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 :-)

Wildcat Snarl

Wildcat

It has been extremely busy over the past few weeks here, and I have had little time to take any photographs... but when I have, experimenting was what I was doing. I have a couple of photos in my head which I am very keen to get, and am just working out the best way to do it. One is of a wildcat snarl and strike.

Above is the closest I have got, but work is needed. The light was non-existent and finding a background that works in the pen is very difficult. I think it may have to be a snow shot if we get it this year. Two things I have learn't thought are... 1. Use the fisheye lens (as above). The wide angle just didn't give the effect I wanted, but this does make the background harder to get. 2. Wear a glove! :-)

Wildcat

While setting up I took a couple of simple portrait snarl shots.

Wildcat

And a simple one to get the settings right for the fisheye lens.

Pine Marten

Another thing I was experimenting with was the pine martens. They are looking really good at the moment in their longer coats. The tricky things with this are the pens are not too great for photography, and the light is on Bonnie's pen in the morning when they are more afternoon animals.

Pine Marten

We got somewhere though, and I think we found a nice area to work with...

Pine Marten

This spot has potential for something.

Pine Marten

But still needs a bit more work.

Running Weasel

Another experimentation was a running weasel, this had to be done in the run to get a straight head on shot, but is difficult... and I mean really difficult! Above was on f/2.8 and ISO 3200. Even then the shutter was not really fast enough and I will happily admit, that the above was a lot to do with luck! It was very dark though, so with some light I think it is possible.

American Mink

A couple of photos from a few I took of one of our mink. I have never really photographed them before, but Mindy, our female, was out a week ago in the morning so I took the opportunity to get a few snaps.

American Mink

Thanks for looking.