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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Little Grebe, Big Stomach

A rare break in the weather with some rare sunshine at the weekend and an opportunity to get out with my camera.  Despite it being the later half of April and despite there being sunshine, it was cold – around two degrees when I started out.  There was little signs of Spring, the kind you would expect by now, just some Red Kites doing some acrobats whilst vying for the attention of a female.  On the ground or rather water, there was this little chap seemingly doing very well fishing.

It was going back and forth from my position, diving down with nearly every time, catching a stickleback fish.  On occasion it would catch one that was just a little too big to swallow first time around so it would be bashed against the water, repositioned, another attempt to down it then often dropping it where the fish would then get away or end up back in its mouth and swallowed.

A Kingfisher flew by during all of this and I thought you don’t know what you’re missing!  I wasn’t exactly in an ideal position to get decent photographs so the images aren’t great.  It was in amongst the reeds most of the time and conveniently had its back to me or just slight away so the light didn’t catch the face, but the pictures manage to tell the story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sand, Sea and Cold Wet Feet

I’ve spent much of the winter months (weather permitting) working on my seascapes.  At this time of year getting up to photograph a sunrise isn’t too painful – currently sunrise is around 7:00 am.  Allowing for travel and setting up at about 30 minutes before the sun rises, that means getting up in the morning at around 5:00 am at the latest.  Still manageable.  With the mornings becoming lighter by the day, soon it will be a struggle so I’m making the most of the opportunity.  Of course, I do have a bit of a thing about watching the dawning of a new day over the sea.  It never gets tired for me especially when it’s quiet and nobody is about.

 

This weekend it nearly didn’t happen.  The forecast was for low cloud and possible snow but I was going to go out regardless but since I wasn’t going to see the sun I figured I could get there a bit later.  The overcast sky would still produce the kind of subdued lighting suitable for photography.  As it turned out on the morning, I woke up over an hour before my alarm was due to go off so I checked the latest forecast which had now changed to light cloud and so a possible sight of the sun.  This was motivation enough as these might be the last ‘ideal’ conditions, with the tide going out and at just the right time for sunrise. 

 

The first image is quite blue temptation and the first thought might be to ‘warm it up’ in post processing, but it is as I remember it, though maybe darker as it was about 20 minutes before the sun rose.  As the tide went out I moved along the beach where rocks were starting to reveal themselves, making for a more interesting foreground.  Anyone who has ever taken images of seascapes will know there are a few good reasons for doing so when the tide is going out, one of which are the waves themselves.  If the tide is coming in the waves are more forceful and you risk, literally, getting washed away.  With the tide going out the waves are more gentler, however every now and then a big wave will still come in and by positioning yourself a little distance from the tide line, this is the wave you photograph crashing over the rocks.

Unfortunately, on this morning's adventure, these ‘big waves’ seemed bigger than normal and it wasn’t long before I got my feet completely wet.  I couldn’t leave my camera on the tripod when one of these waves came in for fear it washing it away.  If I took my tripod and camera away then I would have missed the ideal shot (though still did this a few times).  The next two shots below I definitely got my feet wet!  Although initially I did try and move out of the way of one of these waves whilst keeping within grabbing distance of my camera, it didn’t ultimately make any difference and in the end I didn’t bother at all to get out of the way, though not before on one occasion when, surprised by one large wave I instinctively reacted, the weight of my camera back caused me to fall backwards into the wave, where I let off a stream of obscenities, not realising there were a couple of people nearby, beachcombing.

Despite my feet, legs up to my knees and now, back, were completely soaked and in temperatures around freezing, I persevered.  As sunrise was now due it was clear I was unlikely to have any kind of glowing spectacle as I could only see a slight orange horizon but the cloud formations were a spectacle in themselves and it wasn’t until I got home and could look at some of the images more closely that I could see in the distance some rain storms over the sea. Unfortunately these image, due to their size don’t do justice to scene and it’s best to look at a better sized image here where you can see the storms in the distance.

After a dozern freezing drenchings later and with the light becoming too bright and harsh I decided to call it a day.  Some attempt was made to dry my feet out.  When I took my boots off I could poor the water out!  Luckily I carry around a small hand towel in my camera bag, just in case so was able to dry my feet off.  Next time though I will remember to bring a spare set of socks.

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