August 2012 Update

Well, after a few months out of action, I'm finally back up and running! I have had a back problem that has kept me from doing any work for the last 3 or so months but finally all is getting better, and that's good timing as it's straight into full swing for the Summer shows! That said, looking at the weather we've had over the past few months, I guess I haven't missed out on that much!

It's not been totally quiet for me though. I have had a number of photographs used in various publications in recent months which is always pleasing and one of my latest pieces of good news is that one of my Short Eared Owl photographs is currently on the front page of the Ilford website, and will be there for the whole month of August. Being and Ilford paper user myself (all my prints are produced on Ilford Gallery Prestige Smooth Pearl paper) it's an honour to be part of their website! You can visit the Ilford website HERE.

Another great piece of news is that 3 of my photographs have been included in the UK Wolf Conservation Trust 2013 Calendar. The UKWCT is a wonderful organisation committed to helping protect Wolves across the globe. It has funded many projects worldwide and has a great educational centre.

Birds, birds....and more birds!

My first Blog post of 2012, and as you might have guessed from the title, I've been spending time photographing all kinds of wild birds on the Island.  All the photographs below were taken in the space of eight hours yesterday - a stunningly bright winters day. Now, as I type this I'm looking out into a dull sky again....back to typical weather!

I had intended to get some better photographs of Pintail Ducks, of which I have only previously managed to get one 'ok' shot and I arrived at my location just in time to see a mass of Brent Geese coming in to land downstream, a stunning and quite noisy sight.  This seemed to push the other wildfowl and waders closer to me, a great start!


A busy morning on the water at Newtown Isle of Wight

 There are plenty of Teal and Wigeon around in this location and they were feeding close by on the incoming tide.  A little further away were a number of Pintails so I patiently waited hoping they would move in closer but as they tend to be very nervous it was going to be a bit of a waiting game. 



Male Wigeon (Anas penelope)


Newtown is a busy place!  It attracts many visitors, eager to see the wildlife and enjoy the walks and views, so i'm sure you can imaging the amout of times I watched the Pintails getting closer, only to move away again when people came past!  I also had a few other visitors close too, including this skittish Little Egret.




Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)

 My patience was finally rewarded as a number of Pintails came within good range.  I only managed a small number of photographs though, as soon after, a number of people approached and sent most of the bird community back down the estuary.



Male Pintail (Anas acuta)



'Posing for the ladies'
Pintail (Anas acuta)

 I always enjoy a visit to Newtown and would recommend the place to anyone who enjoys both the wildlife and a good walk!

With plenty of light left in the day, I decided to take a visit to one of my Little Owl sites and patience was definately not needed for a change here! Little Owls are usually quick to take to flight when people are near, but  this one happily sat in close proximity!



Little Owl (Athene noctua)in the late afternoon light



Wall Lizards

Firstly, my appologies for not doing any Blog updates for a while.

 I've been concentrating on the Wight Wildlife Photography

business, which has taken up most of my available time!

That said, with the Spring sunshine finally here (on occasion!)

 I have been out photographing, amongst many things, Ventnor's

 Wall Lizards.





 The Wall Lizard (Podarcis muralis) is a small Lizard found on the rocky walls and gardens of Ventnor, Isle of Wight. They range in size from 5 to 20cm and have many variations in colour from tan brown to green.

The Wall Lizards are probably not truely native to the Island. According to local lore they were probably introduced in the late 1800's. Their counterparts, the Common Lizard are found all over Europe and are more or less identical in appearance. (The European Common Lizard has two colourations - brown backed and green backed - just as the Islands Wall Lizards do).



I have spent most of my time photographing these Reptiles with a Sigma 180mm Macro lens. This is one sharp bit of glass, producing pin sharp images with a nice shallow depth of field.





Other than the green back, these Lizards blend
in extremely well in the rocky environment.



This photograph, along with all the others in this Blog, was taken on a true
 1:1 macto scale.  The front of the lens was less than 20cm from the Lizard.
(All the photographs were also taken hand held)

These Lizards, like all Reptiles, are cold blooded and therefore need

 heat to warm them.  Once they find a warm place to bask in, they

 will quickly return to it if disturbed - giving me the ability to set up

 some quite entertaining shots!





Common Buzzard

Firstly, my appologies for the lack of Blog updates.  This winter has been rather busy with business and family commitments, talks, running photography courses and or course trying to get out with the camera - in between the rain showers!

Photographs taken over the last few months vary greatly from wildlife to snow scenes to land/sea scapes and you can find a good number of them on my web site - all are available as mounted prints in many available sizes.

Anyhow, on to the title of this Blog post...

A month or so ago, I uploaded a photograph of a Common Buzzard in flight to my Flickr account (link at the bottom of this page)  and it drew quite a number of comments and kind words.  I had been watching the Buzzard as it stared intently on a patch of ground out of sight from me and soon took to flight, giving me a good selection of in flight shots.

