Bess in the Bluebells

Bess in the Bluebells

Well, I'm still waiting for the adders to start dancing... and while waiting the bluebells in our woods have started to emerge. Not quite at their peak yet, but certainly good enough for some photography.

We had a group that was lucky enough to be booked on to a photographic day with our owls earlier this week, so I wanted to check out the bluebells for myself to get an idea of some places where we could set the owls up to add a bit of colour to the images. I didn't have time to have a real good session, and no help to pose owls, so I took Bess along to be an honoury owl for the morning :-)

The good news is that the bluebells are looking good, not at their peak, but still good. The bad news is that in terms of spread, it is the worst I have seen them! Normally a carpet of blue falls over our woodland, but this spring sees it more sparse with only small patches here and there.

This means no nice wide lanscapey type pictures, but for just the bluebells a few close ups were white nice. I think we have more white bluebells this year than before, so I took a couple of those too.

In the patches we do have though, it is possible to create some nice photos that add colour to the images.

We have our competition winner from a couple of years a go visiting this afternoon for exclusive photo day, so I am sure we will make the most of them today and hopefully I will be able to share some owl photos in the bluebells with you next week.

But Bess was a good model, posing nicely, and seemed to enjoy it down there.

Thanks for looking :-)

Few from Spring, 2015

Bess, the Border Collie

Here are a few photos that I have taken this year but have yet to share. They were taken with my Nikon, hence why you have not seen them yet :-)

I was hanging around one evening at work, and we had the first decent spell of evening light so I took advantage and took a couple of portraits of Bess.

A few weeks a go now our red deer cast their antlers. They do this every year in the Spring, and then over the next 16 weeks grow a brand new set... usually larger than their previous set! Remarkable really that they can grow them that fast.

Above is Albus Dumbledeer on the right, and Olivandeer on the left... Do we have a Harry Potter fan at the Centre you may well ask?.. Well, yes... we do :-)

As you can see, they don't always cast their antlers at the same time leaving them looking a little silly...

... but not as silly as when both have cast. They then just look like a big female until their new antlers begin to show through.

Walking over to work one morning, and came across this little fella on the path in the rain. Took the opportunity to take a quick photo.

Where does the "Badass problem solver" go when he has things on his mind?.. He turns to nature. It has an easy way of simplifying things, putting things in to perspective and making you appreciate everything. I like a place that only I know, and this is mine.

Fawkes is a short eared owl. Not many are on display in Britain, and ours is one of a handful that can be used for photography workshops. He is beautiful!

The short eared is my favourite owl in the world, so when I tagged on to the owl day a couple of weeks ago to get some in the bluebells... I also made sure I was their for when they did Fawkes.

I am very picky with my photographs of Fawkes, and got some strange looks when I placed him on the gravel in the middle of nowhere... but by framing it right and using the right angles, you can really make something out of nothing.

Full facial disc.

And the back of the head... Yes I did mean this... their latin name is Asio flammeus, named due to their feathers looking like fire and you can see why above.

Thanks for looking :-)

Owls in Bluebells, 2015

Tawny Owl in Bluebells

Last week we had an owl photographic day booked in. Lucky for those that came, it coincided with our woodlands being a wash of violet with the bluebells at their peak!

We made the most of them, and placed a few of the owls in the bluebells throughout the day. I joined in for the tawny, little and long eared owl. Here are a couple of my photos. Above is Florence, one of our tawny owls.

Little owl, Scrappy, in the bluebells.

Archimedes the long eared owl. Decided to fall asleep, so not seeing his eyes I went for an wider angle shot.

Scrappy again, showing how small he really is amongst the bluebells.

And earlier that week, while checking out the bluebells, I took a couple of Bess with the fisheye lens.

Thanks for looking :-)

Fish-Eye Lens

Otter on Ice - Highly Commended, BWPA 2012

I have a few different lenses for my camera, of which my 70-200 is by far my favourite. If I could only keep one lens, that would be the one, and is on my camera by default. However I do have a soft spot for my fish-eye lens.

The fish-eye lens seems to have a mixed reaction. Some like it, some don't and some really don't. Personally I love it!

When I first heard about the fish-eye lens, I asked a few people what it was and had the same reaction... Quirky little lens, no good for wildlife... after that I wanted to prove them wrong, and did with the photo above..

The photo of this otter, Lilly, is still my highest awarded photo being Highly Commended in the Animal Portrait category in the BWPA back in 2012.

BWPA 2012 Gallery - Taken by Izzy Coomber

Of course I had to have the obligatory cheesy photo taken with it in the Mall Gallery in London... I know what you're thinking, good to see he smartened himself up for the award ceremony!..

It was great to see my photo displayed alongside so manny other truly amazing photographs of British wildlife, and alongside other great amateur and professional photographers.

Badger through Fish-Eye

The fish-eye lens is a bit hit and miss. By this I means it doesn't always work... due to it's uniqueness, it is quite a niche area of photography, and of all my lenses I use it is the one I have the lowest success rate with. But then when it does work, I think it really works well to create something a little unusual, quirky and different.

HEDWIG!!!

Perhaps the most fun can be had with quirky portraits. You can see above with the badger and snowy owl, it really distorts the proportions. The closer you get with the lens, the more distorted the photo is, and you can get within an inch with it still focusing.

