Skip navigation.

Everything is Permuted

Tales of a South Downs fox... and other ramblings

STICKY POST

Fox of the Day

Wednesday, 26. November 2008, 20:01:00

Don't forget to visit the ever changing Fox of the Day. Also check out the 365 project, a photo a day for a year (my 2009 album), and the best of the Opera Community on Blue Star Favorites.

Photo AlbumsLatest album: Autumn 2009
Updated albums: The South Downs | Squirrels | Cattle | Abstracts | Rottingdean | Arachnids
Website update: Great Black-Backed Gull | Sandwich Terns | Leopard Slugs Mating | Swallows | Kestrel chicks | Greater Spotted Woodpecker | Wild Foxes | Complete Fox of the Day | Photo Index

Nature Blog Network

34 comments

More Leaping Deer

Saturday, 7. November 2009, 01:00:04

,

First a quick sequence taken this morning...

roe deerLeaping deer

roe deer

roe deerLeaping deer

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.

foxThe Bold Vixen


Nature Blog Network
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.

2 comments

Pacing yourself (roe deer and woodpecker)

Thursday, 5. November 2009, 23:51:55

,

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!

roe deerRoe Deer

And then I took another 10 paces. And she was off!

roe deerRoe Deer running

roe deerRoe Deer running

roe deer

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.

green woodpeckerGreen Woodpecker

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.

moonMoon
Nature Blog Network
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.

11 comments

In the fields...

Monday, 2. November 2009, 23:46:25

, , , ...

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.


Nature Blog Network
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 40D and EF 400mm f/5.6L USM lens.

13 comments

A Walk Along Rottingdean Beach

Monday, 2. November 2009, 00:33:21

, ,

The rain finally cleared away from the coast mid afternoon, and needing some fresh air we went for a bracing walk along Rottingdean beach. For a dull windy day, it was high on the success scale for bird spotting. This is the view when we arrived.


I saw an oystercatcher skim by. And there were gulls aplenty, though mainly of the Herring variety. Among them was a great black-backed gull.


A more unusual visitor was lurking at the edge of the water. This is the first heron I've seen along the beach. The gulls eventually decided that a heron was one intruder too many, and several started a minor mobbing.




The heron settled further along the beach, near where this relatively rare visitor was trying its luck in the surf.


The heron had its own ideas though, and very soon chased the curlew away.


While all this was going on, a flock (well, six) cormorants flew by.


And on the rocks, the starlings gathered as the sun began to lower in the sky.


If there's one thing starlings are renowned for, it's their flocking and sure enough they took to the skies in a typically ragged, but unbelievably well coordinated, fashion.


And throughout, the sea transmuted into gold under the changing light.

Nature Blog Network
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 40D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens with UV filter.

8 comments

1 2 3 4 5 ... 228 Next »

Showing posts 1 - 5 of 1140.

Download Opera, the fastest and most secure browser

Photos

fox_1802074446.jpgfox_cub_2306077029.jpgfox_cub_1109078508.jpgfox_cub_1109078523.jpgcubs_2801072883.jpgfox_2503076937_a.jpgfox_shy_2611076713.jpgfox_cub_eyes_0108072220.jpgcubs_2701072779.jpgfox_cub_eyes_0108072215.jpg

Everything is Permuted

Technical

Opera Community Groups

Wildlife Web Sites

Essential

F-Secure Blog

  • Sentencing

    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 ...

  • Try Health Check 2 Beta, complete survery, chance ...

    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? ————— Try Health Check . ...

  • Greetings from AVAR 2009!

    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 ...

  • This Is It!

    It seems like most people who have gone to watch the Michael Jackson This Is It movie have told me that it is really worth watching. However, we are not too sure if Michael Jackson's Official Website at http://www.michaeljackson.com is actually worth visiting now. Well, it turned up on our s ...

  • Vote 4 Us

    Our blog has been nominated in the 2009 ComputerWeekly.com IT blog awards. We're in the IT Security category. If you like us, you can vote at ComputerWeekly.com . Cheers! P.S. What's someone got to do to get nominated for the Twitter category, get banned or something?   On 05/11/09 At 10 ...

Top Blogs

Website Photography and Video

    Wildlife Forums

    Copyright

    • Creative Commons Licence

      This blog and photographic material is protected by: Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 UK: England & Wales