{"id":25925,"date":"2017-06-05T22:46:44","date_gmt":"2017-06-05T21:46:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/?p=25925"},"modified":"2017-06-05T22:46:44","modified_gmt":"2017-06-05T21:46:44","slug":"a-kestrel-at-breakfast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/a-kestrel-at-breakfast\/","title":{"rendered":"A Kestrel at Breakfast"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a bit of an unscheduled break in the relentless fox cub posts (I have so many photos that I’m not even trying to keep up). I got these shots on my way to work this morning, at around 8.00am. I drive past Sheepcote Valley by Brighton racecourse every morning. It’s a good spot for kestrels and this morning one was hovering right over the entrance to the car park. Too good an opportunity not to stop. By the time I had parked and got the camera ready the kestrel had moved about 20 yards… The light wasn’t great and I thought shots like this were all I was going to get.<\/p>\n

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Kestrel (female) hovering at Sheepcote Valley, near Brighton, East Sussex<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But then the kestrel dropped into the grass… and I go this short sequence.
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Kestrel pinning down its prey (a vole)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n
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A quick nibble…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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And up and away…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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A good start to my day, and the kestrel’s. Less good for the vole, but this is the harsher side of wildlife watching.<\/p>\n

It’s too wet tonight to watch out for the fox cubs, but they’ve been on great form over the weekend. This was last night’s Fox of the Day… worth a reprise over here as well.<\/p>\n

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Fox cubs fighting at night<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Camera note: all kestrel photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens. Fox cubs photographed with the EF 24-105 F4L IS USM lens.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a bit of an unscheduled break in the relentless fox cub posts (I have so many photos that I’m not even trying to keep up). I got these shots on my way to work this morning, at around 8.00am. I drive past Sheepcote Valley by Brighton racecourse every morning. It’s a good spot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[990,4,1219,3],"tags":[284,1152],"class_list":["post-25925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bird-of-prey","category-foxes","category-kestrel","category-wildlife","tag-fox-cub","tag-kestrel","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