A Return

It's been a while since last posting. Not really sure if people are interested in looking at blogs anymore with social media replacing it. A lot of blogs I used to look at, also haven't posted anything in a long time. The last year has also seen a move for me and of course the lockdown, making getting out difficult. This has however, forced me to look locally for photo opportunities. 

The area is a mixture of built up residential and farmland but this is largely surrounded by the housing areas, so is quite isolated.  Just before lockdown I was able to go out to scout around the area for potential wildlife, but in late winter, it felt very bleak and with little around, so I wasn't hopeful.

After being stuck inside for months and we were able to go out with less restrictions, I got out with my camera by which time it was early summer and the area was transformed.  The most obvious of any hopeful opportunities was the abundance of Rabbits around the area, although extremly skittish.  Despite using the 'silent' shutter option on my camera, it would be enough for one click and the Rabbits would be off.  I would then have to wait up to 30-40 minutes again before any would return.

All the images were taken during the summer at around sunrise, so before there was too many people around to disturb them...and me.  The image two above, was taken of a Rabbit who seems a bit more plucky than some of the others as it seems more tolerant of the sound of my shutter.  I've seen it a few times, recognised by the left ear which has a bit missing.  Hopefully this won't be it's downfall as, on a recent visit I was surprised by a visiting Fox.

It was only a brief encounter, but gave me hope of taking pictures of which is probably my faviourite animal to see and photograph.

This was only my first sighting of a Fox after nearly three months so, unlike my usual location to photograph them, they presumably weren't common.

I have also seen the occassional Roe Deer though only ever individuals and the fields.

 

Hopefully, I'll start to post a bit more often now that I'm getting out again and as I continue to explore my local area.

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Beast from the East comes to the North East

They named it ‘The Beast from the East’, the cold and snowy weather that hit the country last week.  Most people seemed content with staying in out of the cold but it was too good a photo opportunity to miss for me at the weekend, so I dug out my thermals, covered myself from head to foot in layers and went out to see what I could find.

One very good reason for going out is to find out what wildlife is around by checking the various foot prints and trails in the woodland.  The woods themselves were very quiet as if everything was trying to keep warm and under cover but it was immediately obvious from the tracks just how alive the woods were – at least nocturnally.

Everywhere there were Rod Deer tracks despite after 40 minutes and still early in the morning, I hadn’t actually seen one.  The above panoramic shows Roe Deer tracks in every direction.  Fox tracks were also prominent though not in the same numbers.  Probably one or two active Foxes.  I followed one set of recent tracks which in turn followed the trail, occasionally going off but soon returning but eventually leading off into the underbrush.  It was clear these were made in the last few hours as I new there had been a light dusting of snow early that morning which could be clearly seen within the imprints (see below).

I was surprised to see how many Rabbit tracks there were as I rarely see them here, but here they were very clearly around the woodlands. 

However, actually seeing anything other than for some birds which seemed to be far more ‘tame and approachable’ than usual, remained elusive.  Two brief sightings of a Roe Deer and that was it. 

I decided to sit down in a spot I have had previous success with seeing Roe and Foxes and started to set up my camera and lens on my Gimbal head and tripod when, snap, one of the legs broke at the joint.  I don’t know if the cold contributed to the demise of my trusty tripod but after what must be 10 years of great service, it is no more.  I would have been better to have happened at the end of my day than at the beginning as now I didn’t have any real support other than resorting to using my bag or knees whilst sitting low down.

After realising the autofocus wasn’t functioning on my Sigma 500mm lens, I checked the settings and everything seemed fine.  Batteries at full charge, etc.  I tried changing to a different lens – that worked so it was the big lens that was now not working.   So know with no support and only manual focusing available and still only around 9.00am, I was tempted just to give up, feeling just a little fed up, but I continued though I knew there would be little point in keeping the 500mm lens attached whilst walking because I know if an opportunity came about, I wouldn’t be able to hand hold it so changed to a 18-135mm lens.