British Fraggle Centre - 2014

The keeping team of 2014.

Harvest Mouse

The photo above is not the best, but it shows how the lens works. You can see with the sky how it really distorts and bends the picture at the extremities.

Fallow Deer

It is all about how you tilt the lens. Tilting it down slightly will give you the effect of a upwards curve on the horizon, as it the animals for example is on top of the world. You can see this slight effect above, and more extreme on the otter at the top of this post.

Bungalow Foundation Digging

Keeping the camera level gives you a level horizon... it will still bend the extremities, you may be able to see this in the trees on the right and the chalk line at the bottom of this photo, but it is less obvious in the sky where there is nothing to show the curve.

Incidentally, this photo is of the foundations being dug for my bungalow. I was standing only a couple of feet away from the chalk line, so you can see how wide the lens really is, almost taking in 180 degrees!

Deer Paddock in Autumn

Tilting the lens the other way, upwards, you get this downwards curve of the horizon...

Deer Paddock

... and of course the more you tilt, the greater the effect as above. All this means I get some funny looks while taking photos with this lens, as most often it looks like I am pointing the camera in completely the wrong direction!

Fallow Grazing

When ever I do a shoot, I always try to get the fish-eye lens out for a bit unless it is obvious that it really won't work. The one above and below are ones from the fallow deer shoot I did a month or so back now for David.

Fallow Deer

The first a true quirky portrait, and the one above a much more subtle use.

Harvest Mouse

And my most recent fish-eye portrait that I am fairly happy with. A harvest mouse on a sprig of corn. Looking at the harvest mouse photos, I have an idea for a great fish-eye portrait, but it will take a bit of setting up. If I get it, I will post it.

Thanks for looking.

Bess

Bess

In my last post on Cinnabar caterpillars, I mentioned I spent half an hour on the reserve with Bess and the caterpillars... I thought most of those who look at this blog knew who Bess was, but I had a few raised eyebrows. So for those who don't know, let me introduce to you my loyal companion and best friend "Bess".

Playing Frisbee

Bess is a border collie, or sheepdog as I prefer calling her as she is from true working stock lines. Her claim to fame is that her great grandfather "Wisp" won the International Sheepdog Trials back in 1992.

The photo above is one of my favourites of her, back when she was still young, and before I really took photos. When I first got her she didn't know how to play, and I had to teach her. It took a while, but eventually she got the hang of it, and frisbee used to be her favourite game... she is a little too old for that now though.

The photo was a fun one to get. I had to throw the frisbee, then quickly grab the camera, focus on her and hope for the best.

Bess

Beautiful isn't she? I call her a semi-rescue. She didn't come from a rescue centre, but she was unwanted. From the little I can tell from the paperwork that came with her, she was born in Scotland, passed on to a farm in Norfolk, passed round a few more until she ended up at the BWC owners son's farm.

He wanted to train her up to be a working dog, but just didn't have the time to do so and was happy to give her to a good home.

Bess

I went to see her one Saturday, not expecting too much as I had always had dogs (males) and that is what I was looking for. Also I had never taken on an older dog before, she was a year when I got her. When I turned up on the farm, Jules showed her to me and let her out of her shed, and she just ran off!..

... I thought, oh christ!, but then I just kneeled down watching her in the distance, and she turned round and ran the length of the field back, sat next to me and rested her head on my lap! Jules said he had never seen her do that with anyone... and maybe he just said that to make my mind up, but I do still believe him as she is still very nervous of new people to this day.

Either way, that was my mind made up, and I told him I would be back to pick her up tomorrow (on the Sunday).

Herding Sheep in the Summer Evening

I spent a lot of time with her in the early days training her, so much that she seemed a different dog when Jules came to see her just a month later. We were all very happy, so it was a good decision made.

I did train her with sheep a little, and she knows, or did know it's been a long time, her left and right and stand etc. The basics. But she is really just a companion, but with an active lifestyle. She is always out with me around work and has become the BWC dog in this sense, often following the other keepers too if she thinks they are doing something more interesting than me to watch.

On the Club Car

Most of the time she is with me though, and even travels on the vehicles. It took a while to train her that they were safe, but she got there in the end and soon jumps on for a journey.

On the club car she knows that she is not allowed off if in the deer paddock, but is allowed off around the Centre if we stop.

Riding on the Dumper Truck

She will even ride around on the large dumper truck with us, although at her age now she needs a helping hand getting up there.

Taking it Easy

If you are a visitor to the Centre, you may have met her already. If not, then you would not of been far away. While we are not open she is allowed around the Centre with us. But once we are open, or have a booked group in, she stays behind our yard fence with us where we prepare the food etc.

Shaking Off

When I first had her she was scared of water, petrified in fact, but now she loves it and always jumps in when we are on the reserve.

Bess in a Mess

And she is not afraid of getting dirty!

Bess in the Snow

Here are a couple of photos of her in the different seasons. The snow above and bluebells below.

Bess in the Bluebells

She is an old girl now, and you can see it in the way she moves, how she has slowed down, and the grey in her face. But she is still full of life and enjoys working closely with us all. She really is part of the BWC team!

The Keeping Team, 2014

Below is one of the first photos I took of her when I first got her. It was on an old Sony mobile phone, but still one of my favourites of her.

A Young Bess

Thanks for looking.