Toad in a pond

I am currently house sitting for a month and I am surrounded by cool and interesting wildlife, on the first evening I saw a deer in the garden (which had gone by the time I got the camera). My most recent trip resulted in this photo.

 

f/6.3

1/250

1250

400mm

Spring time Curlew

 

The curlew is one of the u.k's 4 wetland birds flagged as being at most risk. Thankfully in my area (the south coast) they are making a massive comeback, not that this is based on hard evidence, purely the fact I see several every trip whereas I used to be lucky to glimpse one. This is the first bird I every photographed, and at the time I had no idea what the bird was or how to use my camera in that fact. It was nice to get a photo I am happy with today after about 3 years of trying and practice.

 

 

f/5.6

1/2000

ISO-1000

400mm

Brent Geese

As promised, Brent Geese. These birds winter here in large numbers especially at Pagham harbour and can be seen flying in groups made up of thousands of individuals. It was recently discovered that  birds such as these, when migrating not only fly in that trademark arrow formation to save energy but also but they also time their wing beats. One will time its downward motion so as to take advantage of the gust created by the goose in front of it. This means that they can migrate further without stopping due to them being more energy efficient. These particular geese come all the way from Siberia.

 

f/7.1

1/400

ISO-320

400mm

 

 

 

 

 

 

Morning Blackbird

 

 

 

Took a trip down to good old Pagham harbour this morning, and tried out the new lens I got for my 21st birthday. Saw some amazing things as this time of year the Brent Geese are here for winter from Siberia. However, as it turns out the photo I was most happy with was this photo of a foraging blackbird (geese photos will appear soon).

 

f/5.6

1/1600

ISO - 1000

400mm

 

Captive Barn Owl

This photo was taken whilst on a walk around Pagham harbor nature reserve in West Sussex. We were lucky enough to bump into a man who was using the wide open spaces to fly his much loved and majestic looking Barn Owl, Charlie as he does apparently every day. 

f/7.1

1/500

ISO - 1000

300mm

More Fungi !

Unfortunately i have no idea what this is. I have done quite a bit of internet research but so far have found nothing. If anyone does know what this is (and yes, i know its a mushroom of some description) then it would be really appreciated if you could let me know what it is.

This was another shot from the same location as my previous photo. The unknown fungi was all over this fallen deadwood and was really quite eye-catching. The light was tricky by this time of the day though so i had to use the camera's in built flash. It didn't give the best results but it was the lesser of two evils.

f/3.5

1/200

ISO - 1000

18mm

Fly Agaric

This time of year the Fungi are out. This year seems to be particularly rich in Fungi as i discovered last week on a walk with the family in a local woodland. I dont claim to know the first thing about fungi, infact my cousin who is half my age knew more and practically gave me a lesson on the topic. But this particular one was very eye catching so i felt i had to get a shot.

f/4.5

1/250

ISO - 1000

34mm