Capital Deer

I was visiting London during June and found time to spend a couple of hours with the camera in Bushy Park. These expansive parks on the outskirts of the capital are often very productive for wildlife photography and usually I will come away with a good selection of images of both the bird life and the herds of fallow and red deer.

The parks are ideally suited for a quick visit as the wildlife are accustomed to the large number of visitors and so generally more approachable. My session did not coincide with the best time of year, which is about now, when the deer are spectacular as they go through the motions of their annual rut. If you decide you want to go and watch or photograph the rutting deer, then some caution is necessary with the stags. These are large powerful animals with an overdose of testosterone coursing through their bodies which make them both less predictable and potentially dangerous. However, the rut is an event that is worth taking the effort to go and see. The sight of a large bellowing male stomping through the bracken in the early morning, before engaging in a head-on battle of strength with a rival stag, is a memorable sight. The parks look beautiful at this time of year as the bracken and trees change colour in the softer light of autumn.

During my visit the situation was much calmer with the deer gently grazing across the parkland wilderness. I started off the photography with some shots of Fallow Deer running. This herd shows a wide variety of colours from white spots on red, pure white and very dark brown.

At this time of year the bracken that forms large clumps across the park is high and allows for some photos of head and shoulders, when combined with a shallow depth of field, emerging from the mist of foliage.

I found this large Reed Deer stag moving through the bracken. This would be classed as a Royal Stag as it had twelve points to its antlers.

Whilst going through the images I decided for a change that I would convert some to black and white. Deer seem to be one of those species that always look good in monochrome. So below is a selection of photos of both Fallow and Red Deer.

At this time of year the antlers are covered in velvet which is shed in advance of the rut to create the jousting weapons for the clashes between rival males.

A younger stag giving me the stare. I think its probably these younger stags that present more danger to onlookers in the rutting period, as it was one such animal that showed some aggressive posturing towards me during an autumn visit. Needless to say I backed slowly away!

To finish off this post a Red Deer doe and huge stag amongst the bracken.

I hope this has inspired you to go and watch a rut this autumn if there are deer herds in your local area but please proceed with caution and as always respect the animals.

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Southbound for the Winter

I popped out the other day for a brief session along the local coast. It was one of those outings where I did not have a particular target species in my sights and so it was just a general walk around to see what could be encountered. On my local coast there are usually some birds around to photograph, particularly waders, as long as you make your visit at the right state of tide. Also given that its autumn you never know what southbound migrants you may stumble upon.

As I wandered along the concrete embankment that forms the sea defences, I bumped in to one of the local birdwatchers and we chatted for a while to see if he had come across any interesting birds recently. As we talked, a movement further along the wall caught my attention as a North Wheatear landed. A feathered cue that it was time for some photography :).

The birds were looking tidy in the warm colours of their fresh autumn plumage. However, I think I still prefer the colours of the spring birds, which really add a splash of much need colour to the still dormant landscape, when they first arrive locally in mid-March.

The attractive patterns created by the rear view of a male bird.

As the sun broke through the clouds four more birds arrived. The burnt orange colour of the birds glowed in the late afternoon sun as they temporarily paused on the southward journey to Africa.

The concrete sea defence structures appear to offer them a temporary substitute, and probably a reminder of their rocky upland habit that they had recently left. They would occasionally drop down to snatch another passing insect.

Given the birds seemed so relaxed, I decided to try and see if I could crawl up close to a bird that landed nearby on the concrete embankment. After a slow a careful commando crawl, much to the bemusement of the local passing walkers, I was up very close to the bird with a nice low shooting angle.

Whilst photographing this bird at close quarters, I noticed it had what appeared to be a small piece of 'mud' stuck to its lower bill. However, on examining the photos on my return home it turned out to be a small beetle, a stowaway on a free trip south.

Wishing these birds safe passage on their long arduous journey ahead. I would like to think that maybe our paths may cross again when they will be travelling back through the area next spring.

