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

Red Deer Stag

Another shot from my trip to Richmond park in London. This shot is one of only two that i was actually happy with by the end of the day and proof that you don't put your camera away until you are in the car. My first memory card had filled up. As we were near the car i thought about putting the camera away then my dad started taking photos of a small group of stags being kept company by the Jackdaws you can see in the back ground. So instead i put in my spare card and took three or four shots, and i am glad i did :).

f/7.1

1/500

ISO-1000

500mm

Richmond Park

This weekend i took a trip up to London with my girlfriend to visit family. On Sunday me, India (my girlfriend) and my dad got up before sun rise and drove to Richmond park (a little tip for anyone planning on visiting early like we did, the gates don't open for cars until 7:00am). Luckily, whilst waiting outside we met an amateur photographer who visits Richmond park the same time every year and showed us all the good spots and gave us some helpful tips.
The reason we were there was to see the Red and Fallow deer that Richmond park is famous for. We were a little late to see the rutting so all the deer were relatively inactive apart from the bellowing, telling the other deer who is in charge. To give it some perspective the big stags like the one in the image below can reach more than 170kg. So they are pretty large.

f/7.1

1/400

ISO-1250

500mm

Small roar !

I found this earlier, a photo of a Scottish wild cat taken on a photography day at the British wildlife center in surrey. An amazing place and amazing day, i would love to go back there again and i would recommend it to anyone who is thinking of going :).

f/8

1/320

ISO - 2500

70mm

Guess the bird reveal !!!!!!

Today is tuesday, so as promised here is the photo of the mystery bird. A jay ! Some people did guess correctly so well done if you did :).

f/8

1/1600

ISO - 1600

370mm

Shield bug

The shield bug is something i don't know too much about, all i know is i see them around every now and again, they seem to be very strong for their size and their defensive  mechanism is to release a scent which can be a nightmare to get rid of. Although for some reason i have a soft spot for these odd little things so when my mum called me in to see what was crawling on her laptop the other day i had to take the chance to photograph it when releasing it :).

f/7.1

1/640

ISO - 500

214mm

Starling

Having dislocated my knee again recently i have been photographing a lot of wildlife in my garden. This is another example of garden wildlife. I was able to set up my camera in a prime position and wait in comfort which was a nice change :D. 

f/8

1/1600

ISO - 2000

500mm

Curlew

When i got my first Digital SLR and new very little about photography i went down to my local nature reserve and by chance photographed a bizarre bird flying past (quite badly photographed). A couple of years on and i realise that that sighting was very lucky and for it to be the first bird i ever photographed was even more so. So it was nice the other day to get a photograph of this rare and impressive bird, the Curlew.

f/6.3

1/1000

ISO - 640

500mm

Guess the bird !

Seeing as though the more interactive posts seem to be what people enjoy i have another one to keep you all guessing for a little while. This photo was taken in my back garden. Its not a particularly great image but it is perfect for a guessing game of this kind :). This is purely for fun, so unfortunately no prizes. I wll reveal the answer this time next week. Feel free to comment and discuss with others but if you comment with your guess i wont tell you if you are correct or not, you will just have to be patient :). Good luck.

f/8

1/1600

ISO - 1600

370mm

In the spotlight

I'm sure there are more interesting species to photograph but this hoverfly was definitely a fun species to photograph, and challenging. I had tried several times before but i guess practice makes perfect... although i'm sure i will be trying many more times before i get a "perfect" shot of one.

f/8

1/640

ISO - 1600

500mm

Photography competition

Sony launched a photography competition a few years ago and being that part of it is free i decided to enter three photos in the nature category. This is one of them that i took on holiday.

f/6.3

1/800

ISO - 250

370mm

Green Woodpecker

In the last few months we have been hearing the sounds of woodpeckers around our garden. Finally, we got a visit from one of the noisy neighbors today. He jumped around the garden for a good half an hour eating ants in the ground (which is why green woodpeckers are not often seen in woodlands and found more often in open grassland).

f/8

1/200

ISO -160

500mm

Black tailed Godwit

Another photo from my time at pagham yesterday. Things like this can often surprise you. Pagham has godwits such as this one all over the reserve, all in places that are hard to reach and get close enough to take a photo. However on my way home after three hours in what i thought was a good spot i saw this little guy relatively close and was able to get this photo.

f/8

1/500
IS0 - 320

500mm

Little Egret

Today i cycled down to pagam harbor nature reserve at about 6:00 am. It was worth the early start as whilst there i saw Redshank's, Lapwing's, Curlews, Godwits and even my best ever view of a kingfisher. So more than happy with the sightings any "good" photos would be a plus.

When i arrived home i was very pleased to find that i had managed to take a photo of a white subject without over exposing it and ruining the image (something  had been trying to do for at least a year). This was the end result (Plenty more photos to come from my morning at pagham).

f/8

1/500

ISO - 200

500mm