Everything is Permuted

The grey weather is persisting, in typical halfway to winter fashion. It's cold and damp, but not really doing anything; and the sky remains solidly grey from dawn to dusk. Colours are drained from any shots you do manage, and everything has a blueish tint. When they talk about colour temperature, you know exactly what they mean at this time of year. Colours are all at the cool-end of the spectrum.

The nearest to any brightness today came with a few frames of a green woodpecker. It must have been feeling the cold. It let me venture somewhat closer than usual (and switch lenses) before flitting away.


Camera note: shot taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens, 400mm focal length, at ISO 800, f/5.6 and 1/200s. Hand-held.

Sometimes it happens. I headed back out to the fields where I'd seen the deer earlier in the week. They weren't around. Indeed there was nothing much at all in evidence.


A few pigeons swept overhead, and some crows circled aimlessly. A magpie flew by carrying a twig. In the shrubs along the edge of the fields a small flock of yellowhammers were skitting about and doing their level best to avoid the camera.

Yellowhammer

A jay put in a brief appearance. Not my best shot, but the moment was fleeting.

Jay

I took a few other assorted shots, but while it was great to be outside I didn't think I'd seen anything striking. That's fine. Most of the interesting shots amount to a few seconds of activity spread over an hour or more of looking; and the looking has a pleasure of its own. But I was wrong about having seen nothing unusual.

When I was going through the shots the evening I came across a sequence I have no recollection taking, other than a vague memory of having grabbed a quick burst of an unidentified small bird as it flew past. They're not the greatest shots I've ever taken, but I was stunned to see that somehow I'd managed to photograph a great spotted woodpecker in full flight. I only wish I'd been aware of the fact at the time. It seems odd having the photographic evidence of something that I didn't see!



I managed three frames in all. The others are here and here.

No badger tonight (yet), but the nicked-ear vixen passed through the garden, too quickly for a photo but I was pleased to see her at all after several very quiet days.

Camera note: all shots taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

I had half an hour to kill this morning and went along to Hove Park to pass the time. It's one of those urban spaces which is little more than a sports field and area to run dogs. Very flat, with few features apart from trees around all four sides. The weather was overcast, but plenty of people were about so I wasn't sure if I'd even get the camera out. But something caught my eye flying across on the far side of the park, and I went closer to investigate.

I was right about the brief sighting I'd had. It was worth the chase, and eventually I spotted what I was looking for high in the trees.

Green Woodpecker

I see green woodpeckers reasonably frequently, usually flying at high speed in the wrong direction and next to impossible to photograph. So a chance to take some reasonable shots was very welcome indeed (despite the poor light). And while I was watching - and snapping - I noticed a second bird flit into view. Now this was (for me) even more special as I almost never see them. Typically though it remained firmly on the wrong side of the tree trunk. But it's a great spotted woodpecker (honest!).

Great Spotted Woodpecker

And to complete the day, the nicked-ear vixen paid a very brief visit to the garden this evening. She looks like she's in competition to be the grubbiest fox on the block, but although she only stayed a moment it was long enough for me to grab this shot of her at her cutest.

Nicked-Ear Vixen

Camera note: Woodpeckers were photographed with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens. The vixen was snapped with the EF70-300mm 4.5-5.6 DO IS.