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Plan W - Session 2

This is a continuation from my previous Whinchat Post (which can be found here). I was really looking forward to this session as the majority of my first visit had been spent finding the birds. It was a grey and overcast as I left the house before dawn but the forecast looked promising and conditions were brightening just as I arrived on this upland moor. The site I had located was next to the road which allowed me to photograph from the comfort of the mobile Nissan hide. When I arrived both birds were away foraging so I waited until they both returned to their perches close to the nesting site before pulling in to position. This would allow them to see me slowly approach rather than finding a strange object near to the nest when they returned. They both, particularly the female, spent a few moments checking out the arrival of this strange new object in their landscape.

Having decided I did not seel to be presenting any threat, both birds then quickly continued with their feeding duties of a demanding brood. I never went to view the nest but assumed they were rapidly growing by the frequency of feeding. The breakfast menu for the day was the occasional fly and caterpillars.

In fact lots of caterpillars..

The female bird appeared to be doing the majority of the work foraging as the male was otherwise preoccupied defending the territory and their food supply from the numerous Meadow Pipits. This photo is of the male on lookout duty for invading Meadow Pipits. I took this photo as a wider angled shot to show the bird amongst the wonderful range of hues of moorland habitat. These birds certainly live in a beautifully coloured world.

The male bird would frequently take up position on a perch and as soon as a Meadow Pipit approached, would take flight to chase the pipit out of the area in twisting aerobatic flight through the low lying vegetation.

I will finish off this post with a few last photographs. If you read my last post on the Whinchats, you will recall I left a perch in position as I departed. Well the female was very happily using this regularly on her approaches to and departures from the nest.

There was a brief light rain shower during the session which added some extra moorland atmosphere to this photograph of the female.

I will finish this post with a photograph of the male bid perched on some heather, although unfortunately not in flower at that time of year. The orange colours of a male bird would really compliment the purple flowering heather if you think about the enhancing effect of matching opposites on a 'colour wheel'.

It was a very enjoyable session and before leaving for home, and while both birds were away foraging, I added another perch for my next session and left a little feed to help them along with their parenting duties.

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In Media

I thought it time to write a post on where myself and some of my images are currently appearing in various media. First up I was asked by BBC Countryfile to once again undertake the long-list judging for their annual photography competition. This took a slightly different format this year with 12 separate categories to be judged. It was a long day whittling the 55000 entries down to 3600 which was accompanied by continuous filming. This is being aired tomorrow evening (11th September) at 7:30pm on BBC1 and whether I appear on the show or end up on the cutting room floor remains to be seen :)

I have entered a couple of photography competitions this year and managed 12th place with a flying Jay in the British Birds Journal. Greater success was achieved in Bird Watching Magazine's Bird Photo of the Year competition where I won the Birds of Britain category. This image of a juvenile cuckoo is currently given a full page in the August 2011 issue.

I have also had some images recently published in a books on North Atlantic Seabirds and Puffins, an iphone bird i.d application and South Wales Wildlife Trust is using my infamous flying puffin image on the front of their new pamphlet.

Obviously I didn't want to write a post without showing a few photographs. On my wanderings across moorland areas earlier in the year I was fortunate to have a brief and first encounter with some Black Grouse. The thee birds were just coming to the end of their lekking period but were still half-heartedly going through the motions. This has certainly raised my interest in trying to get some more and better images of these fascinating birds. Hopefully this will be a little mission I can pursue next spring.

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Chilled Hares

I love to photograph Brown Hares during the late summer. This is a quiet time of year for bird photography as many birds are going through their annual moult and not looking very photogenic and so the hares provide a good diversion to keep the camera busy.

During the late summer the hares are very relaxed, with the hormone fuelled madness of spring subsided, and they are busy feeding on the abundant vegetation to build themselves up for the winter ahead.

Those long hazy warm summer days of childhood no longer seem to exist, no doubt partly as a result of a changing climate and the main weather feature of August now seems to be rain....lots of rain! Even so there are still brief occasions when the sun shines and by keeping a close eye on the weather and my camera close to hand I try and make the most of the brief sunny spells either before or after work.

Despite having spent more hours than I would like to count in the company of hares it was not until the other day that I realised how long their eyelashes are. It's interesting how a slightly different perspective can reveal features that you have previously missed.

The other benefit of pursuing hares at this time of year is that there is a good chance of encountering leverets and young hares which always seem to have a degree of inquisitiveness about them. All part of the survival learning process.

For me this last photograph of this post sums up the summer hare and as the old song goes .... 'Summer time and the livin' is easy'.

