Badger Culling - Part 2

Following on from Dave's blog on this subject last month, I heard about an alternate option today that is being pursued in Gloucestershire, the neighbouring county to me so thought I would share it with you.

Back in June, the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust announced it would commence vaccination trials on Badgers in this story here.    Today, I picked up via Twitter that fourteen animals have been vaccinated at one location alone - good news for those creatures, even though the cull that has been much discussed is probably a long way off yet.  Reading on further, more details can be found here as well.

I am encouraged by this and hope that this might prove to be the solution.

If you want to support Badger protection in any way, the Badger Trust website is here.

Finally, one more quick plug for the Big Butterfly Count - don't forget to join in and send in your records.

Mine for my garden is as follows;

6 Large White

1 Red Admiral

2 Comma

7 Gatekeeper

2 Meadow Brown

I Common Blue

2 Peacock

Quite happy with that for a small patch - shows the wildlife planting has worked anyway.

Martin

Dry Dry Dry

The wet has gone and the heat is back, Not so severe as before just mid 90's, The tree frog in my last blog has taken up residence behind the barometer outside of my back door right next to the light so he can just stay in one position and eat and never have to move, Monday night i watched the 2 toads hopping around on the patio eating tint flying ants, I grabbed the D7000 with the Sigma 150 macro and went outside, I laid down on the still hot patio (it was dark and about 9pm) I had the camera in manual mode at ISO 800 (i started at 400 but wanted a little extra shutter speed) I had the SB900 flashgun on, I had the head angled about 45 degrees up and had the white card that is built in pulled out so that i could bounce the flash off of the house walls and bounce some light down onto the subject, The flash works very well like this for portraits as well, If you have a flash without a built in white card then just cut some white card or use a playing card and attach it to the flash with an elastic band, I took a test shot and it was great, Infact i was blown away with the sharpness, I had the camera (with battery grip) resting on the floor to help stop camera shake as the speed was quite low, This also helped get me to eye level with the toad which always makes an image have more impact, The toads are very different and always together so i am guessing that they are mates i.e a couple not friends, The larger one has beautiful bold markings whereas the smaller one is plainer, They seem to have very different characters as well, the small one moves slowly and methodically and tends to wait for the bug to come to it whereas the big guy bounces around quickly to where the bugs are, My ideal shot would be to get the toad with its tongue out grabbing a bug but it happens before you can blink and the one shot i did get was more luck than judgement, Its only my first try and things like this either happen straight away or take some time and effort, I think i know which this will be,
The D7000 is really growing on me, I enjoy using it and the files are very nice, Look at the images at ISO800, I have not used any noise software and they are very clean, I would not have even considered the D300 for this, Yes i could have used the D3s but the D7000 gives me some extra distance from the subject and as the toads were slow moving i did not need the extra speed plus i get 4 million extra pixels thrown in, True 1:1 macro lenses like the Sigma 150 are slow to focus but even the in dim light on my patio it worked OK only hunted a few times and when it locked on it stayed there, The Sigma 150mm macro is amazing, Its soooo sharp that i am going to sell my 180 when it comes back and get one, The 180 is a great lens but the new 150 has OS or is stabilized and for hand holding it was be better, I am super impressed with it and cannot recommend it enough, The toads are very relaxed creatures and you can move around and they take no notice, Put the lens close to its face and blind it with flash and it does bat an eye-the perfect subject and very comical to watch, We leave the house in 2 weeks so i need to get some hours in with these guys if i am going to get the shot thats in my head-fingers crossed

All images are Full Frame unless stated
Click on the images to enlarge them then use the back button to go back

 Now where did that fly go? (smallish crop)

 Crop from horizontal (full height)

Dave

What next?

While discussing wildlife and photography last Saturday with Robbie the subject of time lapse photography and camera traps came up, as Robbie acquired a trap earlier this year.  Thinking about this with time on my hands as I take the train to work, I started to think about what and where to go with some different aspects of my photography.

With putting a lot of time into house projects this year, and the not inconsiderable price of fuel, my trips further and wider have been very limited.  Now the wildlife garden giving me a good degree of interest but there is only so far you can go.

One of the thoughts I came up with is to do a time lapse compilation of a 12 month cycle of life through the seasons on the garden.  But how to do it? What kit to use, how will the camera be controlled, powered, protected from the elements - lots of unknowns that I have never previously had to think about.

I was chatting it over with a work colleague who is also a very good photographer and he recommended a site to check out.  Lots of great stuff on both time lapse and DSLR video can be found here.

Again, with the grey matter whirring, I have often thought about using the camera close to the wildlife using wide angle lenses and firing remotely - both for stills and video.  So with that in mind, I ordered the Hahnel time lapse and remote wireless trigger release today shown below.

It will be delivered tomorrow so I will get testing over the weekend and see how we get on.  It seems to have some pretty good reviews so we will see.

Meanwhile, I need to think further about some time lapse stuff.  Please let us know of your experiences or other useful resources that you have found.

