BWC in the Snow

Red Squirrel

Here are a few of my favourite snow photos I have. A few years a go now we had nearly 2 foot of snow around the Centre, it was the most I can remember seeing, and in many places on the reserve it drifted up to 4 foot. I remember taking Bess round the reserve one evening thinking it wouldn't take much longer... but a quick twenty minute circuit turned in to an hour of trenching through the snow. I managed to get a couple of nice photos of her though, which you may have seen in the post I did on Bess a couple of weeks a go.

Above is one of my favourite red squirrel photos.

Snowy Owl in Snow

The snow always brings a conflict of thoughts for me. I do enjoy it while it is pure and white, and love how vibrant it makes the works appear. I like colour, and the natural white background makes the colour really stand out. For photography, this is great, and I missed not having any snow earlier this year to experiment with. Near the top of my list when the snows fall is to get Hedwig out and take him to the reserve for a photo shoot, although that being said, one of my faves of him... above... was taken in the Dell.

Wildcat in Snow

From a work point of view the snow is nothing but a pain. Everything takes longer. Locks need un freezing before going in to a pen, then un freezing again when you need to go bak in later. Water bowls need ice removing before refilling not to mention taps defrosting before being able to use them, bedding replaced more often to make sure all are warm and cosy. Even just walking through the snow to get to everywhere takes its time and repairing any damaged enclosures. If the snow is particularly bad and the keeper scan't get in, then I am on my own to do all the work...

Don't get me wrong, that isn't a complaint, I enjoy it... and the keepers are so good at trying to get here all weathers, it has been a rare occurrence that I have been on my own, but it is all things we need to account for.

Peeking Wildcat

For me, the wildcats are one of the best animals to see in the snow, and it is really where they belong. They look amazing in it, and this is one of my favourite photos of them in the snow. Lex, peering around a trunk where the snow has drifted up it by about 3 feet.

Stoat

Not as many British mammals hibernate as people think... only the hedgehog, dormice and bats. Others like badgers, squirrels and this stoat are still active but do cut down there activity a lot and hunker down to keep warm.

Otter in Snow

The otters love the snow, almost as much as the foxes, and often run around in it. They are very playful animals and love the colder weather, really enjoying playing in the ice too.

Red Deer

A lot of people don't go out with their cameras in the bad weather like rain or when it is actually snowing, but this can lead to some great pics that not many people get as they are indoors or concerned about their cameras getting wet.

Cameras these days are pretty good at being weather resistant, and you can always through a plastic bag over your camera to protect it.

Tawny Flying in Snow

I have only once been around when it was snowing at the Centre, but I tried to make the most of it with a few owls, foxes and deer.

Tawny Flying through Snow

Florence flying in the snow, they seem to get less wet in snow than in rain and so we can get away with flying them.

Flo the Fox

Flo, always photogenic.

Fox

Enjoying playing in the snow and catching snow drops... I think of all our animals the foxes enjoy it the most.

Fox

And I quite like this one, it looks more wild with her battling agains the wind and snow to move.

Short- eared Owl

The last lot of snow we had fell just before an Andy Rouse owl workshop, so I went out the day before to scout out some new positions that would work well with the snow.  While out there I took some nice close portraits of some of our owls.

Little Owl

The little owl really fluffed himself up to keep warm.

Snowy Owl

This one of the snowy was taken on the Andy Rouse workshop day.

Fox in Snow

Fox in snow is one of my more popular pictures, and was lucky enough to win a place in the Country file calendar a few years a go... This is when I first learn't how bitchy photography can be, reading comments on forums about this and others photos. Good came from it though, as it gave me the relaxed attitude that I now have towards photography and taking pictures and means I enjoy it far more.

Otter

Simple otter portrait that was one of our many Christmas cards over the years, and below Lilly running over the ice.

Cool Runnings

Thanks for looking.

Albus' Antler Growth, 2014

Master Stag, Albus Dumbledeer; 22.08.2014

A few years a go, with a little point and shoot camera, I took a photo a week of one of our old stags Eric during his antler growth period. The results were amazing, and really showed how the antlers do make a noticeable difference in size week on week.

This year I decided to repeat this with our new master stag, Albus, shown above in all his new glory! It was very difficult to get a photograph I was pleased with every week due to time, but I did manage to get a photo every week and have put them all up below. I am thinking I will repeat this next year with him, and try and schedule aside enough time every week to really try and get some nice pictures of the process.

Anyway, here they are...

