Independent assignment

I've been working on an assignment based on Grey Herons and Little Egrets.
Here are some of the photos I've been taking.....

Baby Blackbird

Today, a neighbour back home (Horsham) came round with a cat basket with a baby blackbird (Turdus merula) in it.  It was a fledgling that her cat had caught.  It could barely fly and needed to be out of reach of the cat.  I picked it up, being careful to keep its wings against its side and put it on the roof of our garage.  It hopped along the roof and its mother met it at the other end and it flew off.  

Lexie

Woodpecker update

This is the hole that the Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) has made.  I spent 3 hours today sitting and waiting.......

............and waiting..............

............and eventually saw...........

.........Nothing.   

Unfortunately due to last week being half term and the nest being located in a child's play area, it has been deserted.  I have identified it as a nest because, both male and female have been excavating the hole.  Whether the babies have hatched or not is unclear.  

Another note; I spotted a baby European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) on Campus.  And a funnier note;  I had my lunch stolen by a rather rude seagull.  

Lexie

Woodpeckers nest

I have discovered the location of a great spotted woodpeckers (Dendrocopos major) nest.  I saw it flying at Trebah and it seems that it has made a nest in one of the garden's statues.  I will be heading there next week with a hide and a 500mm lens to see if I can catch any photographs. 

Hopefully they will be on here soon.  Providing all goes well.

Lexie

Lilies

Trebah is sporting some very pretty arum lilies.  They are all over the top part of the garden and look very beautiful when the sun shines on them.  Here are some of the photos I took.  

 Arum Lily or Calla Lily (Zantedeschia aethiopica)

I also saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) but unfortunately didn't get a photograph.  This species of woodpecker (and the lesser spotted (Dendrocopos minor)) is noted for its drumming on hollow trees unlike the green woodpecker.  There are 8 species of woodpecker in Europe but only the three species mentioned above can be found in the UK.  

Lexie

Padstow Puffins

Hello once again.  :)  

Yesterday I nearly came very close to being in the sea - fully clothed.  

It was very windy and as a result, the sea was very rough, nevertheless, I went out on a boat from Padstow to see some Puffins.  

I saw a huge variety of sea birds including:

Shags (Phalacrocorax aristotelis)

Guillemots  (Uria aalge)

Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis)

Manx Shearwater (Puffinus puffinus)

Gannet (Morus bassanus)

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)

Oyster Catcher (Haematopus ostralegus)

Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)

Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla)

Razorbill (Alca torda)

Puffin (Fratercula arctica)

Here are some of the only photographs I captured.  (The boat was very rocky so I apologise for the softness)  I used a 70-300mm lens and a Canon 450D.

I hope to photograph more puffins and sea birds in the future and may take a longer lens and will definitely go on a calmer day.  

Lexie  

Trebah Gardens

Hello Again, I haven't updated recently because of work issues.  But here I am now.  I noticed some foxgloves (Digitalis SP.) that had appeared as you can see below.  I've seen purple and pink species but have yet to photograph the purple ones.







Yesterday, (25th) I went to Trebah Gardens on the Helford Estuary to continue with my habitat project.  Here are some of the photo's that I got while I was there.

Buff Tailed Bumble Bee (Bombus terrestris Latreille)

Yellow Iris (Iris pseudoacorus)



                                                                 

Giant Rhubarb (Gunnera Manicata)

I haven't seen much wildlife recently although on a sunrise shoot I saw a fox on campus but it was too far away to photograph.  

Lexie

Scuba Diving

At the weekend, I made an effort because the sea was calm to go to Penzance and go for a dive with the Silver Dolphin Centre.  Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me so could not capture the two spider crabs, the wrasse of the sea squirt that I saw.  However, on one of my other dives, when I did have a camera I managed to get some images, as below.  

Enjoy. 

Lexie

Spiny Starfish (Marthasterias glacialis Linnaeus)

  

Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa Linnaeus)

Worm Pipefish (Nerophis lumbriciformis Jenyns)

BBC wildlife and Badger Culling

Today, I received the BBC wildlife magazine in the post (a good read if you're interested in this sort of thing) and on page 32 there was an article on Badger Culling and TB.  How ironic considering my recent badger sightings.  I know everyone has their own reasons and opinions but giving farmers licenses to kill badgers because they MIGHT be carrying tb?  I'm not sure I agree.  Suggestions that farmers are knowingly keeping tb positive cattle and still wishing to cull badgers is horrifying.  I'm siding with the Badger Trust; how can we trust these people? How can people want to remove such a beautiful creature from our countryside?  Future Generations may never see a Badger or other species living in Britain if we continue to attempt to remove them.  Look what is happening to the Bengal Tiger - less than 2500 individuals.  Its not just Tigers either, Pandas and closer to home, Eagles and other raptors (not in the Dinosaur sense).  Zoo's just aren't good enough to sustain populations for our children and grandchildren.  Its not about acting tomorrow its about acting today.  

 Is this right??

Lexie

Just a quick one

Just thought I'd show you some more photos of these beautiful creatures.  They dont seem scared of humans at all, got to about 1 metre away - very exciting.  There were however only two badgers this time.  Rumour has it that the RSPCA came and took one away but that could just be a rumour....We'll see.

  Enjoy.  Lexie

Badgers!!

On the 6th of May, I walked out of my flat door on Campus and was heading to a friends flat.  On my way, I noticed a huge crowd of people and wondered what was going on. I went over and saw three baby badgers (Meles meles) playing on the grass.  I grabbed my camera and ran back to the spot.  It was however about 9pm and with the level of darkness the image quality was not that good. I thought I'd show you anyway.  This was an amazing experience for me as I've never seen a badger before (except squashed in the road). 

 

I think the generalised opinion of badgers = TB is a bit unfair.  Not all of them are carriers and I personally think that culling badger populations is backward thinking.  Nature in my opinion is uncontrollable and I believe that it should stay that way.  Global warming is all based around the human impact on nature.  I know I'm not anyone special to speculate, I use electricity, I drive and I know that I contribute a fair amount to the cause of Global warming.  I think the modern day person takes the world, nature and the environment for granted.   But thats a whole different discussion.  

Another wildlife spotting to add to my list is a Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis) that I spotted, heard but did not photograph. This was on the 5th.  So there is wildlife around.  Its the point of being in the right time and the right place to catch it on 'film' or should I say, digital camera.  

Anyway.  Time for me to finish my assignment.  I will update you all on the wildlife I have seen before |I began this blog in the near future.  

Happy Photographing.  

Lexie.

Hey

Welcome to my wildlife photography blog.  I've never done one of these so you'll have to bear with me while I learn it all.  Studying at Falmouth Uni; Marine and Natural History Photography.  This blog will be an online diary of all the wildlife I encounter on my travels down in Cornwall and also in glorious West Sussex (where I am from and will be returning to in the holidays).  

I thought it may be a good idea to show you what I have been up to recently to let you know a bit about me so here goes.  Returned to Uni on Easter Sunday and on Saturday 30th April paid a visit to the Owl Sanctuary and came back with these photos:

Recently been working on a 5x4 inch large format project on landscapes.  Here are the results from the Lizard; Kynance cove and Lizard point.  These are transparencies which is why the colours are so vivid. 

With photography (for those who dont know) patience is the key and I am slowly running out with this next image which has fogged (light has leaked in) on the left hand side.  Photoshop has consumed about 14 hours of my time so far.  But that aside, photography can be very rewarding as I hope to show you later.  

I hope to blog at least once a week but who knows - it all depends on the wildlife and whether it wants to be nice to me. 

Lexie