A Mornings Walk

How often Out for a walk this morning making the most of my continuing time off and decent weather, I had no plans to see anything or take any particular photographs and so decided to travel ‘light’, packing a 400mm, 105mm macro and zoom wide angle lenses along with the camera.  Having been used to carrying around the 500mm lens, this seemed positively feather weight. As it was early morning and overcast, I thought I could try taking some landscapes, something I haven’t done for a while apart from the odd chance one, but the sun came out making the light too harsh, so instead watched some Rabbits from a distance feeding in the tall grass.  Two them disappeared leaving just one by itself, which carried on feeding until nervously, bounding ten metres away then stopping and looking back.  I wasn’t really serious in taking photographs of them at such a distance and was just happy enjoying the sunshine and watching them, when suddenly a flash of reddish brown streaked towards the remaining one and chased it into some bushes – it was a Fox and I never even saw it coming! Both it and the Rabbit disappeared into the undergrowth and it was over before I could train my lens onto the action.  I waited thinking the Fox was likely to return the same way as I had seen a Fox here before and knew its route.  I also felt the Rabbit would have probably been food for some cubs and didn’t really give much hope for its chances as it was heading away from the burrows when trying to escape and so had nowhere to go.  Ironically, 30 minutes before I was in a closer position, where had I remained, I would have had a front stand view of the incident.  A further 20 minutes and no sign of either so I went back to that previous vantage point hoping I might yet see the Fox returning.

Within minutes of being back in the position two Magpies were in the spot were Fox and Rabbit disappeared and both birds were making a typical warning sound so I new the Fox must still be around and so trained my lens where it might come out.  Normally I don’t like Magpies (from a photographers point) as when they make those warning sounds it ‘s usually because of me and I’m pretty sure other animals recognise these warnings too and so they are warned of my presence.  However, if I know it is not due to me then they can be a great help  for finding predators, having seen Foxes and Sparrowhawks before due to Magpies mobbing them. This was one of those times as, out of the bushes, came the Fox.  Problem was I was upwind from it now and it must have got me scent of me almost straight away as it immediately looked in my direction, giving me barely a chance to focus and take one image, when it legged it across into some other bushes.  I don’t like to chase after wildlife, but even if I had done, I wouldn’t have had a chance of finding it in all that undergrowth and so decided to have a walk around and return later.  Had I been carrying around my camouflaged netting which I normally do, the Fox may not have been so spooked as at least I would have been hidden.

I returned back about and hour and a half later  to the position I first saw the Fox as this gave me the widest view point.  Within a short space of time I saw the unmistakable top half of a Fox in the tall grass going in the same direction it went when I spooked it.  Either it had come back during the time I had gone or this was a different one.  Once again I had picked the wrong spot though at least  I was downwind now.  I was starting to think packing ‘light’ was the wrong decision now – ironic since this was only the second time in over a year that I didn’t go out with the 500mm.  I managed to rattle off a few shots before it once more disappeared into the grass.  In the photograph below, you can see the original bushes just above and beyond the top of the Fox, where it had originally chased the Rabbit into.

With the Fox gone I carried on walking around and nearly trod on this Toad.  I wonder how many of us actually look around us and at where we are walking when we are out in the wilds.

With the morning coming to an end and little else stirring, I thought I would try my hand at some bird in flight shots.  Something I’ve never really tried to do but with the a Mk IIn camera and Canon 400mm, renown for being ideal for photographing birds flying, I messed around with the different settings and practiced on anything that flew by.  My feeble attempts at the Swifts didn’t go too well.  It was hard enough just to keep them in the frame, never mind keep them in focus!  Photographing Crows and Rooks, which are black and Seagull, which are white also gave a few technical problems due to exposure and so tried compensation and spot metering.  The bright sunshine at least help me keep a high shutter speed and stopping down the aperture for a greater depth of field.  I hope to dedicate a few days out over the coming months to trying more birds in flight with the 400mm.

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Spring has finally sprung

Up early on what promised to be a rare sunny and mild day and arrived at location with high hopes of seeing a variety of wildlife.  I thought I'd try out my 500mm lens for the first time in a wooded environment to see how it would cope.  It wasn’t long before I saw three Roe Deer in the distance, unfortunately, there was a lot of trees and branches in between making it hard to get a clear shot of them and found my camera struggling to focus through this.

I tried to get closer to them but a Magpie making alarm calls behind me meant the Deer kept looking up in my direction and eventually they disappeared into a denser part of the wood.

 

Further along I caught a glimpse of a flash of red out of the corner of my eye which to my surprise, turned out to be a Red Squirrel scampering half way up a tree.  I was completely taken back by this, having not seen any Red Squirrels here for a few years, this being about the  last remaining refuge of them in the Tyneside area.  I remember years ago enjoying watching these Squirrels in most of the woods around here until the ‘tree rats’, err, I mean Grey Squirrels, took over and the Reds all but disappeared. 

I have to admit, there is something cute about the Reds, they also seem quite fearless and curious.  If you stumble across a Grey, they will scamper up a tree and halfway across the wood before you know it.  This one was on the ground when it saw me, then went part of the way up the tree, looked at me and then went a little further up where it then decided to scorn me for interrupting it, with a chattering noise.

Even as I passed by, it still remained in the tree and just watched me as I went by.  I decided not to stay, and left it in peace.

Further along still I stumbled across another three Roe Deer which moved through into some high grass and again, struggled to focus on them, once more, I put it down to the foliage in between.  It wasn’t until I sat down to view what I had taken so far that I realised I had left my focusing on the ‘ring of fire’ as the last time I was out with the camera I was photographing birds in flight with which this focusing option is ideal – a single image with an uncluttered background – the exact opposite of what I had been trying to photograph now, doh!

 

As I approached the lake, I nearly stood on this little guy, a toad just sitting there in the sun, totally indifferent to me.  I managed to get down and close to get some eye to eye images.  A number of times I have heard of photographers finding a frog or toad and have moved it to a log or leaf to get a ‘better’ picture which I think is completely wrong.  No animal should be caused stress for the sake of a photograph.

 

 

At the lake itself it was very quite, just the usual Mallards, Coots and a pair of Swans.  Overhead, high up, was a Buzzard, sailing the thermals.  I also saw my first butterfly of the year – maybe summer is really on the way!

 

 

As it was getting late morning I figured I wasn’t going to see much of what I came to see, out and about anymore and was about to put my camera in by backpack when two Roe Deer crossed the path in front of me, the first saw me and moved quickly the second just looked at me as I stopped still so I managed to take a few images but hand held with the 500mm (not image stabiliser) at 1/250th – I didn’t think they would turn out.  I guess years of using none IS lenses has paid off.  He eventually trotted off indifferently.  

 

After some four hours in and around the woods on a mild, sunny, spring morning, I had seen 13 Roe Deer, 3 Rabbits, 3 Red Squirrels two Toads, various birds including 3 Pheasants and the Buzzard.  What really made it feel like summer was not just the weather but the noise in the wood.  Every living creature seemed to be either showing off or competing, I even heard Tawny Owls at midday calling to each other.

For the final part of the day I headed to Far Pastures where a Heron has been a regular visitor recently.  Soon after arriving, so did the Heron.  I’m intrigued by Herons and admire their patience, though this one didn’t require much as there was no shortage of food for it in the small lake, finding small fish, newts and frogs.

 

With the Heron flying off, I too decided to call it a day after nine hours, all in all not a bad day out and about.

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