Half-a-square mile of nature

One of the best recommendations I could give to anyone interested in seeing wildlife, is to just find a quiet spot, preferably a bit secluded and just sit quietly and watch and listen to what’s going on around you.  This is what I did on a mild, cloudy but pleasant late June day.  I found a spot in an area of tall grassland mixed with shrubs, bushes and trees and just sat back and let the world go by.

In the near distance was a typical sound of summer, a Skylark, flying high over its own patch of territory and directly overhead Swallows showing their aerobatic skills whilst catching the plentiful supply of insects around.  Nearby I could hear a slight, low ‘chugging’ sound and eventually saw a Warbler with a mouth full of insects darting in and around the dense bushes, calling for its fledged young which were making their own sound in response.

I put my camera and lens with converter, on to a monopod to try and keep it steady in what was quite a strong breeze and grabbed what shots I could.  Most of the time I was catching glimpses through the undergrowth.  The cameras ISO was as low as I dared at 400 whilst still keeping a decent shutter speed and an aperture to get a bit of depth of field.  Only occasionally did either the parent stay out in the open long enough for me to get a photograph and the others were through obstacles of grass and bushes having to be manually focused.

After over an hour of hide and seek, I could hear the very distinct sound of Magpies ‘mobbing’ some kind of predator which I presumed to be a Sparrowhawk as it was within a section of dense bushes and trees, so ignored it.  However after about ten minutes curiosity got the better of me and walked over to were the racket was coming from.  As I looked back I saw that the Warbler family had all got together on a single perch in the distance and were being fed.  The view point was through a slim gap in the bushes that were swaying heavily in the wind and I was able to get off a few hand held shots before they again, dispersed.  I just missed one of the parents feeding them as I was trying to get into the best possible, unobstructed view.

Continuing over to the growing noise of the Magpies now joined by a backing chorus of a couple of Crows, as I approached I could just see over some undergrowth to a clear area and the unmistakable reddish brown back of a Fox.  Unfortunately, it too saw me though didn’t dart away as I would expected, instead moved to get a clearer view of me whist at the same time begin ‘dive bombed by the Magpies, then, without any particular hurry and in complete indifference to the Magpies, moved off.  Although I thought I’d probably missed my opportunity to get a good view I still got closer creeping behind the the undergrowth that had blocked my view.  The Magpies were still close by and still as excited so the Fox must have just moved into the bushes so I picked a spot, set my camera up and waited.

I could see the squawking Magpies going back and forth and after about twenty minutes, obscured by the bushes I was hiding behind, I could see the Fox walking across the open patch and as I followed it through my viewfinder, manually focusing as best as I could it stopped at a spot where I could just about see it clearly, at least its eyes and took a photograph.  This of course alerted the Fox to me but again, it seemed curious and moved along for a better view of me.

Everybody interested in nature or wildlife will probably have something they regard as a ‘special moment’ – a sunrise, a misty forest, the sight of a unique or rare bird.  Mine is being up-close and eye to eye contact with a wild mammal that would normally rather be far away from a human.  That moment where they are just feet away and looking right at you.  Once the Fox found a spot where it could see me as clearly as I could see it, it stopped and for a brief few seconds stood and starred right at me.  It was clear that this was a young Fox and probably not yet experienced any fear of humans.  I rattled of a couple of frames before it would inevitably run off but was able to then take a bit more time and compose the next two as it remained.  It was too close to get it fully in my cameras frame and was still obstructed but most was clear.

After the moment was over far too soon, the young Fox moved off, back into the undergrowth and by the diminishing noise of the Magpies, it was moving away.  Possibly had I waited for a few hours it may have returned but I was happy with my few images I was able to get and to have finally seen a Fox this year!

I headed back to the Warblers and noticed one particular that was singing on a branch in the open.  All animals have their own particular ‘space’ around them to which you can go so far before they are spooked by your presence.  I moved as close as I thought I could and sat and watched.  As I mentioned at the beginning one of the best things you can do is simply just sit and observe when it comes to wildlife and I noticed this particular bird followed an almost identical pattern.  It would sing at the top of the branch, fly briefly up then away then a few minutes later fly back to the bush, still singing then slowly move up higher and higher until reaching that same spot again.

Each time it flew away, I would move a few meters through the long grass and stop and repeated this about four times, each time letting the bird decide if I was too close or not.  Eventually I was able to get some half decent images though the lighting wasn’t ideal and the wind was blowing the perch is was on back and forth and I had to make some exposure compensation so as not to get just a dark shape without the sunlight filling in.

So in four hours in a relatively small area of grass and bushes there was quite a bit of activity just waiting to be seen.  This didn’t include what was directly around and beneath me in the form of insects, but the wind was too strong and light to poor to have a chance of recording this kind of macro photography with my camera.  It’s these kind of days that I like about the all too fleeting summers we get here.  Hopefully there will be a few more this year.