Well, today I found myself back in the same location, watching probably the same Buzzard, but this time it was seeming to watch the ground close to where I was sat in the Land Rover.  I took the obligatory protograph of the Raptor perched in the tree, expecting it to take to flight away from me as it seemed to be watching with more and more nervousness.  Within moments, the Buzzard took to flight, swooping low out of the tree, straight in my direction.

When the bird landed, at around 30 yards from me, I quickly realised what it had been watching so intently. 

 It took one look down, and then dropped it's head to retreive a nice big worm. 

Now I have known for a long time that worms are part of the Buzzards diet, but have never seen this first hand, so being able to photograph it was a nice treat.
Buzzards are very common on the Isle of Wight.  They have been known to take Red Squirrels as well as many other small mammals, birds etc, and there is rearely a day when I don't see one when out with my camera.  As for today, this Buzzard was one of a number of birds of prey seen.   A Peregrine, Sparrowhawk, Little Owl, Barn Owl, Marsh Harrier and a couple of Kestrels were also spotted and I also managed to see a Kingfisher.  Looks like Spring could be a busy time!

Fallow Deer

Another trip to the New Forest over and this time I was there to photograph the Fallow Deer.

As soon as I got close to my target area for the morning, I could hear the grunting/barking of a Fallow Buck as it was chasing a couple of Does around in the semi darkness.  I followed them to the edge of some woodland and within a few minutes a rut was in motion.  I have been usign my backup camera a lot recently and today I was able to use the video capture facility, and although the focus due to the darkness wasn't too good, the end result shows how argessive these Fallow are!

 

There seemed to be a large number of walkers in the New Forest today and the Fallow were constantly on the move, so I decided to go and see some Red Deer then pop back later when it was quieter.

It wasn't until early afternoon that I returned to the Fallows rutting grounds, and there were the usual grunting sounds coming from within the wooded areas.  I took a while to approach a Buck that was grunting amongst some females.  He lost his Does when someone spooked them from a nearby path so he went to his scrape, scratched his antlers into it then sat down.  He continued to grunt for a short while then all went quiet.....he'd gone to sleep!

I slowly crept closer and snatched a few photographs then crept away leaving him in peace knowing that at this time of year, they use up an immense amount of energy in displaying, calling and rutting without sleeping and feeding for days on end. 

I went back to the same area around an hour later and the Buck was awake, but still resting.  I was suprised that he was so at ease having me in fairly close proximity and it was then that I realised he had an injury to his left eye, most probably due to rutting.  Knowing he'd need all the rest he could, I retreated.  The Buck let out a short double grunt as I walked off and I'd like to beleive he was thanking me for leaving him alone!

The New Forest part II

As many of you know, I have been spending a good number of days in the New Forest photographing some of the Red, Fallow and Sika Deer.

One one of the more recent trips I had one of the best close encounters with Red Deer that I've had to date. On this occasion, I walked past a pathway between two sections of forest and there, in the middle of the path around 60 yards away, was a mature Red Stag watching me. I very slowly bought the tripod down from my shoulder and setup the camera for a few photographs of the Stag, trying not to scare or anger it.

It was moments after this that a small group of young and mature Hinds came straight out of the tree line from my left, a lot closer than the Stag up ahead. I froze, hoping they'd not flee upon sighting me and they moved off to the right back into the forest cover. At this point there was a rush of activity as a couple of young Stags appeared from the same location, following the Hinds, then a sight that I was not quite prepared for! I had focused the camera back onto the Stag further up the path when a large Stag jumped out onto the path no more than 30 yards ahead of me - I refocused and managed a couple of photos as he noticed me and in an instant he was off to the right after the Hinds.

The most recent trips into the New Forest have been spent watching and photographing the Fallow Deer, which have a tendency to stay in the forest areas during the daytime, and although the rutting is now just passing it's peak, I have seen fewer harems (groups) of Does than I had noted last year - perhaps the rutting is peaking later than I have expected? Anyhow, whatever the numbers, these Deer are an amazing sight and I have been able to witness a good number of ruts, although from a photographic standpoint, getting close to a rut in the forest is no easy bet but there are plenty of clearings that have presented a quick photographic opportunity.

Fallow Deer have an array of calls, none more comical than the grunting, like a pigs, when they are moving their Does around. This turns into more of a bark when they are close to a rut with a challenging male. They stand proud, followed by bouts of thrashing their antlers into the ground and bushes as a sign of strength - a sight to be seen!

Now I know than many people have a large disliking for Grey Squirrels, but I still have a soft spot for them, along with the smaller Reds that I will never tire from photographing. The New Forest is a thriving place for Grey Squirrels, and at this time of year, the gathering of nuts and fruits is in full swing. These little fellas are, for me, good fun to photograph, and they often seem to stop for a quick pose for the camera before bouncing off again.

Sika Heaven

On my most recent session, I decided to spend most of the time in the morning photographing Sika Deer - if I could find them!?
Sika Deer are much smaller in numbers in the New Forest than the Fallow or Reds. Sika are known to hybridise with Red Deer therefore they are separated by some distance so no interbreeding can take place.
Sika are a beautiful Deer to see and I was expecting to maybe sight a small number, and photograph them if lucky, however this was going to turn into one of those red letter days!
The first sighting was of a young female, just yards along the first pathway into the forest.
This was followed by numerous sightings of small groups of females with the odd Stag and as the sun rose I was able to get busy with the camera.


