Few from Spring, 2015

Bess, the Border Collie

Here are a few photos that I have taken this year but have yet to share. They were taken with my Nikon, hence why you have not seen them yet :-)

I was hanging around one evening at work, and we had the first decent spell of evening light so I took advantage and took a couple of portraits of Bess.

A few weeks a go now our red deer cast their antlers. They do this every year in the Spring, and then over the next 16 weeks grow a brand new set... usually larger than their previous set! Remarkable really that they can grow them that fast.

Above is Albus Dumbledeer on the right, and Olivandeer on the left... Do we have a Harry Potter fan at the Centre you may well ask?.. Well, yes... we do :-)

As you can see, they don't always cast their antlers at the same time leaving them looking a little silly...

... but not as silly as when both have cast. They then just look like a big female until their new antlers begin to show through.

Walking over to work one morning, and came across this little fella on the path in the rain. Took the opportunity to take a quick photo.

Where does the "Badass problem solver" go when he has things on his mind?.. He turns to nature. It has an easy way of simplifying things, putting things in to perspective and making you appreciate everything. I like a place that only I know, and this is mine.

Fawkes is a short eared owl. Not many are on display in Britain, and ours is one of a handful that can be used for photography workshops. He is beautiful!

The short eared is my favourite owl in the world, so when I tagged on to the owl day a couple of weeks ago to get some in the bluebells... I also made sure I was their for when they did Fawkes.

I am very picky with my photographs of Fawkes, and got some strange looks when I placed him on the gravel in the middle of nowhere... but by framing it right and using the right angles, you can really make something out of nothing.

Full facial disc.

And the back of the head... Yes I did mean this... their latin name is Asio flammeus, named due to their feathers looking like fire and you can see why above.

Thanks for looking :-)

BWC Owl Day

Snowy Owl

Following on from my photos taken on an open day, here are a few photos I took on an owl day I joined in on a couple of weeks ago. This is for the third of three bits I am writing, the pics from the second (a BWC Photo Day) I will post in a week or so.

As with the open day, the weather was not great. It didn't rain... which would of stopped the owls all together, but there was no light for most of the day with very little light for the rest of it! However, we of course soldier on, and overall I was pleased with a few of the ones I got.

Snowy Owl Feathers

We always start off with the snowy owl and the short eared owl on our owl days, as they are the ones which are more likely to get fed up sooner. Don't get me wrong, they are both still used to cameras and do settle, but they also call time sooner than the others.

Hedwig, our snowy owl, is always difficult as his natural setting would deb in the snow. But we place him on the ground for some more natural pics and put him on a large post for some portraits. The portrait above is not necessarily natural, but it makes a nice picture and we find a lot of photographers that come on our days are just interested in that.

With the light particularly poor first thing I took a lot of more abstract stuff, and was particularly pleased with the close up of the feathers above.

Short-eared Owl

Once Hedwig has had enough, we move on to Fawkes out short-eared owl. This is another ground nesting bird, and so we try to find areas in the rough grass to make it a bit more natural. In amongst the more marsh type reeds and tussocky grass. However, on the day there was a lovely patch of daisies and I just couldn't resist a "pretty" picture of him surrounded by them.

With all our owls we try to place them in two or three different places for you to photograph them. Some more natural, and others for simple portraits, and we are always open to new ideas of where to try them.

Short-eared Owl

I think Fawkes is a stunning owl, and short-eareds are possibly my favourite owl in the world. On a post he makes for a beautiful portrait.

Long-eared Owl

Usually next up on our list would be one of our tawny owls, but with the light so dire we decided to stay more in the open and brought out Archimedes... our long-eared owl. He was having a bit of an off day and was very sleepy, so we didn't see much of his eyes.

Long-eared Owl

When a bit of light did appear for the briefest of moments, we rushed in to the woods with him to place him on one of my favourite sets. Unfortunately again... his eyes remained closed, but I did manage to get these two in a short period when he was alert. The close up above...

Long-eared Owl

... and a much wider one too. I have photographed Achimedes here so many times, I was looking for something a bit different to what I normally do. I'm not sure if this really worked, but still it is good to try!

Tawny Owl

Staying in the woods it was time for the tawny owl, and we used Florence. Our tawnies are often the stars of the show, and I could happily photograph just them all day! There are so many options as to where to put them that we really need to keep an eye on the time to make sure we don't spend to much time with them.

Florence Preening

All our owls settle fairly quickly, but Florence is such a pro now that she immediately forgets that the cameras are there and just watches the world or even preens herself.

This is where we usually call for a break, and stop for some lunch and a swap around with the owls. After the quick change around we are then ready for the afternoon of owl photography.

Little Owl Peeking

This normally starts off with our little owl, Scrappy! He is such a character, and makes for some amazing photographs. I built a little stone wall a couple of years a go (re-built a few times since), and most people laugh when they see it... but framed int he right way it offers some great photo opportunities. I will do a post later in the week showing just the wall.

One of my favourites of the day was this one above of Scrappy half hidden half seen in the nook in the wall.

Wild Fox

While photographing Scrappy in the wall, we had a visitor who wanted to join in! He didn't stay long after seeing us.

Little Owl

Often we just place the little owl on the ground too. They eat a lot of invertebrates, and so it is not rare to see them on the ground beetling for food.

Barn Owl

Next up are the barn owls. You have probably seen lots of barn owl photos from our owl days before, we have a beautiful old gate which we perch them on, and a hide we can get them peeking around as above.

Barn Owl in Flight

The barn owl is one of two owls we fly on the day too. We also fly the tawny owl in the woods if it is light enough, or down one of the tracks more in the open if the light is not too great.

Barn Owl Panning

With movement I often try to do a bit of panning with a slow shutter.

Ethel, European Eagle Owl

We then finish the day with Ethel, our European eagle owl. Again ground shots in the dead bracken look quite nice, and we also have an old rotten tree trunk which makes the perfect perch for her to sit on.

All the photos above where taken on the same day, on one of our owl days, and with no advantages over what you get if you come along to one of them. Overall I was very happy with what I got considering the conditions, and extremely pleased with two or three of them.

For the article I have been asked to use a variety of photos over the past year to show what is possible in different situations for both this and the BWC photographic day. I may well post these pics later in the year too to show you what was used.

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.

Owl Awareness Day (Yesterday)

Fly Over

Apparently it was International Owl Awareness Day yesterday... That one slipped me by! Never mind, here are a couple of owl photos in any case.

Big Pete flying above. 

Tawny Owl

Florence in the evening light, this photo is being used for a section in my talk next week.

Evening Barn Owl

I believe this is one of our old owls, Tutoke, taken a few years a go now. I liked the tree in the background.

Nessun Dorma

 Florence singing the opera :-)

Close Up of Archimedes

Close up of Archimedes.

Short-eared Owl in the Snow

Fawkes in the snow.

Long-eared Owl Peeking

And finally, Archimedes peeking around the edge of a tree.

Thanks for looking.