The beautiful autumn weather continues, and I took a brief foray with the camera at lunchtime. My prize target (the green woodpecker) has far better vision than me, and evaded the camera on three occasions (there was no fourth opportunity). What's particularly irksome is that it happily pecks away in a grassy clearing while hordes of people go past, but takes to the wing the moment anyone stops (even from a distance of about 70 yards). I have a sneeking (if slightly paranoid) suspicion that it is quite literally camera shy, and takes fright at the sight of 100-400 lens (which unhelpfully is cream/white and something of a beacon). I may try going out with the 300mm lens (a nice discreet black) to see if I have better luck.
But not every creature is as shy as the woodpecker… and there was plenty of variety on view today.
Magpie
Pied Wagtail
Squirrel
Of course, a fox
And a wood mouse
And even a hedgehog
Camera note: all shots taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens, except the fox which was with the Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG macro.
chthoniid
2 Nov 2007Ohh, very nice collection :up: The hedeghog looks very healthy.
It gets annoying with so much wildlife being unwilling to pose properly… once you have a camera on hand 🙁 sigh.
I'd have thought that cream would be less alarming than black fwiw Although so many birds have this strange 6th sense that lets them know when you're ready to take a picture so they can move out of the way in time!
Flying Red Fox Blog
2 Nov 2007Lovely pics:D Its almost Winter now and the hedgehogs are still awake lol:P Hope he finds a nice hibernating spot.
Words
2 Nov 2007Mark, yes I think the warm weather may be having an effect. There's plenty of thick undergrowth for them so I imagine it's got somewhere nice and warm lined up.
Words
2 Nov 20076th sense? And them some 😆
The cream colour is a major pain with Canon lenses. There's a whole industry selling camouflage outfits for them!
anonymous
2 Nov 2007Nikki writes:
I've never seen a hedgehog or a magpie in the wild. You have some great photo ops lately! I'm always glad to see the foxes, of course.
Mickeyjoe-Irl
2 Nov 2007😀
Words
2 Nov 2007Mickeyjoe… you could be right. I spent all lunchtime tracking one today!
SittingFox
2 Nov 2007I noticed some years back that deer were content to stand still in a meadow if cars drove past, but they were immediately suspicious if we reversed at all!
Another nice collection – a hedgehog! 😀 Great stuff.
Words
2 Nov 2007Nikki, thanks. Magpies are really common round here, and are beautiful in flight. The hedgehog is an occasional visitor to the garden. I see it maybe half a dozen times a year at most. Great for keeping the slug population under control!
Words
2 Nov 2007Adele, I guess they get used to the usual pattern of disturbance and notice the change. Nobody ever sees the woodpecker (even when it's under their nose), so me stopping is probably quite spooky for it.