Martin


 

Wet,Wet,Wet

In the last 24hrs the weather has changed-Big time, The heat and humidity have dropped to a cool 85 and it has rained and rained and rained, Anybody who has spent time in a primary rain forest will understand the downfall that we have had, It started on Saturday night and that bought out the toads and frogs, We have a pair of toads on our patio every night, One of them (male?) is beautifully marked and i must get some shots soon, We have glass storm doors on both the front and back of the house so we can sit with the main doors open and watch the weather and still be secure, My dog was sitting at the back door looking out when i noticed something on the glass, I went and took a closer look at was surprised to see a Green tree frog which are sometimes called rain frogs as they are so active after a down pour, I hear them a lot in the trees and bushes but have failed to actually see one until now, I grabbed my D7000 which had the Sigma 150mm macro on it, I put it on the tripod and got it all into position, I focused by both manually and also live view and got sharp images with both, I used the 10 sec timer as i didnt know where the remote was, This along with a 4 second shutter speed and i had to hope that the frog did not move for 15 seconds which in most cases it didnt, The frog mainly stayed in the one position but a couple of times it gave a more dynamic stance and i did manage to get some reasonable shots, The frog is pretty small and its difficult to tell its size in the images although you can see the rain drops on the glass, Today i popped out and found the frog under the barometer but let it be, I hope it keeps around as its a nice specimen

Once i started looking for frogs i started to see them everywhere

Dave

Hoverfly Heaven

With a good number of wildflowers in my wildlife garden, and the good warm weather of late (although nowhere near the 100's that Dave has been experiencing), the whole of the garden has been literally buzzing with more hoverflies than I have seen before, along with a lot of worker and Bumble bees taking nectar from many sources.

So, taking a short break in between work today, I popped out with the 5Dmk2 and 180 macro lens and grabbed a few images to share with you.  Nothing special and all handheld, but pretty typical of garden life at the moment.

 

I also found a Common Carpet moth which was probably one that I released from an overnight moth trapping session.

Robbie dropped in to see us yesterday, so it was great to  see him and catch up with things. I was also very grateful for a break from my slab laying work, and for helping me lift stuff around.  

Martin

Saturday Quicky

Sorry for not having much to say other than its still over 100 degrees, We have had 8 days this year over 100 and the record is 12 days and looking at next week its high 90's, I will still be without a driving license for another 2 weeks so am starting to get cabin fever, The hummingbirds are very active and there seems to be a constant aerial battle over our garden as they are very territorial, I must try and get some images in the next 3 weeks before we move out and into an apartment, The apartment is on the ground floor so i will put some feeders out and can shoot from the balcony which may be better than here as i will be able to keep in the shade,If you live in Europe and do not have a car then you just jump on bus or train, Where i live in NC there isn't any infrastructure and if you do not have a car then you are buggered, I am glad that we have good neighbours and can sometimes get a lift to the shops or a starbucks, But on the bright side in the next 3 weeks we will have moved and i will have my driving license back
On a brighter note all the forums are buzzing with speculation of new products announcements from both Canon and Nikon in the next month-Time will tell

Dave

Friday Quickie

It has been a lean time for me photographically of late.  Not through being unlucky, but with a mixture of demands on my time.  It has been quite busy in my business life, and at home, we have been working hard on garden projects.  Today has been rustic table building, and prepping for a load of old reclaimed sandstone slabs to go down under my recently built pergola.

While working out there today, I was kept in the company of Wonky Wing.  It is always great to see that she (we think it is a she now - although still very juvenile in markings) has made it through another day.

She has been making good progress.  Her persistent cough seems to have disappeared.  The wing looks less wonky, and the nasty large growth seems to be subsiding and feathering over.  She still has the thread stuck around her leg, but appears not to be limping so badly either.

So it seems with making sure she has a regular supply of varied food and water, it has helped her out.

As I type this blog tonight, a juvenile great Spotted Woodpecker is on the fatball feeder, a row of about fifteen House Sparrows are sat on the fence and another dozen or so on the lawn eating bread and seeds that are out for them, along with other Blackbirds, and Goldfinches feeding on the seeds in the wildflower garden.

We still have a number of Swifts overhead, but they will be leaving us quite soon I expect.

I am looking forward to finishing the current projects I have and getting own to spending some photo time with 'our' wildlife.

As a quick note, Butterfly Conservation have extended the time for the Big Butterfly Count until 7th August so if you haven't taken part yet, there is still plenty of time.

I have made my recording last week which I will share with you another time.

Martin

Camera Bags odds and ends-Part 1

 I was cleaning out my camera and the other day and it was like going through a women's handbag-lots of stuff that you never think that you will need but keep it there just in case, A couple of years ago i met up with my buddy Phil Shaw and we shot together in Colorado, I met Phil at Denver airport and he instantly said that he wanted to go to Walmarts, There he bought some bird food and some Gaffer tape which made me raise an eyebrow but all was to be revealed over the next few days as we would stop at various places and Phil would dive into the undergrowth and come out with a nice looking perch which he would attach to something with a decent background with the gaffer tape, A sprinkling of bird food underneath the perch and we were ready to go and worked great, We got some nice Clark's nutcracker and Stellers Jay

If you carry a beanbag around then bird food is a good filling-you also keep a sachet of dog food in their incase you come across a fox.
Another item that i carry around are zip lock freezer bags which i cover my flashguns with if the weather turns nasty, If i set up for night photography i always cover my flashguns so that if it rains i do not have to leave my blind and disturb any wildlife that may be around, I like the zip lock bags as i can 'lock' them around the base of the flashgun stand and they cannot  blow off and it makes the set up extra water resistant, I normally use the small sandwich size but dont have any in the house and i threw the ones in my bag out so this bag is on the large size which isnt a problem unless its really windy and will make a noise

You may notice that the flashgun has some camo tape over the front as that where the red lights flash when you are in remote mode, I dont think it really matters although the fox seem more relaxed when they cant see the lights-all to do with confidence
Just make sure that you do not cover the area on the flash where the remote sensor is which is the small black circle on the side of a Nikon Speedlite

Dave