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 :-)

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.

Polecat Kits of 2014

Polecat, Mustela putorius, Kit

Mags has had a litter of eight kits this year. She has got her work cut out, but is a great mum. This is her third litter, and she has really done well on learning from her previous two.

Mags is currently in the double polecat pen opposite our main polecat enclosure, along with her kits. The kits are at that age now where they are confident on their feet, and exploring their surroundings. Mum keeps trying to take them back to the nest, but soon gives up and leaves them to it knowing that they are safe.

Peeking from Den

It really is like a "Whack a Mole" fair ground game watching them... you never know which hole they are going to pop out of next, and similar to the stoats it is often best to just be patient and wait by one of them until inevitably one of them has a look out.

Polecat Kit

All these photographs are taken from outside the enclosure, and in the evening. Mags is very protective of her babies, as you can imagine, and if I tried to sneak in she would soon come over and ask me in her own way (biting!!!) to leave.

Mags and Three Kits

Cassisus, the father, is currently off-display. With our main pair, and pairs we have had in the past, we have always left the male in with the female and never had any trouble.

With Mags and Cassius, we always separate Cassisus out while Mags has young. He has never shown an interest or threat in the youngster, but Mags starts to bully him a little to keep him away. So to save him from all the nagging, we think it best to give him a bit of rest from her.

Polecat Kit

This years kits have already been a great attraction for many of our visitors. Being in our weasel pen, it means there is the lower viewing angle through the glass too which allows children to see them up close.

Polecat Kit

We will keep them here for the summer holidays, and then in the autumn they will join up with other polecats bred this year to be released in to the wild.

All Eight plus Mum

The other night I spent half an hour with them. At one point mum and all eight kits were out and together, I was cursing having my longer lens on so changed to a wide angle and tried to get all nine in one photo. Needless to say, they didn't all group up together again... but if you look very closely mum and all eight kits are int he photo above!

Proud Mum

Mags really is doing a great job, and you can see that the kits are about half her size already. It won't be long until they have outgrown her... she is quite small for a female herself.

Playful

The kits are playing around, good exercise for them, but also learning skills that they will need in the future when they are eventually out in the wild, and having to fend for themselves.

The kits are active on and off throughout the day, no best time to see them really, but I would suggest the afternoon if you are just wanting to come for half a day and particularly wanting to see the polecat kits.

Thanks for looking