Wildlife Photography across the Water: What a strange morning

Wednesday 6 July 2011

What a strange morning

What is THE strangest animal to come into your garden, Fox? badger?raccoon? Well what about a snapping turtle, Yesterday i dropped my wife off at work and decided to set up in the garden for some hummingbirds, I stood in position for about 30 minutes then i caught something move in the corner of my eye, There was a snapping turtle trying to get through the wire fence between the farm next door and my garden, I popped over the fence and tried to pull it back but this was one fiesty turtle, It reared up hissing and snapping at me, Even a small one will give a nasty bite. A big one will take a finger off, Tip to toe this one was close to 3 feet and it was surprisingly fast, I decided to leave it as it was now away from the fence however 10 minutes later and back stuck in the fence, I pushed it back with a large stick and lifted the fence, I thought that the heavy rains the night before had made it move and was heading for the pond/drainage ditch behind my house , It went into the ditch but carried on, It was heading towards the road so i called animal control and then went to the road to stop it going across, I called my neighbour to get the small dog cage in my house and after a while we managed to get it in and then animal control came and took it away, they said it would be released into a river a mile or 2 away, It was a strange encounter but i did mange to get some reasonable images of it using the D3s and 24-70 at 24mm, I have seen lots of snapping turtles here before in lakes but never out of water-what next?

Dave

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Bio's

David Courtenay, a self taught wildlife and nature photographer, has been capturing images for over 30 years. He has had a passion for wildlife since early childhood and remembers being glued to the television whenever Survival, Wildlife on One and other natural history documentaries were shown. In the 2006 he swapped his established career for the life of a wildlife photographer, such a move demands a measure of uncompromising passion and commitment.

David has travelled extensively throughout Europe as well as spending more than 7 months in India working with local guides and trackers in search of Bengal Tiger, Asian One horned Rhino and Asian Elephant. He has also photographed Wildlife in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra, Africa, Canada and America. Working closely with Conservation companies he tries to raise funds to help Wildlife that has been put on the endangered list by poaching and habitation loss

Martin Dyer has had a passion for avian wildlife since childhood, particularly raptors. Photography was also another keen interest and it was with the specific availability and control of the whole process that digital offers that Martin was then able to combine the two in 2003. Based in the UK, Martin is a regular visitor to Scotland, specifically the Isle of Mull to watch the Eagles resident there. Other trips to Europe and around the UK are usually part of Martin’s agenda in a typical year.

However, as a firm believer on making the most of the local patch, Martin has spent a lot of time and hard work creating a wildlife garden which is reaping the rewards with many new species and varieties of wildlife. A keen member of a number of wildlife photographic groups, Martin is keen to expand his portfolio into other areas of wildlife, and has already established a wide portfolio of images of fungi.