2016

Red Squirrel in the Snow

It has been a slow start to the year photography wise for me. Work has been very busy, more so than usual for the beginning of a new year, plus there has been less need for documented photos for work and so my camera has generally stayed at home.

The next big thing for me of course will be the adders dancing. Fingers crossed they do again this year, and that will encourage me to pick the camera up again. But in the mean time here are a couple from the early part of 2016.

We had a very fleeting amount of snow fall one weekend morning. Not enough to really make it special, but with some clever framing and angles it was possible to make it look like we had a lot more than we actually did.

A simple portrait of Whitstable, one of our male polecats.

And a very grumpy little owl... Tyrion.

Thanks for looking :-)

Favourite photos from last year

Common Dormouse

This blog may have a few new visitors over the coming weeks from a project I am about to start for Samsung. I will announce what that is later this week, but thought I would share some of my favourite photos that I took last year.

For those that are new to looking at this blog, these also reflect quite nicely what my blog is all about. These are perhaps not always what I consider my best photos, but are my favourites. Ones I particularly like for one reason or another. Whether it is because I consider it a good photo, or it reminds me of something that happened, or it shows something that many people rarely if ever see... but due to my position and benefits, I get to see it and so like to share.

So, in no particular order, above is one of a Common Dormouse. Not so common in the UK anymore. I rarely get to photograph these beautiful animals, due to their nature and lifestyle... we don't like to disturb the animals unless we have too. But one afternoon last summer this one was up while we were chaining around her hazel. I took the opportunity to take a few snaps while the keepers were sorting out her home, then we put her back. About twenty minutes of her time as a model, and this was my favourite. Looking through the hazel at the camera.

With this, and the others below, if you search for the animal in the bar below you will see the other photos from each shoot.

Clyde

A classic example of favourite photo. Is it a good photo? To most of you, probably no, but I love it! It shows the connection I have with one of our pine martens, Clyde. I like the expression on his face, and the fact you know it is me because of my tatty ol' crocs. :-)

Those that are new here will soon realise I am quite laid back with my photography. I am an animal person and head keeper first, very much a photographer second. But I do love photography and taking pictures, and it is a great way for me to spend time with the animals I care for. Any photos I get out of that time with them is a bonus, and often I will sit in an enclosure with my camera and never pick it up... just sit there and watch the animals and have fun.

Badger

I enjoy using the light with my photographs too. And often here people complain about bad light, bad weather, any excuse to forgive their photos... Don't get me wrong, of course there are many conditions which are difficult for photography... and some that I don't go out in or try, but in many cases you can use these conditions to get something different. I was talking to someone one afternoon last summer with the sun high in the sky, and they were saying how it is pointless and you couldn't get any decent photo in that light with the harsh shadows. I was trying to explain the above, so took this photo with a high negative exposure and using the shadows to hide half the face.

Many won't like it, and that is fine, but I really do and it has become one of my most popular photos of last year.

Barn Owl in the Evening

Taking the lighting to the extreme, this is one of our barn owls on the reserve in the evening light. It is nice to get some backlit photos of them, and again just messing around I tried to lower the exposure even more to emphasise the golden light. Not sure on this one, sometimes I look at it and like it other times I don't.

Snowy Owl Feathers

I am working on another little, well big actually, side project which probably won't be in a position to announce for a year or so!.. But it has led me to take more "detail" photographs such as feather detail etc. This one above doesn't really show that, but shows some of the patterns you can create with the feather or fur of an animal.

Tawny Owl Grooming

Florence, probably our scruffiest owl, getting ready for a photo shoot. Different behaviour, however simple, is what I love most about an animal.

Red Squirrel

Another example of a "bad" photographic day. It was dark and raining. ISO was set high, aperture low, but again I was happy with this result. Any good blown up for a billboard? No, but for small prints and web use it is fine. Yes there is more noise than a lot of people would like... but I would rather have a noisy image that is sharp than no image at all. This one has actually been used a lot for the centres advertising.

Scottish Wildcat

One of my favourites. A wildcat walking out of the darkness, possibly symbolising them coming back from the brink of extinction? Time will tell...

Mating Adders

Another classic example of what I share on this blog. The photo above is not great at all, but what it shows is incredible. Two of our adders mating. Very rare to see this. Only happens every other year, and usually they go in to cover, as they did this time after a few minutes. But this year they were out in the open for a while, and I was lucky enough that a member of the Centre came and found me to let me know.

I like to share photos of things rarely seen, as I am lucky and privileged to see it myself, I want  you to see it to.

Wildcat Snarl

Above is a bit of a work in progress. I really like it, and it shows one of my benefits. I can of course go in with animals that no one else can, for various reasons... bit obvious with this one I think :-)

I am still trying for that really good snarl and swipe picture, that doesn't show the animal is in an enclosure, but I just don't know if it is possible.

