A Morning with Brown Hares

 Just a quick post from my morning photographing Brown Hares.  Plenty of sunshine gave me the opportunity to photograph them with the light both behind and in front helping to give a different look.

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Who's Stalking Who?

I haven’t been out much this summer, but couldn’t resist what might be a last gasp spell of warm weather this bank holiday weekend.  I thought I’d try my luck with Foxes again although at this time of year the cubs dispersed, so making it less likely to see a Fox than it was a couple of months ago.  Luck have it, after a couple of hours a Fox made an appearance in the distance. 

I spent the next hour moving from one position to another trying to get into a place where I would get a perfect view point but each time I did, it proved that moving was a mistake as had I stayed put, I would have previously had the perfect view.  Finally, after nearly deciding to give, on seeing the Fox moving towards the spot I’d just moved from, I rushed back, though not hopeful of getting back there in time.

After around a 100 metre sprint, with a heavy 500mm lens plus camera and equipment, I got back at the spot where it was almost certainly going to pass by.  I was sure it would have already passed and my unstealthily heavy breathing as I tried to catch my breath, would probably scare it away anyway.  No sooner that I got there, it appeared and caught sight of me but instead of running off, it actually started to slowly walk towards me, as if stalking me and had an intense stare – very unnerving!  After a minute staring at me it disappeared before quickly reappearing and after another stare, was off.

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The Fox & Rabbit II

It’s not often  I will go back to a successful shoot at a location in the hope of replicating the success again as it rarely turns out that way, but at this time of year it’s a great time to see and photograph foxes as this years young haven’t left for their own territories so you have a number of foxes in one place some of which haven’t yet learnt to fear humans.

With that in mind I returned to the same location as before.  Conditions were different.  Instead of dull, damp weather there was sunshine and, out of the wind at least, a little warmer.  However this time the wind was coming from a different location so my previous ideal position now had it coming from behind me, making me upwind from their location.  This and the lack of rabbits feeding may have been the reason that, after two hours, little was seen.

Eventually, the mobbing calls of a couple of magpies caught my attention so moved to a different location to see what the fuss was about.  The new place was more sheltered and what little wind there was now came towards me.  Unfortunately, for the first time in a number of years I was hit by a bad case of hay fever, maybe because of the lack of wind but it was very sudden and my eyes were itching like mad and starting to stream.

Just then a fox came out of nowhere and across my front.  At this point I could barely see never mind try and focus on a moving fox through long grass.  A couple of shots is all I managed, mostly out of focus or largely hidden by the vegetation.  The rabbits further out, although alert to its presence, didn’t seem overly concerned until, after initially disappearing from my view, it sprinted out out after them.  It was all over in seconds and again, I had nothing but blurry images due to the problems of trying to focus in the long grass.

With my hay fever moderately better, after a couple of anti-histamines, decided to go back to my previous location despite the problems with the wind direction and being colder at least I had a more open view and it was where I had the previous weeks success.  Again, after another hour and nothing happening it had to be my being upwind that was the issue and after, once again hearing the mobbing of the magpies, moved to investigate.

As I approached the noise I kept coming up to rabbits, frozen.  Normally they would be off in a flash with someone approaching them but they clearly they thought I was a lesser threat than presumably the fox or foxes ahead.  Each time I chose not to make, what must have been an already stressful time for them any worse, so gave them some space and went around them.  One rabbit I stumbled across, I was so close I couldn’t even focus that near so had to back away just to get a photograph.

Despite the obvious presence of foxes, I wasn’t able to get closer due to the ring of clearly fraught rabbits around the area, so returned back to my original location.

I know there is a lot of photographers who shoot wildlife to whom getting ‘the image’ is all important and I don’t think they realise the impact they might have.  I remember reading once how, for wildlife, it’s a day-to-day struggle for survival it it did make me think.  I don’t chase after wildlife and if I think my presence will cause unnecessary stress, I will back away without an image.

There has been so many times I have had close encounters with an animal, particularly foxes and deer, where I stumbled across them without their knowing of my presence.  But because I was so close, rather than ‘get the image’ and inevitably give the animal a shock, I have stayed quiet and let them pass without knowing I was there.  There is a certain satisfaction in being within metres of a wild animal, unaware of you and simply being able to watch it rather than it see you and run off.

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A Farne Island Re-look

Every year I try and visit the Farne Islands.  Unfortunately this year I was unable to, especially disappointing as the weather has been particularly dry and sunny.  However, with newer and better software, I have been re-looking at some of my images from previous year and processed them again giving them a ‘fresh lick of paint’.  Some of these I had already processed before, such as the first one but others I’ve looked at from a fresh view.  I’ve put together a few, mostly of Puffins, of my favourites below.

