Wildlife Photography across the Water: Squirrel Pox

Wednesday, 7 October 2009

News - some bad, some good, some not so sure

Well you regular readers know now that when I do one of my updates on news it is because either I am a bit light on new photo stuff or am short of time to write.

I guess today's is a bit of both.

But there were some stories that caught my eye that I thought I would share with you - all from a site that I have shared with before Wildlife Extra.

Firstly, back in February, I posted this blog about problems for the Formby Red Squirrels. Well sadly, things have got worse with a 90% drop in numbers from as recently as November 2007. This really is bad news and I desperately hope they can make it but it doesn't look promising. The full story can be seen here.

The next story is one of mixed feelings for me. This is about further reintroduction of White Tailed Sea Eagles, this time in Suffolk. Now as a lover of these fantastic birds from my many visits to Mull, I do have concerns about further reintroduction. OK you say, they were initially reintroduced to Scotland to get them going again, and that would be a fair argument. The full story is here, and I do find myself tending to agree with the comment left by Mal Tyler on the thread. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Finally, the good story also concerns White Tailed Sea Eagles who have had record breeding successes in Scotland. Again the link to the story is here. 46 breeding pairs have produced 36 chicks, with a total of over 200 of these birds in Scotland. So I suppose my conclusion to the previous story is that I would be in favour of natural dispersal of these birds to find their own way now they are considered to be established.

Martin

Friday, 13 February 2009

From the Archives - Red Squirrels at Formby

I met up with a number of other wildlife photographers last night and was extremely saddened to hear of this story and also here. So it was with that in mind, I thought I would share some images from a trip I made there about two years ago.

Sue and I got there quite early, having previously photographed some hares a few miles away. We set up in a particular area, on the other side of the road to the squirrel walk, having put down some hazel nuts in a few photogenic places.

It didn't take long for our first visitors to show up, but they weren't red.
So we used the opportunity to get images like this of Great, Coal and Blue tits, and very handsome they look strutting their stuff in the early spring sunshine.

After about 45 minutes or so, the first of the little Reds came bounding across the ground towards us, looking very cheeky and mischievous. It didn't take long for it to find the goodies we had put out. Unfortunately, the first one didn't stay for long, as a loose dog came running through, ahead of its owners who seemed completely oblivious to us, or my profanities at the dog.

However, within a few minutes of the all clear, it came back and was joined by three of its friends who ran around us for about an hour or so, even getting closer than the minimum focus distance of the 500mm, which is 4.5m.

At one point, one was eating from the supply of nuts that was in a bag that was hanging from my tripod gimbal head, as I was using the 500 hand held at the time. It made me laugh anyway. Wish I had taken a picture as I think I must have had my serious head on and was looking for more specimen shots.

Well let's hope these little creatures can fight this dreadful disease off, but sadly the omens do not look good at all.

Martin

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.