Sidgwick Site November Evening

We enjoyed an hour photographing the Sidgwick site in Cambridge yesterday after all light had gone from the overcast sky but with damp pavements and heavy cloud reflecting back the city lights. Difficult to know where to set the White balance when processing the images so I have left it on as shot with the variety of colours this produces.

RSPB Frampton Marsh Birds

Overcast but largely dry day for our RPS Nature Group visit to Frampton Marshes. Not ideal for distant photography, but I did enjoy the landscape (later blog post) and a few birds came close enough for portraits in habitat. Frampton is renown for its huge flocks of ducks and waders and also Raptors - we  enjoyed views of Peregrine, Merlin and, for one Member, Short-eared Owl.

Birds at Bushy Park

Although we chose to visit Bushy Park for the Deer, we were very impressed by the large and relatively tame bird population. Here are a few from the visit  - starting with a Jay that had taken an acorn up into the oak tree to eat - followed by Green Woodpecker, Kestrel, Paraqueets, Jackdaw, Blackbird, Grey Wagtail, Stonechat, Egyptian Goose up a tree! and Mallard. 

Red Deer in Autumn sunshine

 We were lucky to have a couple of hours of beautiful autumn sunshine to enjoy the Red Deer at Bushy on Monday. The herd had two stags - the largest seemed very relaxed and did not seem to object to the presence of a somewhat smaller stag that was still interested in the Hines. A young buck just showing knobs where the antlers will form spent time digging in the bracken and had been wallowing in a mud hole. The oak trees obviously offer tasty morsels for those that can reach up.

Misty Morning Bushy Park

Bushy Park was not open till 8am so we wondered if we would be too late for good atmospheric images but luck was on our side as very soon after parking the car we located a large group of deer ideally placed to take advantage of the mist and the early sunlight showing up the breath. The large group included Red Deer and a few Fallow hines. There were a couple of mature stags, one of which roared a few times for us, and several young males on the periphery. I did not know a lot about the social interactions and breeding cycle of Red Deer so read up the following article which is full of fascinating facts such as it is the hines that choose the group to associate with rather than the stags rounding and protecting the group though this also occurs. 

 Red Deer Breeding Biology | Wildlife Online