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Plan W - Session 1

At the beginning of each year I formulate my photography plans for the next 12 months. Some of the plans are pursued while others fall by the wayside due to time constraints. I have always found the best approach is often to concentrate efforts on a particular species over several sessions. This allows me to gain a good understanding of the animals behaviour and refine my images. My two primary bird species targets for this year were Whinchat and Corn Bunting.

Pursuing Whinchat (which quickly became known as Plan W) was actually a difficult decision due to it requiring forfeit of photographing Common Redstarts which would need to be done at the same time of year. The choice was made tricky as it meant that the private site where I have photographed the Redstart for the last 3 years would probably be lost for good. However, reviewing my extensive Redstart image library it looked like it was time to move on.

My previous photography of Whinchat had been very limited to a handful of images of migrant birds passing through my local area in mid-Spring. To undertake this concentrated effort would require travelling to their upland breeding areas. My first Plan W trip started well, albeit with the wrong species, when I found this Curlew caught in the first rays of the day on the upland moors.

However, it was Whinchat I was seeking and the search began across the extensive area of moorland.

After a while I spotted a male bird perched on a low shrub.

I decided to set up camp there with a pop-up hide next to the bush hoping it was part of a regular route for the bird around its territory. I waited, and waited and waited but the bird never returned but I could seeing them moving around at distance on the low hillside behind. In the end I decided the approach was not working and moved back to the car to try another area. As I was driving along I fortunately spotted a female on a low shrub right next to the road, which she then dropped behind.

A male bird then appeared in the same spot and followed the same route as the female.

It looked like I had found a nesting site and in a very convenient location as I could use my car as a hide. The only downside was that it was a single track road and I would have to move each time another vehicle came along, although that was very infrequently. The rest of the first session I spent just capturing some more photos of the birds, watching their behaviour and building up a small collection as the birds perched on a range of roadside vegetation including heather and bracken.

A larger caterpillar destined for a hungry brood.

I kept the sessions fairly brief as I wanted the birds to slowly become accustomed to my presence. Just before leaving and while the birds were away foraging, I introduced a small perch nearby to gauge their reaction and which the female began to use immediately.

It was a good start to Plan W and as I headed home I was already thinking about and looking forward to the next session.

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Heading to the Hills

The other day I saw a Northern Wheatear in its apricot autumn colours heading rapidly southward, a sign of the autumn bird migration getting started. This sighting reminded me of a memorable brief session I had with this species earlier in the year, when the birds were heading northwards to their upland breeding areas, but had not got round to going through the images. We get quite good numbers of the birds moving along the coastal strip of the Wirral during migration. I have generally found the spring birds to be much less approachable for photography. They always seem to try and keep at distance that is just out of photography range and always move a short distance ahead of any approaching person with a flash of their white rump, from where they derive their name.

A spring male bird is a joy to behold and certainly brightens up the mid-March landscape, when they first arrive locally and during their long journey up from Africa. This particular bird shown here I came across whilst out looking for Skylarks during May. I spotted the bird, looking resplendent in its fresh plumage, sitting on a fence post and was surprised in that it allowed a close approach.

The bird then dropped to the ground in a dip in the sandy grasslands, that border the coast, and I could suddenly see a good potential opportunity. After watching the foraging bird for a few moments, I predicted the path it was going to take and went round to the far side of the depression and lay down and waited at the top of the bank just out of view of the bird. The secret to the closest wildlife encounters is often to predict the path of the animal or bird based on your knowledge of its behaviour and hope it keeps wandering in the direction of your position. Obviously luck plays it part with this approach and some say I always seem to have it on my side but maybe it happens a little to often for it just to be by chance alone.

After a short wait a head appeared over the crest of the bank directly in front of me.

The bird paused for a while decided I posed no threat and slowly came up on to the top of the bank where I was lying.

This beautiful male Wheatear then stayed in close proximity for a while allowing me to take quite a few photographs. At times it came very close and inside minimum focusing distance on the lens and I had to wait motionless for it hop back out to a suitable range. It obviously knew I was there but seemed unperturbed by my presence.

The session came to an abrupt end when a dog walker, seeing me lying on the ground, walked right up to me to ask what I was photographing. I pointed to the Wheatear flying off in to the distance.

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