Albus at the end of 2013

First antler cast; 11.04.14

Second antler cast the following day

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Week Five

Week Six

Week Seven

Week Eight

Week Nine

Week Ten

Week Eleven

Week Twelve

Week Thirteen

Week Fourteen

Week Fifteen

Week Sixteen

Week Seventeen; Fully grown

Week Eighteen; In Tatters

Albus today, 22.08.2014; Looking Handsome

 Thanks for looking.

Photo Talk Tweaks

Barn Owl

I am doing a photography talk in a couple of weeks time. I do a lot of talks about the Centre and the work we do here, and of course use my photos to illustrate these, but have only done a few talks specifically about my photography... 

I always promote the Centre in these too, and try to make them educational about the animals as well as photography and convey my passion for British Wildlife. Although photography is a big hobby for me, I still see it only as that... a hobby, a way to enjoy time with the animals and always see myself as an animal lover and British wildlife enthusiast first. 

For my talk in a couple of weeks, I am combining two of my other talks to make it a little different. While doing this I am updating some of the photos and a few other tweaks. While doing this I thought I would share a couple of photos, old and new, that I may be putting in.

Above is one of my latest, and one of my favourites, of Big Pete in flight. The light was a little to high still for the back light I like, but it still came out alright. I enjoy playing around with exposures and metering whenever I get the chance.

Red Squirrel

 One that I have not used before, a very simple and softly back lit portrait of a red squirrel.

Deer on the Run

A couple messing around with panning, a slow pan with the deer above.

Super Owl

And this one is a much more extreme panning shot. Any slower and I think it would be unlikely to know what it was flying through the shot.

Flying Florence

Above is another I haven't used much before. Florence flying on one of our owl days. The light looks quite strong, which is probably why we did it side lit.

Badger

This one I only showed a little while a go, but is possibly my favourite badger photo I have. I don't take to many of our badgers, but was lucky to get this one evening a couple of weeks ago. The light was strong, but again... using it as side light and setting the right exposure and metering created quite a nice effect.

Evening Eagle Owl

A simple portrait, but in the nice warm evening light... taken out on our nature reserve in the autumn, giving the nice warm autumn colours in the background.

Watching the Sunset

And finally, one used before... but not often. I messed this one up a little, but still like it :-)

Thanks for looking.

Few pics from last few days

Badger, Meles meles

Just a few quick pics from the last few days this time, a bit of a mix. Above is possibly one of my favourite Badger photos at the moment. I changed the exposure and metering in the camera to emphasize the harsh shadow and still keep the detail in the lit side of his face.

Polecat Kit

A few photos of our polecat kits, they are growing quickly aren't they?

Polecat Kit from the Left

I do a lot of photography with the animal looking into the frame... for two reasons really, one I just like it! And two, it gives Liza space on the opposite side of the animal for text for advertisement and articles.

Polecat Kit from the Right

So here is one of a kit looking in from the other side too :-)

The Beautiful Susie

While photographing the kits, I couldn't not miss out on spending a bit of time with Susie. Same as many I already have of her, but she is so beautiful I couldn't resit another portrait.

Red Squirrel Stare

We had a few walnuts, so I gave them to the squirrels for something a little different to what they are used to.

Wide Angle of a Squirrel with a Walnut

They have had walnuts before, so they knew what to do with them.

Red Squirrel with a Walnut

I particularly like this one as it shows off the remaining wisp of his ear tuft :-)

Mother and Calf

One of the evenings I spent a bit of time with red deer, mainly trying to get a few photos of the calves. It may sound easy to do, but they are so wary and don't come that close at all until they are much older... and the mums are more wary too during this time. I keep my distance as I don't want to upset them.

The Creche

This was one of the mothers looking after four of the calves while the others were eating some of the food I took out with me. 

Red Deer Calf

After some time, one of the calves got brave enough to come and see what I was doing.

Startled

I quite liked the expression on this hinds face. She looks startled, but she is actually just eating and I caught her mid chew.

The Boys; Albus and Olivander

The boys! On his own Olivander looks the business, but then when he is next to Albus he really looks quite small!

Albus, Master Stag

Albus, still the Master Stag. Not sure how much of a rut there will be this year, Albus really is the bigger stronger looking stag.

Back Lit Barn Owl Flying

Finally, Monday night myself and the rest of the keepers went onto the reserve to fly big pete, before going to off to watch some wild barn owls. This one was back lit to show off the wings, only just got away with it as the sun was still a little too high and ideally needed to be taken half hour later, but we were watching the wild barn owls at that time.

Side Lit Barn Owl Flying

And a simple side lit one to end on...

Thanks for looking.