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!!

A day with the Seals

I had a wonderful experience yesterday, with some wildlife that I never thought I'd get anywhere near to, let alone see in the wild.

The plan was to go and photograph a group of Common Seals (Phoca vitulina), also known as Harbor or Harbour Seals.

The journey started off early with a drive to the mainland followed by the usual motorway delays on the way to meet up with a relative, Jim, who would help show me where Harbour Seals might be. It was reported that the Seals hadn't been seen in the area we were going to for a while, so my expectations for us finding them was not that high.

Jim had bought his home built canoe along for the trip - and what a wonderful canoe it is! It's design and lightness made it very agile and fast on the water!

After a 30-40 minute run on the water, we tried the first inlet where the Seals had previously been seen but there was no sight of them at all, so we headed back into the main channel for a further 20 or so minutes until we reached the next inlet and it was Jim who sighted the Seals hauled out on a sandbank a good distance up ahead. With a quick change to the electric outboard for a quiet approach so as not to frighten the Seals, we headed upstream on the opposite side of the water keeping a good distance from the Seals and they seemed quite at ease with our passing them.

Jim held back upstream while I moved to a closer bank so that I could half beach the dinghy rather than photograph on the now flowing tide. I didn't want to get too close or frighten the Seals off so this further distance gave me the opportunity to use the long end of the lens and still get some nicely detailed photographs. There were 11 Seals in total, including a good number of Bulls (males), Cows (females) and a couple of maturing young, and soon one of the group slipped into the water to take a closer look at what I was doing, which gave me the perfect opportunity to get some lovely photographs of the Seal in it's home environment.

The Seals spent their time basking in the sun which allowed me to take plenty of photographs until the tide had risen to the point where I was starting to drift so, not wanting to get too close and frighten the Seals, I signaled back to Jim that I was now ready to move back out and away from the group.

Even on a neap tide, it's suprising how fast the flow is in this area and soon a number of the Seals had taken to the water, with a few being quite inquisitive, but I now felt it was time to leave them in peace and head back on the tide.

In all, a fantastic experience; a nice collection of photographs to take back, good company, beautiful scenery, tired but job done!

Always expect the unexpected...

For a few days now, I've been watching some Foxes and their routines. Every evening, one of them would take a particular route and so I decided to set up in a position where I would get a nice portrait photograph as he comes over the brow of the hill. My camera was set up on the tripod and turned 90 degrees ready for the right moment. After a long wait, the Fox turned up - coming from a completely different direction, a lot closer to me from left to right at about 20 yards so I didnt even have a chance to rotate the camera for a wider and corrected view. The result - a sequence of photos that would have worked perfectly had I not set up the way I 'presumed' the Fox would appear! If the camera was not rotated to portrait I would have had a nice composition without losing the legs and tail!

So, after kicking myself for thinking too much in advance, I popped back to a position where the Foxes would congregate, and instantly spotted one having a scratch in the late evening sunlight.
'Right' I think, I'll wait for a while here and see if he moves soon.
Suddenly, he jumps to his feet, looking, not towards me, but about 15 yards in front of me. I look forward and see a rustling in the stinging nettles. I focus on the location and there it is - a Badger, popping it's head out of the undergrowth!

Having watched the Badger for a short while, I notice the Fox finally starting to move on. He comes down to have a sniff at where the Badger had been, not noticing that I was still there, so I finally got a nice photograph of the Fox.

Canada Goslings

It's been a frustrating couple of weeks.

My main camera, a Canon 1D MkIII, has had to go in for repair and I have been unable to get out and photograph anything new, so I decided to buy a new backup - the new Canon EOS 7D. It's new upgraded auto focus has taken a little getting used to, but it looks like it will serve my style of photography very well!

Due to limited time - and the unpredictable weather, yesterday was the first day I got to really test the 7D, and I knew exactly where to test it.
I had noticed, a few days ago, that there were a couple of pairs of Canada Geese on Ryde Canoe Lake that had some young Goslings and they looked so sweet in their fuzzy greeny yellow appearance, so off I went to try and get a few photographs of them before they grew to much.

The colour of these Goslings really helps them blend into the surroundings, helping them to avoid predators.

The mother was quite happy having me photograph the Goslings - after observing them for a while I realised their main concern was the Mute Swans. They would chase the Goslings if they were far enough away from their mother. It was interesting to notice the male was never too far away, watching over it's young and ready to hiss and go on the offensive if anything got too close.

For such small young, these Goslings are so quick on the water. One of them (photograped below) was chased around by a Mute Swan and was unable to get out of the water onto the path, so the mother, followed by the rest of the siblings went in to the water and, with the help of the male, took the signet to safety.

I will try and follow these young as they grow, and get a few more photographs to add to a new Blog post in the not too distant future.

Barn Owl - 2nd session

The Barn Owl was out hunting again this evening, but not until the light was fast fading, so the shutter speed for photographs was not as I'd wished for tonight.


The Owl quickly caught it's prey on 3 occasions before I left, testimony that it must now have young to feed.



It's on nights like these that I realise how much better a faster lens would be! (time to start saving again....!)

Barn Owl

Found a new site with Barn Owls this evening, A Male was hunting, and I'm hoping it is finding food for it's mate who is on a nest. I can only confirm this if the hunting intensifies of the next few weeks when the young are hatched.

The light was fading when I took these photographs so the ISO was high to maintain a decent shutter speed.

Welcome to the Wight Wildlife Photography Blog page

Welcome to my Blog. I hope to update here frequently with news, new photographs and information from Wight Wildlife Photography. I'm not the worlds best web user, so please bear with me while I get used to this new format!

As far as whats going on with my Photography work, it's been a mad couple of weeks with many new animals and birds photographed and places visited - I will add a few photographs to my next Blog post!

I'm busy with final prepararions for my first big event of the year - the Robin Hill Spring Garden Show, 24th/25th April - I will be in the Craft Marquee, so please pop in and say Hi if you are there!