Craig Rogers, Author at Craig Rogers Photography

Long wait for the Vixen tonight

30th May 20159th October 2017Craig Rogers

Typical, she’s been coming just after 9pm for the last few nights whilst it’s still quite light. So I set-up a hide in preparation and waited and waited and waited, then it went dark, and I waited.

Just in case this happened, I put the flood lights on ready. Plus, I wanted the lights to give her that all important sparkle in her eye even if it was still light.

She turned up around 10:10pm so hardly any usable light left, but you can just about see some blue sky tint in her eyes.

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Vixen - D7100, AF-S 300mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, ISO3200, 1/10sec - {Flickr Link}

Vixen - D7100, AF-S 300mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, ISO3200, 1/15sec - {Flickr Link}

Swallows and House Martins everywhere

24th May 20159th October 2017Craig Rogers

House Martins have been coming and nest on the house for many years, however, this year there are more than ever. They are everywhere you look sometimes and this year they’ve been joined by a lot of Swallows. We think the Swallows have been about before, but always outnumbered by the House Martins. This year, although still outnumbered, there are a lot more of them.

This is a shot I managed to snap up earlier once the clouds finally dispersed. They are tough things to photograph close up as the speed and sudden change of direction is crazy.

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Swallow - D7100, AF-S 300mm f/2.8 @ f/5.6, ISO640, 1/2000sec - {Flickr Link}

Spider for the Kid’s Dinner!

23rd May 20159th October 2017Craig Rogers

We have Sparrows in a nest box with young and saw the Female with a mouthfull on her way back to the Nest.

As well as the Spider (or possibly a Crane Fly), it looks like she’s got a few other bugs in there including what looks like at least one Wasp or Hover Fly.

The young have been noisy and are sounding more like grown birds now, I’m pretty sure they’ll be out and about soon.

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Female House Sparrow with Spider - D7100, AF-S 300mm f/2.8 @ f/5.6, ISO800, 1/800sec - {Flickr Link}

Mistle Thrushes are moving in.

18th May 20159th October 2017Craig Rogers

I had a message from Emma (my better half) today as she’d spotted a new bird in the garden we had not seen before. We soon identified it as a Mistle Thrush, a bird that is common, but on the RSPB Amber Status due to decline in gardens (RSPB – Mistle Thrush).

So imagine our surprise when I noticed that a pair is building a nest in our old Oak Tree. I watched them for a while and noticed the female would go off gathering with the male following, but staying perched high on lookout as if he was guarding her.

Here’s a few quick shots I managed to get, I look forward to getting more photos of them.

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Moss for the Nest - D7100, AF-S 300mm f/2.8 @ f/4, ISO125, 1/1000sec - {Flickr Link}

I grabbed a few shots of the Vixen last night

15th May 20159th October 2017Craig Rogers

Not perfect photos as she just wouldn’t stay still for long enough last night, but still thought I’d share them

As the last time, it was very dark so high ISO and low shutter speed made it very difficult to photograph her.

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Vixen - D7100, AF-S 300mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, ISO3200, 1/20sec - {Flickr Link}

A different Fox came, is it finally the missing Male?

10th May 20159th October 2017Craig Rogers

It’s not a simple answer! I don’t know. He only showed up for a fraction of a second before running off. The one thing that really identified the Male was that his tail was very short and busy. As he didn’t come into the shot fully, I can’t make out his tail. He has quite a thick coat which the Male certainly did.

However, as you can see from the photos, they are 2 different Foxes, the 2nd photo is the Vixen. These two shots were only 30 seconds apart too, so they were together, which is unusual for Foxes.

It’s too big to be one of the young, so I can only hope this is finally proof that the Male is around and well.