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.