Photography Sample

Inspired by the superb work of my friend Rose LaCroix, and needing to post something to the blog I’m criminally neglecting, have a sample of my wildlife and scenic photography, taken on the day of posting. First, the original version. with no editing.

Second, a version with auto-levelling applied in paint.net.

The subject is a female hornet mimic hoverfly, the UK’s largest hoverfly, increasingly common to see, and, it turns out, a wonderfully obliging photographic subject. Still stunned at how good a picture I got, considering I’m using a 13-year-old Fujifilm Finepix S4000 that’s become a little cranky and erratic and has traditionally always struggled with overcast, low-light conditions like this pic was taken in. Old camera clearly still has its moments!

Let me know if you like. If so, I’ll post more. I’ve quite the library at this point.

Foxy Frolics

I really feel I need to record this, as it was quite something to witness.  It happened on today’s walk with Tigger.

We’re following a footpath along the edge of a field a short way from our house.  There’s a stream bordering it to our left, the large field stretches off to the right, and ahead, in the corner, are a pair of gates – one large, one small – leading into another field, and another gate to the left, past a bridge over the stream, eventually leading to a farmhouse.

I spot a cock pheasant in front of the smaller of the paired gates, which quickly melts into the hedge.  I then see, across the field beyond the gates, something else.  Thinking it to be another pheasant, I use my camera to zoom in on it, and discover it’s actually a fox, curled up and dozing in the winter sunshine, right on the line of the footpath.

We reach the gates, and it hasn’t stirred.  I decide to slip through quietly, carry on walking as usual, and see what happens, but before I can close the smaller gate Tigger has rushed back through.  Looking up, I see two more foxes tearing past twenty feet back in the prior field, one chasing the other!  They must have been running along the footpath behind us almost to the gates, then curved round 90 degrees to follow the other border.

I hasten after Tigger, but foxes 2 and 3 outdistance us in seconds, vanishing up a straggling extension I tend to call the tail of that field.  Confounded, I lead Tigger back through the gates, to find fox 1 has, perhaps unsurprisingly given my vocally shocked (“WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL?!”) reactions, disappeared.  We barely make it thirty feet into this huge field, when, amazingly, foxes 2 and 3 reappear far ahead of us, tearing along the footpath straight toward us!

I honestly couldn’t believe my eyes.  One veered off about fifty feet from us, crossing the field at a right angle, then stopping just before the hedge.  The other stopped thirty feet from us, staring after its fellow for a few seconds.  Then Tigger ran for it, and it took off, back the way it had come.  It rapidly outdistanced Tigger, and not long after she gave up chasing, it stopped.  Then, finally, both melted away.

It was an amazing encounter with beautiful, playful, seemingly friendly animals that left me breathless.  I’m still buzzing about it, now.  Given the time of year, I think it a pretty safe bet we inadventently got caught up in some vulpine foreplay, a vixen quite literally leading a dog fox on a merry chase prior to mating.

It was an experience I’m likely to remember for a long time. 🙂

Wildlife Encounters

Thurs 25th June: The dog fox, Streak, spotted trotting along the edge of the field the coal mound, and thus his den, is in.  He fairly quickly melted into the hedgerow.

Fri 26th June: Wasn’t expecting to see anything on the walk, given it was overcast, drizzly and the wind was (as far as I could tell with so little) blowing our scents ahead of us, but I was wrong.  We stopped at the vantage point looking across to the coal mound to shelter from a thicker burst of rain, and I soon spot a pointy, red-furred face staring out of the foliage at me.  After a few moments, it moves, emerging onto an area of quite short grass, and I see it’s the vixen, carrying something.  My best guess is a ragged lump of wood, but I’m nowhere near sure.  She fairly soon pads out of view, towards the area of the mound I believe houses the den.

Sun 28th June: More dog walk encounters.  First, one of the many swallows hunting the fields flies past within a couple of feet of me, close enough I could have reached out and touched it, and slow enough to give me a stunning view.  Second, as Tigger splashes in the stream Green Lane crosses, I look out over a freshly-cut fallow field and notice not only a large number of wood pigeons startling away, but a fox staring at me.  It wasn’t close enough to be sure, but I lean toward it being Streak, since when I unzipped my coat (it had been raining when we started the walk but was by then a lot sunnier) it bounded energetically away, only to stop just before the hedge and stare again, very much like the late evening encounter on 16th June.  It then vanished in the time it took me to glance at Tigger.  Lastly, in the late evening Tigger-pee, the usual bat appeared hunting the drive, and another passed through.  Also, a large – probably a red underwing – moth was on the wall of the house.

