{"id":1673,"date":"2010-07-14T00:07:01","date_gmt":"2010-07-13T23:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/archives\/1673"},"modified":"2013-11-10T18:32:28","modified_gmt":"2013-11-10T18:32:28","slug":"early-light-late-night-and-a-tiny-surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/early-light-late-night-and-a-tiny-surprise\/","title":{"rendered":"Early light, late night (and a tiny surprise)"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

The local herring gull chicks have finally fledged and a young pair were resting on the grass early this morning. The light was terrible, and these two shots were taken at ISO 1000 which still only gave a shutter speed of 1\/125s. It's at times like this that I really appreciate the benefits of image stabilization.
<\/span> Yawning herring gull fledgling<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> Stretching a wing<\/span><\/p>\n

The light was no better over by a nearby ornamental garden. I'd gone in search of dragonflies, but what I saw was a real surprise and a photographic challenge. The first two shots were taken in the morning.
<\/span> <\/p>\n

If you look closely you can just see it peeping out between the plants. It was scurrying around, avoiding any clear shot. It's a vole (probably a field vole). I usually see them in the tight grasp of a kestrel. I've very occasionally seen one scurry under a hedgerow, but I've never photographed one. They are in fact one of the most numerous species we have, but their size, habitat and general caution makes them a difficult 'spot'.
<\/span> <\/p>\n

I went back at lunchtime to see if I could get any more photos. The light was poor and I cranked up to ISO 1600 (something I almost never do except at night). One of the voles (there are at least two) was busy in the undergrowth. I could locate them by listening out for sounds of eating! Eventually one briefly scurried along the edge of the garden area to grab an exposed shoot.
<\/span> Field<\/s> Bank vole<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> Note the short tail<\/span><\/p>\n

The late night reference in the title of this entry brings me to the foxes. Cheeky, the young vixen, was out in the garden (I'm gathering some nice portraits of her) when she was disturbed by some fox calling nearby. A few moments later, Bold (her mother) appeared. I'll let the photos take it from here (taken at ISO 100).
<\/span> Greeting<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/span>
\"Nature<\/a><\/span>
Camera note: gulls and vole shots taken with the Canon 40D and EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens. The foxes were photographed with the EF70-300mm 4.5-5.6 DO IS lens.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,989,3],"tags":[1142,1128,68,337],"class_list":["post-1673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-foxes","category-water-birds-birds-2","category-wildlife","tag-cub","tag-fox","tag-gull","tag-vole","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