Standing up for Nature
Oscar writes: During my university term before Christmas I managed to get out for a couple of days and do some photography. As part of this I spent a few hours watching and photographing some Waxwings that were feeding on berries around some houses. The light wasn’t great, but it was nice to get them…
Every autumn I try and spend a few early mornings in Richmond Park to photograph the deer rut. On this occasion the forecasted clear skies had not materialised, but were instead replaced with thick cloud. I still managed a couple of images, though, such as this stag roaring with grass in his antlers. Nikon D800,…
Seeing cold weather forecast overnight, I made sure I was at Richmond Park early the next morning to try and get some images of ducks on the ice. As not all the water on the ponds was frozen, most of the ducks were concentrated in the few remaining areas of water, but I did manage…
This was another image from my first trip out in 2017. Seeing clear skies forecast for the following morning, I set my alarm early and was in Richmond Park before sunrise. I wanted to photograph the ducks and geese around the pen ponds, but into the sun, so positioned myself low to the water and…
This was one of the last photos I took in 2016. Having just finished my first term of my final year at university, I was keen to get out and do some photography so spent a couple of early mornings at Richmond Park before the end of 2016. On one of these mornings I spotted…
On my first photography outing of 2017 I saw this female kestrel take shelter in this hole from a jackdaw that was mobbing it. It was about 150m from me, but as I have very few (in fact, I think only 1!) images of them I decided to see whether I could get close enough…
Oscar writes: This was taken at the same place as the Hoatzins and I was particularly pleased to get it as despite seeing these birds last time I was in Peru I couldn’t get close enough for any photos. They are similar size to Canada Geese, but bulkier, and look bizarre with the protruding structure…
Oscar writes: Our last 2 days in Peru were spent at the Manu Learning Centre, run by the Crees foundation. Here we spent one afternoon at a small lake and swamp area, where we saw many birds, including these Hoatzins. They are an oddity in the bird world, eating leaves and young birds possessing a…
Oscar writes: While we were watching the Cock-of-the-Rock lek, I spotted some movement in the trees at the back, which turned out to be a troop of Woolly Monkeys moving through the forest. This was a species I never saw during my time in the rainforest in 2014, due to being a too low an…
Oscar writes: Andean Cock-of-the-Rock: At the end of our time in Peru, we spent a few days in the rainforest, including one night at Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge, so named due to the presence of a lekking area for these birds just a short walk from the lodge. 4pm on the day we arrived saw us assemble…