It feels like it's been quite a while since I had a really good afternoon with the kestrels, but the sun was bright today and I had a good feeling that my luck would be in. Sure enough a female was out hunting in the valley. Or rather, she was hunting all over Sheepcote Valley and led me a merry dance as I followed her around. Good exercise though!
During one of her hovers she attracted the casual attention of some gulls. They didn't mob. It was more a case of investigating and moving on. In this shot the gull is a little closer to the camera (but not too much), but it gives a rough approximation of the difference in size.
There are a few more shots from today in the Kestrels 2009 album. You need to go to the end of the album for today's shots.
The other reason I headed to this location was that last time I was there I saw a stoat. The moment was too fleeting to photograph it, but I have a fair idea of its home territory and went to have another look today. I saw a movement, probably the stoat, but even more fleeting than the previous time. So I can't really claim a sighting, just enough of a hint to encourage me to go back when I have the chance. I suspect I'll need to sit and wait... and wait. Or set the camera up on a tripod with a radio trigger and hide myself away. But I'm sure it's there. Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 40D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.
And two shots from this evening. She was only in the garden for a few minutes, but it's about a week since I'd last seen the bold vixen. There are still signs of a slight limp, but nothing as severe as it had been, and she was able to jump down and use the 'weaker' leg for landing.
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 40D. The deer were photographed with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens. I used the EF 24-105 F4L IS USM and Canon 430EX flash unit for the vixen.
The early mornings are still proving the best time of day to be outside, and today I was lucky enough to stumble upon one of the roe deer which had wandered over to 'my' side of the fields. So for once I wasn't struggling to photograph her against the sun. She was grazing. Very carefully I edged along the side of the field to get a little closer. I take about 10 paces at a time (take a photo) and then another 10 paces. And so on. That way I always have roughly the best shot I'm likely to get. It took about 5 minutes to cover 100 yards. My name is not Bolt. But hers might be!
The decent light had all but vanished by lunchtime when I saw one of the local green woodpeckers. Once again I used the 10 pace/photo/10 pace technique to get into range.
I'm keeping my eyes open for the campus foxes. There have been several reports of activity, though mainly early morning or in the evening.
It's still quiet out in the garden, but I did catch a glimpse of the bold vixen and a badger on the trail cam last night (not together); and a couple of nights ago one of the other foxes crossed the garden at full pelt. I missed that, but I did manage to photograph the full moon.
Moon Camera note: today's shots all taken with the Canon 40D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS. The moon was photographed with the EF 400mm f/5.6L USM lens.
It's raining heavily right now, but this morning the skies were blue and the sun bright. I headed for the fields near work. The yellowhammers were once again busy in the tree tops, flitting busily up and down along the fringe of woodland that runs along the path between the fields. Yellowhammer
I'd gone in search of the roe deer. They weren't in the higher field, but on my way back to the car I spotted an 'inconsistency' along the hedgerow on the far side. The sun was facing towards me, and the shapes were difficult to discern against the dark shade. A little Photoshop work was needed to bring this shot up to scratch. Roe deer
At lunchtime it was still bright, but cooler than I'd anticipated. I must remember that winter sunshine is deceptively weak. Some rooks were out in the fields, but mainly it was quiet. The cattle have been moved to new pastures. The trees have shed their leaves as winter approaches. Downland scene
As I was nearing the brow of the hill, two birds came into view. Low down, on the grass. A pair of partridges.
I watched as they crossed the path and disappeared behind the distant slope. Red-legged partridge
I'm still monitoring nightly activity via the trail cam. The badger has been back, and early this morning an inquisitive squirrel was chasing birds. This clip though is from a couple of nights ago, and shows two of the foxes interacting.
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 40D and EF 400mm f/5.6L USM lens.
So, there are these apparent MySpace phishing e-mails going around ("... please be informed that you are required to update your MySpace account, Please update your MySpace account by clicking here... ")
When you follow the link, you end up to this MySpace look-a-like page, hosted on various .uk ...
We have located the first iPhone worm, dubbed as Ikee . It's currently spreading in the wild, but it's only able to infect devices that have been 'jailbroken' by their owners. Jailbreaking removes iPhone's protection mechanisms, allowing users to run any software they want.
Affected users will f ...
This is a blog post from our blog in May 2007:
Yesterday, three people were sentenced for writing the above malware (it's a variant of the Vanbot family ) and other attacks - including some DDoS action.
The sentences were: 45 days jail, 40 days jail and 0 days jail, respectively. The sentence ...
Our Health Check 2.0 Beta was released about eight weeks ago.
The production deadline is approaching and the development team wants additional feedback.
Your feedback — so they've added a prize draw — for an iPod shuffle .
Nice. What do you need to do?
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Try Health Check . ...
One thing that I have always found fascinating about Japan is definitely its rich and unique culture. However, there is just one other thing — vending machines. You not only find them everywhere, you can buy all sorts of things, including adult movies, from them (except for a security product, b ...
Leaping deer
Leaping deer
The Bold Vixen
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