Recent Photos

Hugo the Hedgehog

I have had very little time for photography over the past month. Work has been busy, and moving in to the summer opening period always leaves me with less time. I did manage to spend a few minutes with one of our hedgehog youngsters, Hugo, last week though. This is him above in his first photo shoot having been hand reared by Big Tom.

There's a few more pics of him below, but before that I thought I would share some of the others I have taken recently. 

Lots of youngsters born here this year, which is great news of course. This is one of our fallow deer fawns above.

One of our polecat kits... they are doing exceptionally well, and are part of a release programme for later in the year.

Two new weasels, both of which have settled very well. This is Neve in one of our outside enclosures... she has really established herself as a little star already, and has been posing beautifully for photography. 

Another litter of water voles in our display pen, this is one of the youngsters exploring from one of the tunnels.

Below are a couple of pics you may find interesting, or not :-) , but I'm going to share them anyway...

Someone found a dead mole, and brought it to the Centre for me as a gift... yes, I get unusual gifts :-) , not really sure what to do with it I noticed something I had not noticed before despite seeing, handling and working with many moles over the years... They have what appears to be an extra digit on their hind feet!

It looks almost like a sixth toe! Technically they still have five toes, but the way their paw has adapted shows this extra digit. Amazing!

Of course I took a photo, and while at it took one of it's front paw too... Look how amazing it is!

Incredible the way it has adapted and formed in to almost a shovel like hand. 

 So, here are a few more of Hugo.

Hey Hugo, where are "hugo-ing"

Thanks for looking :-)

2014

Dancing adders

Happy new year to you all! I have three posts which will appear quite quickly in the new year, most likely over the next week. This first post is just a brief review of 2014 in terms of what I photographed. I am sure I have missed a lot out, and have not necessarily put in my best/favourite photos, but ones that remind me of what I did throughout the year. I have also limited it to 10 photos just to make me think a bit when selecting them.

Next up I will be sharing my favourite photos of 2014, and then introducing a new project I have been asked to participate in... very exciting, and it will lead to a regular weekly blog post for a couple of months. More on that later though, first lets look back on last year...

Every year the first thing I look forward to, if we don't have any snow, is the dance of the adders. I experimented with the macro lens this year and got some lovely shots I was pleased with. Above is one of my favourites, although I feel my back catalogue of this behaviour is still better. I am still waiting for that one really special photo of this event... maybe this year.

Stoat

I try and sit in on at least one BWC photo day a year, and one BWC Owl day a year. This gives me a good opportunity to get some fresh photos for the office to use, but also see how the day goes from a visitors view. Above is one of a stoat I took and is now used for the cover of this years leaflet.

Little owl

On the owl day I joined in on the above is one of my favourites, Scrappy peering around the edge of our stone wall set.

Bee swarm

Our bees swarmed a couple of times last year, and having a lot of photos of them all in a mass from before I tried something different. Changing the angle slightly came up with something I really liked.

Fallow deer

I was asked by the owner, David, to help with a project he is doing for a children's educational DVD and book. For the book he needed specific photographs, so with a list in hand off I went. It was the first time I have really taken photos to demand, but it was good fun and I learn't a lot from it. I am sure it will happen again in the future if the book is successful, but above is one of a fallow deer grazing.

Ironically I don't think the above photo was used, but it was one of my favourites front he shoot.

Harvest Mouse

Lucy "found" some nice corn over the summer, so we spent an evening photographing the harvest mice. You can look back in the archives for these photos, but this simple portrait above is one of my favourites.

Common Dormouse

While doing some routines in with our dormice this summer, we noticed one was up... very unusual, so after checking that they were ok I made the most of this rare chance to take some photos.

Emmy and Buster

Later in the year we had another otter cub born, little Ol' Buster. He has just started to come out more regularly. This photo above is of him on one of his first days out.

Tawny owl

Winter is always a good time for photography here. Although the days are shorter, the light when out is usually a little softer... especially in the afternoon, and you often get that nice red glow. We have done many owl days for ourselves and Andy Rouse, and Andy has recently decided to offer half and half days. I took this one late afternoon while testing the best times to use certain perches for the light. Previously we saw this location as a potential place to put the tawny owl, but were running late in the day.

Otters playing through the ice

Finally, the other day, I took this photo of Emmy and Elwood playing and chasing each other throughout the ice. Something I tell people every winter, but have never been able to show them... By luck I had my camera with me a couple of days ago while they were chasing each other, so I took a couple of snaps. Not the best, but it shows what I want.

Next week I will post my favourite images from 2014 before sharing new photos taken this year, and announce the new project I have been asked to help with.

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.