Pine Martens

Our pine martens have been getting a little more active over the beginning of the year as Spring arrives, and Summer nears. Our old pair Bonnie and Clyde are a little less active, but younger pair Drogo (above) and Daenerys (below) have been brilliant.

Drogo is much more acitve in the afternoons, and great fun around feeding time. Daeny is usually out and about all day, and often spends the morning sleeping on the top of here main tree... very easy still for people to see her.

It was only the other day I was looking through some of my photos of pine martens, and realised I didn't have too many of Daeny and Drogo, so spent a bit of time with the pair of them one evening. Hopefully get a few more over the summer when the foliage is back out in colour in their enclosures.

Below are a few more of the two of them...

Thanks for looking :-)

Bluebells

It all comes around together so quickly... playing otters, dancing adders, and of course the bluebells in the woodlands on our nature reserve. Some very lucky people on our owl days have managed to take full advantage of this, and taken some amazing photos, and over a few evenings a couple of weeks ago I went down to the woods with some of the keepers and a couple of animals to have a go myself.

Ash and Oakley, the two tawnies we hand reared last year from a couple of days old. This was the first time they have been tried out on the reserve, and they were true stars! So much so we are thinking of adding them to our owl days so photographers can photograph two tawnies together. 

So much fun watching these two... One settled quickly and loved every minute, one made it clear he wasn't as happy to be there... can you guess which is which :-)

Athelstan in the bluebells. He is still a newbie to the idea of photoshoots, but was a real pro!.. except wanting to spend all his tie with his Dad Tom, and keep jumping on to his lap :-)

All the hedgehog photos are of Hugo.

One of the tawny brothers on his own above, and Florence below.

Fagin the little owl.

Of course, a couple of Ethel our European eagle owl too.

Thanks for looking :-)

Dance of the Adders 2019

For those who know me, or who have followed either of my blogs for a few years now, you will know I have a soft spot for our adders. One of the things I look forward to the most each year is the "Dance of the Adders" where our males compete in a beautiful display of strength and stamina over the nearby females.

I have a lot of photos over the years of this entrancing behaviour. When I was first told by one of the keepers that they were watching the adders dance for the first time this year, I rushed up to have a look and take some record shots for work. I must admit, under my breath I was cursing not cutting back the grass a little the day before as I was anticipating them dancing any day. But when I jumped into take a few photos I was soon very pleased I hadn't. I managed to take some photos unlike ones I have before, and am particularly pleased with the first one I have shared above.

Here are a few more for you to see...

Thanks for looking :-)