I wasn’t really expecting to see anything at this point anyway and just thought I might be able to get some ‘winter woodland shots’, but despite the obvious beauty of my surroundings, I just couldn’t get any kind of composition.  As I continued on my way I glanced to my left and saw a Roe Deer close by just standing looking at me.  I expected it to shoot off so turned my back on it whilst I set my lens to 135mm just in case.  To my surprise when I turned around again, it was still there though had started to walk away.  I put my camera to my eye and took a couple of images and noticed there was another couple of Roe resting which had now popped their heads up.

They didn’t seem to bothered by my presence but did start to get up to move away.  I didn’t want to push my luck and decided not to alarm them any further and move off myself.  It’s good to remember that in cold weather like this, wildlife are always on the brink of surviving and having to use up precious energy to run away will not do them any good.

I spent the rest of the day visiting a number of locations and managed a few more photographs, though nothing special.  You really appreciate auto focus when you don’t have it.  Birds can be very twitchy and don’t stay long in one spot and Grey Squirrels are constantly on the move, so there was a lot of ‘hit and miss’ with what I did take.

At one point I decided to take a landscape picture just using my phone when that suddenly died on me!  It was really starting to look like it was not going be my day.  Luckily it turned out the cold had just drained the battery but I had a battery pack on it so charged it up again.  Still, 90% had drained in three hours of being out in the cold.

The good news (I think) is that it was the cold that seemed to have caused the auto focus to fail.  On my return it started to work again and with a little research found that the cold could cause this.  I’m not completely convinced that it isn’t a sign of some other problem waiting in the wings as I have taken this lens out in sub zero temperatures before without issue.  The difference then is that I had a 1D series body attached which research also suggested the power of the camera body could make a difference.

I guess only time will tell if it was just the cold or there is another problem lurking, waiting to happen again.  Meanwhile a new tripod is winging its way to me.

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Watching Roe, Watching Me

It’s been a while since my last post – work has occupied much of my time unfortunately and I’ve rarely been out in the last four months, but hopefully I will be back out and about.

My last few trips out have been visits to one of my favourite locations, especially now spring and the nicer weather has arrived.  It’s nice to see the various greenery, wild flowers and hearing, what at this time of year, is a deafening sound of song birds but the woods don’t feel really alive without the larger mammals there, especially deer and in the case of the woods in this part of the country, Roe Deer.  I believe they are the most common species of deer in this country and yet most people who have a stroll in their local woods will probably never see one, though they are there and their signs are everywhere.

For such a relatively large animal, they do a remarkable job of remaining hidden.  Even at this time of the year when the trees are missing their foliage and there is little to hide them in the way of ferns or long grass, they are still hard to see.  For me there are two ways to see them.  Find a time and location where they are and either sit still quietly (hidden) and wait, or walk quietly through the woods being very observant.  For my photography, I prefer the sit and wait approach though it can mean hours of waiting with no guarantee of success.  The following seven images were taken via this method.  Waiting at  a location I new they used and where the lighting was good enough to take good photographs.  Although the use of netting helped hide me and using quite mode on my camera, the deer still suspected something was up although they walked by, the shutter sound still made them stop and stare in my direction.

Just after taking these last three images, I heard some rustling behind me, but because of my position, couldn’t turn around easily so kept still.  It is a little unnerving hearing that behind you whilst clearly getting closer.  Suddenly there was loud barking.  Clearly a male Roe Deer had come up behind me and must have been very close before being alerted by my presence.  It continued to bark whilst moving away and by the time I did turn around I couldn’t see him because of some undergrowth although he was still thrashing around, moving away for a while then coming closer again while all the time barking loudly.  After around twenty minutes he eventually left.

The remaining encounters were from those of walking around.  On two occasions I literally stumbled across them – one that was resting in the undergrowth the other I just didn’t see until the last moment.  Other times I saw them in the distance and then hoped they would walk to a location that was open so I could get a good image, but they weren’t being very cooperative and were walking the wrong way, always too far away or there was a branch or something distracting in the way.

Above is the typical kind of scene I was coming across.  It looks empty and bare and yet the deer were there, you just had to look carefully.  Often I would look and in the distance see one or more deer in the distance looking right at me, watching me.  Below is a patch of woodland with no obvious signs of there being any deer, yet there are two of them watching.  The main scene was taking from my phone held on top of my long lens whist the two inserts are taken of at least two deer that I could see.  If you look carefully, one of them (right insert) can be seen but not the other which is much more hidden.