Sika Stags are an amazing spectacle. They have straighter, less branched antlers than the Red Deer, and their faces are a fearsome yet stunning sight to see. Their calling is something to be heard - eerie in the early morning with different variations in call that range from soft call to an almost scream like sound.

One thing I found very suprising was the way the Sika Hinds were so inquisitive. The Stags would move off if seen, yet the Hinds would often move closer as if to find out what was going on. This made for some very nice closer than expected photographs. I had not expected to see this many Sika Deer, and as the morning drew on and they moved off deeper into the forest, I was left stunned by what the day had bought!

I could say that this day was a 'pig of a day' - literally, for I had one last location to visit - Brockenhurst. I had been told that there was one location here that I would be able to find some pigs that would make for a good photographic opportunity. One of the New Forests long known traditions is the letting out of pigs to roam around at this time of year, eating and fattening up. This is known as 'Pannage' and the pigs eat a vast number of acorns (poisonous to the horses and ponies) and other foods that are readily available to them. I had not expected to see so many of the little porkers!! Ranging from small piglets to an amazingly large female, some pigs were obviously quite happy around humans as I soon noticed!

One small pig was eating fairly close by and i set up the camera low to get a few photographs. It spotted me and came trotting over, and to my suprise was quite happy for me to scratch it's back. The delightful noises he was letting out at this scratching were very amusing!

New Forest

It's now the time of year that I spend a few days watching and photographing the Rutting of the various Deer in the New Forest.

Over the next couple of weeks I will hope to add a few more Blog posts with new photographs and experiences in various locations in the New Forest area, but for now please read on for details of my first 'scouting' visit to the Forest a couple of days ago...

The morning started well, with the almost perfect dewy, misty sunrise with only scattered cloud, so the first photograph of the day was of a scene that was a pleasure to watch unfold.

Deer, of which there were two species that I was hoping to photograph on this day, have a tendency of being very elusive, but within a few minutes of my arrival and brief walk, I spotted pair of Fallow Deer Bucks walking from a nearby wooded area into the open heath. The sunlight from between the clouds lit them up beautifully in the mist.

This was about the last I was to see of the sunshine for the day as the wind was picking up and cloud was building to a dull uniform cover which meant any further photographs would require a higher ISO and slower shutter speed - not perfect for wildlife photography!

Now that I had seen the two Fallow Deer, I knew there would be more relatively close by, so the next couple of hours were spent looking in heath to forest areas until I spotted a small number of Fallow Does deep within a forested area far beyond where I usually sight them. With the wind strong, and unable to get into a favourable position, I decided to sit tight and hope for a few chance photographs of any Deer moving in my direction and was soon rewarded with a lovely creamy white (but not a true albino) Doe.

After the Does had moved on, I carried on my search and soon spotted a Fallow Buck strutting around in a lightly wooded area, but with the wind yet again coming from behind, the Buck knew I was there and I only managed a few photographs before it moved deeper into the forest.

Obviously, the New Forest has an enormous amount of wildlife and scenery, and I don't only go to this wonderful environment just to photograph Deer. Here are a couple of the highlights of the day, although with the lack of sunlight, landscape photographs were never going to be high on my agenda!

At this time of year, the forest floor yields a great number of various Fungi, and these are always good targets for a photograph. One of significance that I spotted was of the 'Fly Agaric' species, striking in it's red colour with it's wart like cap scales.

It was during a time when I was photographing another Fungi that a young Fallow Buck appeared. I had not heard it's approach, and he did not notice me, so with the tripod still set up low I slowly moved the camera on it's swivel mount to focus on the Buck. The area of woodland was dark under the cloud cover, so I had to quickly up the ISO to 1000 to get a useable shutter speed - of only 1/15th sec! I only managed a couple of photos as at this close distance, the shutter sound alerted the Deer and the next couple of minutes (which felt at the time like an eternity!) were spent crouched behind the camera and tripod until the Buck went back to it's grazing. At that point I slowly retreated as it moved off itself.

One of the highlights of the day had to be when a young Fallow Doe walked out in front of me onto a footpath. She didn't notice me at all and this allowed me to catch one of those classic 'Bambi' moments.

As I mentioned earlier, there is an enormous amount of wildlife to be found in the New Forest, and one species of it's inhabitants are the Grey Squirrels. I know they are well known as a rodent, but I still believe they have their place. This chap didn't think I had noticed him as he was trying to hide on a branch whilst peeking at me!

It had taken most of the day for me to sight the Red Deer, my second on the list of Deer so locate and photograph, and even then only 2 were seen. The Stag, however, was a wonderful sight, covered in mud, which is part of the pre rut ritual, and strutting along behind a Hind.

In all, a good day spent in the New Forest, even though the weather wasn't perfect. Lets hope for better weather over the next couple of weeks!!