With captive photography you should never tell people it was taken in the wild, but you should still try and make it look as if it could have been. That's what I think anyway... unless you are telling a story.

Wildcat

One of my recent images. A couple of months ago I had a small obsession with the wildcats, and their eyes in particular. Took several images and the above was my favourite.

Adder

I love the adders, especially while they are "dancing" in the spring. I wouldn't really classify any of my dancing shots as my best/favourite last year unfortunately, but I did like a few of my portrait shots I took while experimenting with a macro lens.

The above was my favourite of those, deliberately low aperture to just get those amazing red eyes in focus.

Otter on Ice

One of the very last shots I took last year of the otters on ice. I was trying to get Emmy here to run to me on the ice with the reeds in the background. Didn't work to well, I got one I liked, but the others were not good.

I did get this one though in the same shoot. Closer to me with out the reeds, but i still liked it. Currently have it as my wallpaper on the Mac.

Tawny Owl over Bluebells

Bluebell season of course, and I had to include this photo. My biggest award this year. Ironically not my favourite photo of 2014, far from it, but possibly my most popular and seen so thought I should include it.

Thanks for looking, and more to come this year :-)

BWC Photographic Day

Red Squirrel

I joined in on one of our photographic days a few weeks a go, and after having rain on the open days I did and dark skies on the owl day I had... both! for the BWC photographic day. It seems my luck was against me, but I still had a great day, got a couple of photos I am very pleased with and for two brief spells we did get a bit off light piercing through.

As always, we started with our red squirrels. The rain was light, and the skies were dark hence the low aperture and high iso obviously visible in the photo above, but I have to confess I really like this one. Also goes to show, push the iso up if you have too! Better to have a slightly noisy photo which is sharp than a blurry photo with no noise.

Fox

We tried the foxes next, but they were having none of it so we had to move on to the wildcats. But since we usual do the foxes second I thought I would show those photos second here too.

This is where the real advantage of a photo day comes to. Having the keeper with you for the squirrels is great, as we can even move them to a certain extent on to logs and branches for natural photos, but with the foxes, wildcats and otters you get to enter the pens with them and not only have a keeper but also avoid the barriers/mesh fencing.

Frodo

This gives you the chance to get some nice portraits, looking straight at you with a little help from a keeper, or off to one side.

Red Fox

The other advantage is being able to get close enough for something a little more abstract.

Fox Running

And if they are up for it, we can always get the animals moving a bit too for some action shots.

Wildcat

Next up is the wildcats. Once again, close up portraits is the obvious advantage, but we can get the cats running and even jumping for some great action shots. I didn't do too much with them during our session, but at the end of the day went back in of the last few minutes and with a brief spell of sunshine to take the photo above... one of my favourites from the day.

Wildcat Yawn

And who can resist a yawn shot when it shows itself!

Harvest Mouse

After the cats and before lunch, we bring out the hedgehogs and harvest mice for some more natural looking photographs on little sets. The mice are usually on teasel or corn and the hedgehog can be placed on the grass, bark or even leaves during the early autumn days.

Tawny Owl

We don't do too much with our owls, so as not to take away from our owl photographic days, but we do perch a tawny owl and barn owl for those who are interested and don't wish to come on one of our owl days. Ironically, this was my favourite photo of a tawny owl our of both our normal day and owl day I joined in on last month.

Blue Skies!

After lunch we start with the deer, and to be honest this is the one animal where there is not much difference to if you attended the keeper talk on an open day, but next is what I think is the best part of the day... going in with the otters. Once again it was very dull, but with a ten minute spell of beautiful blue sky! I just had to put on the wide angle to prove we actually did get a bit of light during this day.

Otter Swimming

With the otters we can get them on the bank, in the water and if they are up for it even a little bit of running. The big advantage here is you can get very low on the ground to get more intimate photos of them.

Otter

And as with the foxes and cats, it really shows the advantage of a photographic day over an open day. The low angle, inside the enclosure, and with a keeper keeping them interested and varying where they are.

Stoat

At the end of the day we finish up with our stoats, weasels, polecats, mink and badgers. You have no extra access with these than you would on an open day, but having the keeper there does help. They can help position the animals a little bit, and make sure they are out for you to photograph. A little bit of food of course helps keep them interested.

Thanks for looking.

Red Squirrels

Red Squirrel

A few red squirrel pictures, in no particular order...

I have a soft spot for red squirrels. It is the animal I extensively studied at college and in particular for my final project on stereotypical behaviour, in a kind of way it is one of the ways/reasons I initially got my foot in the door here at the BWC, I have been a part getting our squirrels to where they are today, a part in setting up the first walkthrough red squirrel enclosure in the UK, a part in releasing these animals back to the wild and a soft spot for them just because they are so damn beautiful!

Above is one of my earlier photos of a red squirrel, and one of the first ones I took with what was my new lens but now my old trusty 70-200. I am sure you all recognise it as a cropped version is the BWC Blog banner.