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No Show Roe

I thought I'd try another visit to the woods this weekend, to hopefully see and photograph some Roe Deer. So far this year I haven't had much success though, to be honest I haven't managed to get out as much as in previous years.

Last week's brief photograph of a Roe was 2016's first and normally, spring is the best time to see and take pictures of them, but the woods have seemed and felt different recently. Maybe it's my imagination or maybe it's because of the lateness of Springs arrival, it's been cold like winter and the woodland have a look and feel of winter, but by mid morning the light was what you would expect more in late spring/summer - hard and contrasting.

I tried a different way around this time, one that would go 'against' the Roe Deer's morning route from their night times feeding so hopefully increasing my chances of seeing them. A number of sightings, mostly from a distance the closest being one where I stumbled across it last second - I couldn't believe I didn't see it! Too late as it bounded off, stopping briefly to look back at me then disappeared into the woods. I was using my binoculars for much of the time as without the dense undergrowth of later on in the year, I can see quite a distance.

On one occasion, scanning the from one side to the other I caught site of a male Roe, relatively close, looking right at me. Due to their poor sight which is more sensitive to shapes and movement, all I could do was freeze. He was completely motionless - not a twitch - and so had to do the same. After a few minutes I was feeling the strain of my holding the binoculars to my eyes with one hand, it was the longest standoff I've had with a Roe, but he eventually carried on. It's not as if I had a chance of getting a good photo of him, so could have let him be spooked and run off but I suppose it's as much as about causing as little disturbance as possible as much as getting the picture. That's as much as part of the challenge. Of course, walking through a wood which has wildlife you're going to cause some disturbance, but then so would any would be predator including more natural ones such as a Fox.

Eventually I got the 'drop' on a Roe I spotted in the distance. It wasn't coming towards me but across left to right. She was feeding and hadn't spotted me but was very alert. I had time to set up my lens and cover much of myself with some scrim netting. I was able to get the following images as she made her way across. There were a couple of open areas but she wasn't really co-operative enough to really pose in these spots and in one of the only two where she did, managed to pull a funny face at me! Much like when photographing people it was taken just at the wrong moment.

I had my shutter option to quite mode which was working too well as the normal shutter mode would be enough to stop a deer due to the sound. It did stop at my last photo opportunity just before disappearing, maybe it had finally heard me or I just got lucky. Looking at the images it looks like it was really intent on where I was but actually it was looking in all directions and had spent much of its time with her head down feeding. I only took the opportunity looking at me to take the photos.

I've left all the images un-cropped to give a better idea of what I was seeing through the camera.

The slow signs of spring growth

Current woodland view showing, despite the lack of undergrowth, the difficulty in spotting a Roe Deer

I know I have a tendency to go on about the weather, but this year has been particularly bad. Lots of rain and this week snow! The image left is an example and a sight from my work window. Quite depressing considering it was the end of April and you're expecting some warmth the arrival of summer.

The good news is that finally warm weather is forecasted for the coming week and so hopefully the weekends.

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Waiting for Spring...Still!

Spring seems to be making a reluctant appearance this year, as so far, does the wildlife.  This weekend, much like last, was cold with temperatures not even reaching double figures and a trip to the woods found an erie lack of sightings of activity though the birds were very vocal.  Two brief sightings were all to show from four hours of looking and waiting for Roe Deer and only one brief photo opportunity.  Probably the most common animal, certainly mammal about, were Grey Squirrels.  Apart from one that seemed interested in me, most seemed to be ‘sunbathing’, stretched out on parts of the trees in the sunshine, presumably trying to get warmed up.  The second image below looks like a Squirrel coming down a tree, but in fact it remained motionless there for a number of minutes.  Strange that it would do this upside down.

