Water Voles

Hello all,

I have been looking in to a new Water Vole site over the weekend. Thanks to Stewart Canham for a great introduction and showing me my first Water Vole!!!

The Water Vole is very much in trouble. With a 90% decline in population in the last 40 years, there are not many places that these can be found. However they are great to find and when you see them through the viewfinder it makes it so special.

Staying still and quiet is very important when it comes to photographing these guys. Also its important to find out where they are going and which holes are being used the most. Yesterday we saw three all go to the same small section of bank, so I will be focussing there next time.

My aim is to film over the summer and really try to get some interesting shots that are unique and different to what I have seen before. Im not sure if this is possible however I feel that it is, if I put the hours in.

Short Eared Owls

I have been working on some different stuff this week/ weekend so I will be catching up this week.

The first one is a short eared owl site I have been researching on the internet for ages and finally managed to get to it at the end of last week. It was cool to finally see it after months of google maps. 

However it is very late in the season for short eared owls, and so they were very close to migrating back to there home land......

I managed to get to the site for a few evenings and each I was able to see them but got some distant shots. Next year I am going to try to keep off the shutter until the last minuet, because they tend to keep there distance after they heard the camera. 

Stay tuned for next year. 

Net Entangled Seal

I photographed this seal today! This seal has become entangled in fishing net in the last three weeks! It is one of many seals that have this problem. This is because Seals are inquisitive creatures that will investigate a blue net floating in the water.

The net I am referring to is fishing net. During fishing this becomes caught on an underwater objects or is simply lost and is therefore free to float in the water. It is so so so strong that yesterday I spent half an hour trying to cut some away from a beach and only just managed to do it. I have hands, with thumbs and still could hardly cut the netting from the rock. Imagine how a seal is going to get out of it? Its not! Most of the cases we see here in Cornwall are adult seals with net cut deep into their skin.

I imagine that the levels of discarded net in the Sea is far far higher than what we see on the surface. With many animals caught underwater never to surface again? who knows but its horrible to see such a young seal, with so much growing to do caught in this mess.

I am on monitoring duty tomorrow morning to see if it is there. If it is I am calling the British Divers Marine Life rescue team to get them involved. A cliff decent will be done in silence and out of sight to get to beach level and then an approach to the seal will be made inorder to restrain it and CUT THE NET FREE! 


I have not been eating fish for a few months now, Unless I know where it has come from, and if it has been line caught, because to see this happen to an animal is horrible.

Lets hope for the best! I will report back tomorrow!

Otters, Mother and Cubs

On my way back from Cornwall I decided to stop in at my local site for Otters. It was really quiet and there were no dog walkers or anything so it all seemed a bit strange. However I pressed on and walked the length of the footpath looking for anything going really. I came across a couple of kingfisher on the far bank and some different ducks and moorhens. When I got about 10 mins in to my walk I heard what sounded like 3 kingfisher all calling and splashing in the shallows. I thought it might have been a couple of males fighting so I got to a good view point and suddenly saw what was making the noise. Two Otter cubs!!! The were sat on the bank waiting to be fed by mum, who was out in the middle of the river hunting for them. 

I only had a D90 and my (very old and very worn) sigma 150-500mm. It soon decided that it did not want to work and so OS, AF, and the control of Apature soon stopped working all together. I tried my best with it and I am happy with the shots considering the circumstances. I would have loved a 500mm f4 but I didnt have one so there is no point in me getting pissed off. Having said this, at the time I was fuming, because im not sure how soon an opportunity like this will come up again. 

OH WELL......

Have a look and see what you think, 

Cub hiding against the river bank 

Cubs playing in the water 

Cubs following mum 

Cubs playing on the river bank 

Cub entering the water 

Cub with mum 

Cub waiting for food 

Cubs with mum 

Grey Seals Video

Here is a short sample of some Grey Seal footage I have been filming over the past few months,

Let me know what you think,


http://vimeo.com/36856874

Purple Sandpipers

I made a new friend today, a purple sandpiper. I had not photographed one so it was a nice distraction while waiting for seals to resurface. It was fast and hard to focus on and if you add this to a slightly older worn out lens then.........

I was having real difficulty getting the 600mm from Uni to focus today, I had it on a sturdy gimbal head and still the shots were very soft. Oh well, I know where the bird might be again, so if im in the area i will check back to have a look. 

Video Slider Rail,

I have spent today, building a video slider. I have been meaning to build one for a while and a couple of days ago I went to get the materials and today I put it together. It is basically just 2 PVC tubes and 2 T pieces.  Its never going to get me an award for camera operating but it seems to work well so far. I am getting my old tripod head to attach directly to it, and then I will be away. Hopefully I will be able to get some interesting film with this. The photo was taken with my Go Pro.

Oh and ignore my curtains, its a student house!!!!!