Red Squirrel, Sciurus vulgaris

You can not beat a simple portrait, and our enclosure offers the perfect place to get this. A little bit of soft backlight to lift it and you have something special. Of course what really makes it special is that it is a red squirrel.

Reds are of course our natives, with greys coming from America around 135 years ago. Now reds have dwindled to only around 140,000... I have some people telling me, thats not too low, but when you realise grey squirrels now number well over 3million!... It gives you an idea of how drastically the reds are outnumbered.

Squirrel Advert

This is a newer version of the above, and a new one for Liza to play around with. All the space makes a good place for text to go.

Reds have several troubles form the greys, and I won't go into it too much here, but the biggest problems are food competition and disease with the squirrel pox virus claiming a lot of red squirrels and being helped spread by the greys.

Bat Squirrel

This is Nutkin doing one of her famous bat impressions... you have to have one squirrel called Nutkin don't you!?. She is not her best at the moment, a nasty abscess on the side of her face, but she is currently isolated and under vet supervision and doing very well. I hope to have her back out to see you all in a week or so.

All this threat from the greys, and many no believe that the reds only have another 20 years on the mainland before they are extinct. If true that is a frightening guess. We do of course still have them on some of the islands though such as Brownsea, Isle of Wight and of course now Tresco.

Greeting

We breed a lot of squirrels here and off site at other collections who are part of our breeding group. We aim to release red squirrels in many areas to create pocket populations to ensure they stay in this country as long as possible. If there is ever a chance to release on the mainland, then of course we then have small populations we can draw from potentially.

Leaflet Cover

This one above is the current leaflet cover.

There are a lot of groups around the country trying to work towards saving the red squirrel, good news of course, but many don't seem to talk or co-operate with each other which is a real shame. Difference in opinions seem to halter progress in many areas, but I guess that is true in all aspects of life. I just wish everyone would work together for the good of the cause and put egos aside sometimes.

Ear Tufts

Those funky ear tufts above are arguably the red squirrels main feature. Many don't realise they only have them on during the winter, moulting them off for the summer.

David is working closely with the Countryside Conservation Trust with many of our squirrel projects, and always looking for new places to release them. A lot of islands crop up in conversation, including one you will here more about soon for this years release, but many stop before they have even started. One opposing thought to a lot of the smaller islands releases are if the squirrels have ever been there historically, but then when half our wildlife on the mainland is introduced does it matter?

Yawning Squirrel

A lucky shot of this one yawning one morning :-)

They are beautiful animals, and are so much prettier than the grey squirrel in my opinion. They are smaller, about half the weight, and lankier in build. Their legs are similar in size to a grey squirrel but a smaller body. This makes them far more athletic and agile, and this shows true in their much more arboreal lifestyle.

Super Squirrel

Perfectly adapted for the trees, and run and almost fly through them with ease.

The grey squirrel is a difficult one for me... They are invasive... they shouldn't be here... they are pushing out our native red squirrel with relative ease... if there was a button to press to eradicate them all and allow red squirrels to come back, I would press it without hesitation. BUT...

It is not their fault, it is our interference as always which brought them here. The fact is there is no button, and if the reds do die out on the mainland and it is a choice between grey squirrels or no squirrels I would reluctantly chose the grey. And perhaps most importantly, they are one of very few wild animals that children get to see growing up... especially in an town or city. Many children in these places have the grey squirrels as one of their only connections to wildlife, they may not even know that there is a red squirrel never mind that it is the red which is our native. If the grey can be a way for these children to have inspiration and compassion to wildlife then it has to be a good thing.

Souvenir Guide Cover

One of my older portraits, and still one of my favourites. This is on the cover of our current guide book, and another in the sequence has been used for a magazine cover in the past.

Flame, a young Red Squirrel Kitten

Red squirrel babies are called "kittens". We are very successful in breeding them here, but do occasionally have youngsters that need a little help. As a general rule of thumb we never get involved, and leave all the hard work to mum... she knows best... but if it is obvious that one of them has been abandoned then I will do my best to be a foster.

I have reared many squirrels in the past, above is "Flame" which some of you may remember. She used to spend a lot of time in my fleece pocket, and just climb around me while out walking around the park and talking to people. She was amazing, and one of my favourites if I am allowed them. She eventually went to live in the walk through enclosure.

The bleach white tail and ear tufts were stunning, and something we occasionally see in other squirrels we breed here. They have always slowly darkened with age, but we do have some very blond kittens this year and so it will be interesting to see how they mature.

Auburn and Kittens

One of the very first photos I ever took with a DSLR, possibly even within my first 10 and definitely within my first 100. Taken on a Canon D40. Far right is another of my favourites, Auburn, with three of her kittens on an old feeding stump. She was a great mum, and very successful for us here.

Thanks for looking.

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.