Tue 30th June: In the Green Lane portion of the dog walk, just past the brook crossing, a roe deer startled away from – at a rough guess – thirty or so feet ahead of us.  Tigger made to playfully chase, but stopped when I asked.  I didn’t expect to see it again, but a little way on it startled away again, then again further on still.  By this point we were close to the end of the lane and the road, which is very busy for a B-road, and I was worried we were inadvertently herding it toward trouble.  Thankfully it didn’t appear again, having finally found a way through one hedge or the other.  On checking my (too poor to post) photos, I realised it was a buck, with a sizeable set of antlers.  That’s a male and a female seen quite soon after each other.  Come the evening Tig-time not only did the usual bat appear in the orchard, but another up around the top of the ash, another was glimpsed over our neighbour’s back yard, and a possible fourth (it may also have been one of the others, relocated and moving a lot faster) zipping around another part of the garden.  Warm night equals plentiful food, I guess.

Weds 1st July: On the last part of the walk, along the road to home, I found an insect on the pavement.  This isn’t unusual, since I’m often rescuing bees, butterflies and caterpillars from the asphalt; this insect, however, was a stunning male banded demoiselle, much less common around here than their beautiful cousins.  I picked it up by its wings – a method I use with butterflies with great success – and set it gently on the nearby hedge.  It was a little dopey, but seemed to be recovering, so hopefully it survived.

Thurs 2nd July: On leaving my friend’s house a little after 10pm I crossed the road, and glanced out across the field…then stared in open-mouthed wonder.  There was an actual, real, genuine badger foraging some fifty-ish feet away from me, calm and completely unphased by my incredulous gasping.  With the kind of painfully double-edged luck that seems to dog me this was the one time I hadn’t brought my camera along, and my phone was useless.  Then things got even crazier – from right in front of me a fox emerged, trotting casually out from the cover of the hedge.  That’s when I started shaking, convinced I was dreaming; no way was this happening.  Sadly I gave a slightly too loud gibbering sound of wild excitement, and the fox (most likely Streak again) turned to look at me, then bounded, in that same energetic, almost playful-looking way, to just past the still utterly uncaring brock, and stopped to look at me again.  After a few more snatched and awful phone photos it trotted further and further away, vanishing beyond the curve of the field.  At that point I sprinted back to my friend to tell him; he came out to look, the badger still there, casually noting it was likely the same one he’d seen in his garden in the daytime a while back.  Once he left, I crossed back over the road, gawped at brock some more, then finally set off home, in a state of utter shock, the badger just carrying on foraging.  Suffice it to say that was the most amazing wildlife encounter of my entire life, and I’m still shaking as I type this.

Fair to say things are getting very interesting around here right now.  I’m seeing so many wonderful things, and for some reason, Streak and the vixen (I will think of a name for her eventually) are never far away.  I’ve always, light-heartedly, thought of foxes as my good luck tokens; now, after so many instances of them appearing so close to another superb sighting, and especially tonight, I’m honestly starting to wonder if it might actually be true…

Wildlife Sightings

Fri 19th June: Largely quiet walk, the one fun moment being an obliging pied wagtail encountered as we circled round the local recreation ground.  They’re a common sight there, foraging in the short grass, but this one came a little closer than most, and was a bit more energetic than usual, flitting and bounding all over the place after insects.  Possibly a youngster?  Also, when out in the garden with Tigger for her 10pm before-bed pee, a bat joined us in the orchard (not nearly as grand as it might sound) for a hunt, passing fairly close above my head a few times.  Possibly the same one from last night?

Sun 21st June: Headed out with Tigger at 10pm hoping to see the bat again, and it duly obliged, despite the overcast, blustery and faintly drizzly conditions.  Amusingly, it appeared by swooping in pretty low over my head – little guy knows how to make an entrance.  Though this was a short encounter, as it quickly headed up to the treetops where I could only catch glimpses, it was an enjoyable one.  Fingers crossed for more to come.

Tue 23rd June: Very quiet walk, beyond a sudden explosion of brown meadow butterflies (can’t recall exact species).  Plenty of rabbits at the farm en route to my friend, including one lounging in the shade, and one that appeared just the other side of the hedge to me, browsing.  The bat also reappeared during Tigger’s night pee, zooming past as I stood in the driveway.

