Early one morning, before work, I took a walk in the fields near the house. As I walked through an area surrounded by long grass, I saw an orange shape moving nearby. At first, I thought it was a fox. I put the camera up to my own and focused on the subject. It wasn’t a fox. Instead, it was a ginger cat that was on patrol from one of the local houses. It was watching me as I watched it. I went on my way and it went on its way too.
One of the things that I used to love about spring in the UK was the arrival of the lambs. When they are very young, they are so energetic and will be bouncing around all over the place. I thought the time would be right to see them not long after I arrived but didn’t have a good chance to see any. This led to me thinking I had missed the opportunity. However, luck was on my side.
We took a trip to Polesdon Lacey with the family and, while the house and gardens were the point of the visit, the fact that there were loads of sheep in an adjoining field and they had a bunch of lambs was not going to escape me. The lambs were gambolling energetically. There was a dip in the ground which they would jump down into. Sadly, this meant they would be out of sight but, a little patience would pay off. My favourite shots came when one of the lambs was alone coming across the field to join its friends and it bounced its way across the field. Soon they will be bigger and heavier and less cute!
Back to Winnall’s Moor again and more bird life. I had seen a kestrel hunting on a previous visit, and, on this morning, there was one sitting on a branch surveying the scene. The early light was very nice, and I was optimistic that I would get some more hunting shots. Sadly, the kestrel must have had plenty to eat, or there was nothing to catch. It sat on the branch for ages, and I was so cold, I lost patience standing around. I left it to it. I have no idea when it finally took off.
Lots of bird posts since some of my early time in Winchester involved wandering around the countryside and seeing a lot of wildlife. On one of my walks, I got to see both some great tits and a single blue tit that was sitting on a tree near the river. I do wonder whether a post about these birds will cause some sort of problem with the filters on internet services that will not be able to tell the difference between slang and a bird.
I’ve had other posts recently with swans so, sorry if you are getting fed up with them. (Makes a change from cormorants I guess!) This is a simple one. A swan was swimming towards me at the end of the day and the backlight gave some nice colour to the water and emphasised the outline of the swan nicely.
A group of swans was swimming up the Itchen as I was out walking one Sunday morning. Suddenly they decided to get airborne, and I was almost caught out by them. The first two were by me before I was able to get a shot, but I was very close to them and struggled to get something framed. The third was close behind them and I was able to pick it up earlier. A swan at low level over the water is a graceful looking creature. I suspect I will be out and about trying to get more swan flying shots before too long.
I was taking a walk along the River Itchen in Winchester and there were some swans swimming up the river towards me. One was swimming along quite normally but a second was following it and was swimming in a strange way. It had its head low to the water and was swimming in a surging motion rather than the regular paddling. I don’t know whether this was some sort of mating action or just a weird swan! Video seemed to be the best way to record this.
During my first stroll around Winnall Moors, I caught a glimpse of a bird of prey as it swooped across the grass. I tried to get the camera on it as it moved by. It headed to the grass and then took off again, apparently carrying something with it. Not sure what sort of rodent it had found but it had found a meal. I hadn’t set the camera up for fast moving targets so got whatever I could as it flew away. The light was a little low but the high ISO shots these days are really nothing to worry about. I am hoping to get plenty more opportunities like this. Now to find some kingfishers!
I don’t know whether robins are in our area year-round but there is a feeling that they show up in spring so would have migrated somewhere else for the winter. Maybe that is true, maybe it applies to other locations. I don’t know. All I do know is that I was surprised to see one in December in Kenmore. So much so, I decided to get some images of it. How many times of the year would I completely ignore a robin?
No great story for this one. I was just watching a turtle as it same in Lake Washington and, as it came towards me, I thought it looked good so grabbed some shots. No action, no feeding, just a turtle swimming lazily along.