Elsewhere there were a couple of young rabbits bounding about and a more cautious adult making the occasional appearance.  The best photo opportunity came in the form of a couple of Rats who, nervous at first ended up being co-operative subjects for my camera, if not very glamorous.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sunrises, Moon eclipse and a Deer…sort of

This is my favourite time of year for taking land and seascapes.  It’s getting darker later in the mornings so you can catch the ‘golden hour’ without having to get up at some ungodly hour and yet it’s still mild enough that when you do, your fingers aren't going numb when setting the camera’s controls and you can appreciate the moment in comfort. The one thing I can’t completely plan for is the weather (even if the forecasting was remotely correct).  I wanted to get a typical red sky sunrise, with my first outing forecasting ‘light’ cloud which could give me a decent chance of ideal conditions.  As I approached the coast and the first signs of light appeared in the sky, I could see that it was in fact thick clouds with the exception of a small clear opening.  This was heading westward to where the sun would rise so I was hoping the timing would be just right and the rising sun would shine through this gap, lighting up the rest of the clouds. Unfortunately, as I set up my camera it was clear it wasn’t going to arrive in time and it looked like the morning would be a dull event.  Fortunately the distant horizon must have been clear because as the sun started to rise the sky lit up a glowing red, followed by orange, the sun peaked over the horizon and, for barely a few minutes, it was gone, hidden under the blanket of clouds.

06:54 – for a few minutes there were various shades of red as if a great fire was in the distance

06:58 – followed by the horizon lit up by a glowing orange

07:01 – the sun appeared

07:04 – and then it was gone

As I walked up the beach I noticed that the now larger gap in the clouds, now looked like it might offer a picturesque image yet as rays of light started to shine through.  Unfortunately, I didn’t really have anywhere along this part of the beach that had an interesting foreground so couldn’t really get the kind of image I had hoped for.

The following week on every week day, there was clear skies but fog which gave some amazing light – but I was working so couldn’t take any photographs.  The weekend was forecast as cloudy but light cloud and the continued fog, so I ventured out in hopefulness again, in search of a spectacular mornings light. But it wasn’t to be.  It was heavy cloud and not a sign of the promised fog.  No sun, no red or orange light in the sky, so I took what images I could under the circumstances but nothing of any real interest.  Monday, back to work and the sunrise was again, a spectacular sight!

In between the two weekends was an event many would have slept through.  The earth eclipsing the moon, giving it an eerie orange glow.  I hadn’t really planned anything for this so ended up taking these images from the back of my house, starting just after 2:00am for an hour.  I know when you take pictures of the moon you expose for its brightness which in this case was around 1/500th of a second. As I said, I hadn’t planned on photographing this so didn’t know what to expect or researched any techniques.  As the moon slowly disappeared under the eclipse, is seemed from the naked eye that the moon was gone but through the lens I could still see the moons outline and shape which slowly turned a faint orange colour, slowly becoming brighter and with a slight white crescent.  Taking a picture of this proved to be difficult as now the moon needed a longer exposure, no longer being its typical bright white.  It’s very deceptive how quick the moon arks across the sky so even an exposure of a few seconds resulted in a slightly blurred image as the moon had moved during that time.  The other thing I hadn’t anticipated was the houses opposite and the moon not only moving high across the sky but dipping down.  I managed one photograph of it before the houses started to obstruct my view, so I couldn’t get a few practice shots off to get the best results. It was very disappointing that I couldn’t see the event all the way through and see the moon return again to it’s full, brightness, but it was still an amazing thing to see, watching the moon be eclipsed and then turn orange.  It’s an event that’s not supposed to happen again until another 18 years I believe.

Prior to all the above events, a trip to the woods produced little luck.  Plenty of sightings but the above image being the only thing caught on camera and not really a ‘keeper’. Whist the first morning rays hit the woodland floor, a small patch lit up along a path.  I set my lens on this spot, sat there looking through the viewfinder and thought to myself wouldn’t it be great if a Rod Deer just walked into this spot right now.  No sooner had I finished thinking that, then a Roe Deer ran right across that exact spot!  Even if I had been quick enough to take a photo, it was moving so fast it would have been blurred.  Why it ran across there instead of walking, I don’t know. It couldn’t have known of my presents as I would have been hidden from it and there was no wind for it to pick up my scent.  It does seem typical of my luck in recent months when it comes to my photography – just not getting the breaks at the moment. You can plan, be at the right place when you believe something might happen, research and gain knowledge about your subject, but at the end of the day luck can play a big part.  That special moment, the lighting just right, something you didn’t expect.  Having some good fortune helps.

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