Hibernating Dormouse

I have been behind at work recently, so lack of time for photography has continued... however I do have a new camera! and so motivation is high to try and get out there and use it. Hopefully as the evenings get longer, and the new seasons arrive.

We did have some filming going on last week here at the Centre though, dormice were top of their list, and we very VERY rarely do anything with them, so I made sure I had a camera on hand to take advantage too.

They wanted hibernating dormice, and we obliged with one... Above in a set we created, later decorated with other bits like oak leaves etc.

Carefully twisting him around so he was facing up...

And then delicately moving his tail to one side so that you could see his face.

Theres only so much you can do with a sleeping dormouse, especially with a film crew around and in the time we limited them too, but I managed to get a few I was really happy with.

Even a little bit of sun came out near the end.

photo by Meg Buckland

And here you can see just how small they are, when in my hand to show the scale.

photo by Meg Buckland

Adorable aren't they?.. The professional sleeper.

Thanks for looking :-)

Little bit of Snow

"Albus Dumbledeer" 

A few weeks a go we had a little bit of snow at the Wildlife Centre... and when I say a little bit, I mean a little bit! Hardly anything at all, just a dusting. In most cases it just looked messy, but I managed to take a couple of photos in with our deer and foxes. Using what white stuff there was, it was possible to "fake" it and make it look like there was more snow than there actually was.

In many ways I am thankful that there wasn't much snow, as it makes working that much harder... but from a photographic point of view it is fantastic. The pure white canvas, and the extra light, really brings the vibrant colours out of the animals coats. 

Just to show you how much, or how little, snow there was. This disappeared by lunch time, and left a lot of visitors very disappointed when they visited us at the weekend expecting to see more.

And a couple of our new boy, Basil, in the snow.

Thanks for looking :-)

Goodbye Bess

A couple of weeks ago my dog, Bess, sadly passed away. She was an old girl, and she was slowly deteriorating with age, but remained happy and comfortable right up to the end. Our zoo vet, Alan K Jones, kept a close eye on her for me over her last few months and was there with me when she finally and peacefully passed away while I was stroking her.

I wasn't going to put a post up about her, and many of your probably never met her, but I know a lot of you have and many of you that don't follow me on Facebook but do frequent the Centre have been in contact... word spread quick, but that is a testament to how well she was known by the visitors.

So, I thought I would just put half a dozen pics up of Bess that I had not shared on this blog before. The top one in the snow is one of my favourites... one that I had not really looked at until the other week, and wondered why I never edited it.

Above is an old one of her not long after she came to me, and before I really took any photos.

This is one from earlier last year while testing out the bluebells for our owl photography days we sometimes do in the bluebells. She was always my stand in owl for scoping out these days, and what opportunities we had.

A lovely one of her fresh out the water before shaking off.

And one of the last photos I took of her, end of last year. She was practically blind at this stage... but still smiling and happy to be with me.

Bess was more than just a "pet". She was my best friend, loyal companion and work mate... really part of the BWC team. Even up to the day before she passed, she was with me at work helping to skin the deer for evening feeds. Bess was rarely not with me, and a lot of people called her my shadow. It has been very strange the last two weeks with out her company, but when things have settled I will be looking to for a new work colleague to join the family.

I realised when our vet told me last summer that it was the beginning of the end, that I didn't have any photos of me with her. I still don't really, not that I mind as I prefer to remember her through my photos and memories, but I did take a couple of pics with my fisheye lens last summer. The above was the best of a bad bunch.

To hear more about her, and how we met, take a look at this link.... Bess

Thanks for looking :-)