Weds 24th June: Another quiet walk, but things really picked up on the way to my friend.  First the same rabbit I saw lounging in the shadows yesterday bounded out into plain sight and shook itself vigorously; it then hopped under the corner of a hedge, not seeming very phased by me at all.  A little further round the corner the farm is on the inside of, I came to a foot-tall, crumbling stretch of dry-stone wall, from the top of which a very young rabbit scrambled away.  The best, though, came right after, when I came alongside the field adjacent to the farm – a very large bird of prey flapped away, fairly quickly settling a fair distance into the field.  At first, I thought it was a buzzard, but then I realised the shape and colours were wrong.  At a dip in the hedge I readied my camera, but it took off, moving very near to a distant hedgerow.  I realigned, only for it to startle again, most likely thanks to a trio of passing crows.  As it headed back across the field and further away I managed to take this shot (cropped version of a distant, thus poor, photo).  Looking at it once I reached my friend’s house, and comparing to Googled photos, I realised it was a red kite.  Needless to say, I was seriously excited, and still am now.

Wildlife Encounters

I’ve decided to regularly record any wildlife sightings or encounters of note I enjoy, for ease of personal reference and because I’m interested to see what thoughts others may have.  By the very nature of these things, sometimes there’ll be a glut, other times barely anything.  Thankfully, to kick off, we have a decent selection from the last few days.

Mon 15th June: on the dog walk, found a species of day-flying moth in Green Lane I’ve never seen before – a chimney sweeper.  The sheer variety of life in that little strip of verdant richness never fails to surprise me.

Tues 16th June: Again on the afternoon dog walk, when resting in a lovely fallow field, spotted a roe deer doe in the shadows of the hedge opposite us.  She, after a few moments, came out into the light, trotting quite steadily across the corner of the meadow and melting into another hedge.  I must note my dog, Tigger’s brilliant behaviour; she simply sat and watched as I took photos, not moving until I told her to.  Great wildlife-watching companion, that sappy springador.

Tues 16th again: On the walk home from a friend’s house just after 10pm I noticed a fox trotting across a field over the road.  I backpedalled to keep it in view through the gate, but must have done so a little too excitedly as it started and bounded in a wide loop back toward the hedge it had come from, only to stop before it got there and stare fixedly at me.  As the light was low indeed and getting lower I couldn’t tell if it was the dog fox or vixen I see a lot, but given it stopped and stared, I’m sure it had to be one of them – they’re pretty bold, for country foxes.  As far as I could tell it was still frozen and looking at me I as decided to not disturb it any longer and move on.

Wed 17th June: Another dog walk encounter, this time at very close quarters.  As we entered the second of the fields we walk through, Tigger on the lead as it’s currently full of sheep and lambs, a buzzard rose from the hedge ten feet to our left, winged across our path a similar distance in front, then headed the length of the field to vanish in the trees.  This wasn’t the first time we’ve startled a buzzard at close quarters, but normally they’re gone very quickly.  This one was surprisingly calm, giving me a wonderful head-height view of it.  In better weather – it was overcast and pretty blustery – I’d have tried to snatch a photo; opportunities like that are really rare.  Also spotted at similarly close quarters – swallows and long-tailed tits.

Today, Thurs 18th June: A largely quiet walk, the only thing of note a large caterpillar found in Green Lane, right in the middle of the path.  I coaxed it into clinging to a stick, took some photos, then deposited it in the hedgerow.  I do see this species – drinker moth larvae – around from time to time, usually out in the open on paths or pavements.  Later in the afternoon, as I strolled up to my friend’s, I came within a foot of stepping on a young rabbit on the pavement; the farm I pass en route is home to many, many lapines, who can often be quite bold, and don’t seem to have an ounce of common sense between them.  This one, thankfully, hopped into the hedgerow – I’ve already come across two splattered on the road and don’t want to find any more.  Lastly, on getting home at around 10:30 tonight I found a bat hunting over our driveway, silhouetted by our lights; I watched it while Tigger enjoyed her last little roam in the garden before bed, delighted by how close it was willing to come.

After something of a lull in encounters, mostly thanks to May being so windswept and unsettled, the weather’s improving and the wildlife’s more visible and plentiful as a result, so I’m hopeful of being able to record a steady stream of magical little moments like these.  Hopefully you enjoy them, too, and as noted above, your thoughts are welcome.