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Everything is Permuted

Tales of an urban fox... and other ramblings

Posts tagged with "newts"

Down at the watering hole

Thursday, 8. May 2008, 23:42:05

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Lunchtime today

This evening in the garden

Camera note: crow taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens; the newts were taken with the Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG macro + Kenko Teleplus 1.4x Pro 300 DG teleconverter

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Pond Life

Tuesday, 12. February 2008, 23:39:59

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The continuing mild weather is encouraging the garden amphibians to be ever more active, though we're yet to witness the breeding frenzy of the frogs. Last year spawning was late February, so it's about the right time to be watching closely.

As it is there were four or five frogs visible this evening at different times (if I count the ones under the surface).



The newts were too numerous to count. I tried, but kept losing them is the weed as they dived for cover. The males, who seem generally more cautious of the light, are sporting their mating colours. The body lightens somewhat and they develop large darkened blotches. They also have a tendency to dive for cover when the torchlight catches them.





No signs of any toads yet, but that's not unexpected. We have far fewer of them and they are likely to be out on dry land and out of range of the camera. The newts do venture out occasionally (we find them under piles of dry leaves). They also like to bask in the moonlight.


More images from tonight in the Amphibians album.

Camera note: all tonights shots were taken with the Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG macro lens.

5 Comments

Newts galore

Tuesday, 22. January 2008, 00:34:03

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The mainstay of my photographic endeavours of late have been the newts, which are getting ready for the breeding season. Newts are primarily nocturnal, and while most of the year they are relatively drab in colour this changes at this time of year. The males develop small crests and black spots, while their underside develops an orange tinge. The females also develop an orange tinge underneath and slightly less distinctive dark blotches.
Male newt

Female newt

The pond itself is just one of those glass fibre pre-fabricated affairs. It's quite small: about 10 feet at its longest point, and 4 feet at the widest, but generally just a couple of feet wide. The foxes just step over it when they go past. It's clogged with pond weed, and there's a deep layer of leaf matter on the bottom. At its deepest its maybe 2-3 feet, but mostly it's quite shallow. It does well though, and in addition to the newts supports a healthy frog population, plus a smaller number of toads (rarely seen).
Young frog

As for the foxes... we've heard plenty of noise over the past few nights. Much of it has been very close, but getting to see any foxes has been rather more difficult. The vixen with the 'nicked' ear has been venturing in, but tends to keep her distance. No sign of the dog fox.
The shy vixen tonight

Camera note: all shots taken with the Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG macro lens.

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A quick catch up on the week

Thursday, 10. January 2008, 23:31:21

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It's been a quiet week here fox-wise (apart from Monday), mainly due to plenty of wind and rain. Most nights I've resorted to photographing the newts (which are quite active at the moment... I saw three tonight), and the occasional frog.
Underwater umbrella?

Big foot?

There are several more new newt shots in the Amphibians album.

There was a brief respite in the unremitting gloom yesterday. That brought out some of the more familiar birds:
A very satisfied looking crow

And a shy robin
If you want to see a bold robin, take a look over here!

There was one surprise this week. I was out in the drizzle today, the light was terrible, but high in one of the trees I noticed a pair of birds which weren't familiar. Getting anything like a decent shot was tricky. Bad light and rain don't make things easy, but when there's no direct line of sight to the bird either... This was taken with the aperture wide open, and at ISO 1600. That gave me a reasonable shutter speed. It's not a great shot, but it is the first I've managed of a redwing. :smile: More about shooting at high ISO settings in this excellent tutorial. I've clearly got some way to go yet!
Redwing

On a completely different note you may have noticed some slight changes to the blog layout and other parts of the My Opera community site. Full details of the changes are detailed in the change log.

Camera note: birds photographed with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens; frog with the EF 24-105 F4L IS USM; and the newt with the Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG macro + 44mm extension tube.

6 Comments

An odd bunch

Saturday, 29. December 2007, 00:58:53

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The foxes have been quiet for the past day (just a fleeting sighting of one trotting down the road this evening), but some of the other regular garden life has re-emerged. Here's a small selection of shots taken over the past 24 hours.
The wood mouse was back on the feeder

This strange bug was crawling on the pond surface

And a caterpillar was crawling out of the pond

A pale newt was swimming

And a darker newt too, underneath a grub.

10 Comments

Photos

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