Hopefully next year I’ll make it back there.

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In A Sea of Grass

A recent deluge of rain after a couple of months of almost none has given the the plants and grass a sudden sprout of growth though still not as tall and lushes as you would normally expect at this time of year.  Still, it means it’s easier to see the local wildlife.  Having said that, my first hour was spent watching a loan Rabbit which, despite my use of a net as a cover, I think it new I was there though didn’t seem particularly bothered.  Every now and then it would poke its head up and sniff the air as if there was a scent if was unsure about.

When it started to seem like all the morning would show would be this single Rabbit, from my left I saw a streak of red brown moving through the tall grass.  Although I could only see the very top, it could be only one thing, a Fox and it was heading in the same direction as the unsuspecting Rabbit.  A brief stop in an ideally located spot in the grass meant I managed to grab a quick snatch image before it plunged down again.

It disappeared for a while and I watched the line it was following, expecting it to come out at a spot near the Rabbit, it didn’t, instead making a 45 degree change of direction and headed away from me.  As it headed off, it wasn’t being very obliging for me although a quick look back meant I could at least get another quick couple of shots. I watched it for a further twenty minutes or so in the distance whilst it hunted for rodents with clearly some success as I could see it rummaging around in the undergrowth followed by a violent shaking of the head and some chomping on whatever it had found.

Eventually it went on its way leaving the Rabbit remaining completely oblivious as to how close it came to being a possible meal for the Fox though it’s quite likely the Fox could have continued on its original path and completely miss the unsuspecting Rabbit in the dense undergrowth.

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Summer Rabbits

I don’t seem to get out as much as I would like to these days, but the weather has been great recently, too good to miss so out I went.  At this time of year, Fox cubs are venturing out on their own and without their own territory and lacking the caution of their parents, it’s often a good time to find and photograph them.

Where better to find them than where there are Rabbits.  Well, Rabbits were a plenty but there was no sign of a Fox – at least I didn’t see one.  A number of Magpies and other birds were mobbing some kind of predator in some thickets and long grass but I couldn’t really get close enough with it being waist high and full of thistles.  Wearing only light, thin trousers, the thistles were easily penetrating them making progress rather painful.

I settled instead for simply enjoying the warmth of the sunshine and watching the Rabbits.  It was noticeable how relaxed the Rabbits were, with one even appearing to ‘sunbathe’, lying down and on one occasion, on its back.  Still, even here the grass was long so shooting through this meant much of the time many of the images looked quite soft.

Rabbits may be common and not the most glamorous subject to many but I find them quite endearing and entertaining to watch.

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Kingfishers

It’s been a while since I’ve really managed to photograph Kingfishers and four years since I blogged a post showing them.  They can be very elusive but one of my favourite birds to watch and take images of.  After a couple of unsuccessful attempts during the last few weeks, I finally got lucky with the best of images I managed, below.

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Same Time, Same Place…

…different results.  As is so often I’ve found, you can rarely ever re-create the same success previously achieve, as was the case on this occasion. I wasn’t going to bother posting this as the images aren’t good and are few and far between but I did think it was a good example of how unpredictable wildlife, and particularly photographing it, can be.

I went to the exact same location at the same time with even the weather being the same, sunny, warm condition, in the hope of achieving the same success as before in seeing and photographing some young Foxes.  Result?  Completely different. 

As with a couple of weeks earlier I waited quietly in the same place and again, after a couple of hours the Magpies started to make a noise suggesting a predator was about but I only got a quick glimpse of a Fox.

Certainly the Rabbits were on high alert, obviously due to the Magpies activities.  The grass was a little higher than last time making any sighting harder to photograph, so when a particularly loud commotion came from my right, I went to investigate.  I stopped at a good vantage point only to see a Fox sprint across after one of the Rabbits.  Ironically, had I stayed where I previously was, I would have hand the perfect view!

The Fox, obviously unsuccessful in its hunt walked back the same way, spotted me, out in the open having not settled down yet – took one look at me and was off!

The Rabbits remained wary for a while but eventually settled back into their feeding.  The Magpies continued excitedly back and forth for a while but I didn’t get any further glimpses.

As I said, I wasn’t going to bother posting this due to it not being particularly exciting.  The Fox images were fleeting snaps and the sun was bright and in my face – and so behind the subjects making exposure difficult and way too contrasting.  Still, a morning spent in the warm sunshine is always a good thing.

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