Falmer Pond but there was little going on today and the ducks were being unusually cooperative (i.e. flying the length of the pond rather than dabbling).

Duck at Falmer Pond

Duck at Falmer Pond

Duck at Falmer Pond

Duck at Falmer Pond

Duck at Falmer Pond

Duck at Falmer Pond

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 1DX Mark II and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens.

Posted in Birds, water birds

Variety Pack #234

June 22, 2016 by Words | 2 Comments

All sorts of bits and pieces today. It’s probably not quite #234 in a series, but it’s the kind of post I haven’t done for a while. I’ll start with an old friend from Falmer Pond, taken yesterday. It’s a duck (not a rat in case you were hoping.)

Duck reflected in Falmer pond

Duck reflected in Falmer pond

Also from yesterday a shy lizard (the green one again)

Common lizard campus

Common lizard campus

And a rude lizard!

Common lizard showing forked tongue

Common lizard showing forked tongue

This morning took me down to Brighton seafront (I’m all over the place at the moment for work). These were taken around 8.30am in foggy conditions. The first is the latest iconic Brighton structure, the incomparably dreadful i360.

i360 (i-Sore) tower in the mist on Brighton seafront

i360 (i-Sore) tower in the mist on Brighton seafront

Much more to my taste are the stunning ruins of the old West Pier. I never tire of them.

The ruins of the iconic West Pier, Brighton

The ruins of the iconic West Pier, Brighton

Lastly, something from the garden… one of the badgers.

Badger in the garden at night

Badger in the garden at night

Camera note: pier and i-Sore taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF50mm f/1.2L USM lens; the duck with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens; lizards with the EF 100mm f/2.8L macro IS USM lens; and the badger with the EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM lens.

Posted in Badger, coastal, Landscape, lizard, water birds, Wildlife Also tagged , , , |