{"id":1165,"date":"2008-07-01T23:07:50","date_gmt":"2008-07-01T22:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/archives\/1165"},"modified":"2013-11-20T19:25:14","modified_gmt":"2013-11-20T19:25:14","slug":"heres-looking-at-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/heres-looking-at-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s looking at me!"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Glorious sunshine today, and a perfect opportunity to spend an hour by the dew pond. The chasers were out in force, but still no sign of the common darters. I set this shot up to some extent. The chasers like to rest on vertical twigs at the side of the water. I placed one in a good spot so I could get in close, and have the sun behind me. Within a couple of minutes, this male chaser obliged.<\/p>\n

Broad Bodied Chaser<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

But it was the birds which were the feature of the visit. The hot weather brought several down to the pond side, starting with this collared dove. It's the first I've seen there, though they are common enough in the area.<\/p>\n

Collared Dove<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Next up was a crow, seen here admiring its reflection while taking a drink.<\/p>\n

Crow<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Not to be outdone, a pair of goldfinches flitted down to the waterside. <\/p>\n

Pair of goldfinches<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

This one was also in reflective mood.<\/p>\n

Goldfinch<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

A few posts ago, I mentioned that there were newts<\/a> in the pond, and while I knew that there are frogs (the spawn was a giveaway back in early spring) I hadn't actually seen one there until today when this popped its head out of the water.<\/p>\n

Common frog<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

As for the garden, the old dog fox has been back on his rounds. These from the last couple of nights.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Camera note: all the birds, the frog and the dragonfly taken with the EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens, except the collared dove which was taken with the Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG macro lens. The fox shots were taken with the EF24-105mm f\/4L IS USM (close-up) and the EF70-300mm f\/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM (standing tall).<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[77,4,86,1003],"tags":[33,1148,1128,1149,220],"class_list":["post-1165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dragonfly","category-foxes","category-frog","category-landscape-2","tag-birds","tag-dragonfly","tag-fox","tag-frog","tag-pond","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t