The Tricky and the Easy

By Words | Published March 26, 2015

I know I have a tendency to photograph the same thing again and again so I’m always on the lookout for slightly different scenarios such as the rat looking at the rubbish bin posted a couple of days ago. So I was keen to get some photos yesterday when one of the local rats scrambled up a pond-side tree. It was a really good climb, and it went quite high. Trees though have branches and branches get in the way. Finding a point to focus on wasn’t easy.

rat up a tree

Rat up a tree

rat in tree

For all the messiness, I quite like the shots, especially the first one.

Today offered a near miss. I was hanging around in the same spot and a baby rat emerged from the rubbish bin and was scrambling crazily to get back to the tree. It’s exactly the kind of shot I want, and I had a clear view… from the wrong side. This is the best I could do.

baby rat on rubbish bin

Baby rat climbing out of a rubbish bin

It’s not always that tricky. Another of the bay rats was much more cooperative, and posed nicely for the camera.

baby rat

Baby rat posing in the undergrowth.

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens.

This entry was posted in rats and tagged .

4 Comments

  1. Darko March 29, 2015 at 4:06 pm #

    Did you know that in North America they used to call squirrels a “tree rats”? No wonder 😀

    • Words March 31, 2015 at 11:51 pm #

      Darko, we call squirrels that too, so the title is a tiny bit of mis-direction 😉

  2. derwandersmann March 30, 2015 at 4:45 am #

    In the South, they still do … they hunt them with .22 rifles (or, in the case of expert shots, pistols). Head shots only, because of not ruining too much meat. When they get enough for the family, they stop. Squirrel stew is the usual dish, though some prefer frying. They’re really quite good, and in he back country, are considered part of the food supply.

    A side note, garnered from a BBC special on “The Irish River” tonight, speculated that increased numbers of pine martens may be the salvation of your native reds, since they seem to be more adept at catching greys. Interesting, I thought … nature rebalancing itself.

    • Words March 31, 2015 at 11:53 pm #

      dW, interesting to hear about pine martens predating greys. It’s a real problem for us, and we have barely any reds left (none in this part of the country at all). Beautiful little squirrels.