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Back At Llyn Tegid

I’ve recently come back from another few days at Llyn Tegid (AKA Lake Bala) and was lucky enough to have a clear night on Thursday night. As last time, the Milky Way was very visible to the naked eye which means a DSLR would have a great view!

Here’s a couple of shots I got. It’s a shame the cloud started to come back in on the shot over the lake but didn’t spoil it too much. Night photography is still very much a learning exercise for me and I’ve got a little more practice before I get these perfect.

The first shot, over the lake, you can almost make out the spiral shape of Andromeda, its the bright spot near the top right.

On the 2nd shot (the one above the tree) you can see a shooting star and 2 satellites. The shooting star and one of the satellites is easy to see. The 2nd satellite takes a little finding.

{Click image for a higher resolution, click Flickr Link in caption to view photo on Flickr}
Milky Way Over Lake Tegid
Milky Way over Llyn Tegid – D810, AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm, f/2.8, ISO3200, 15sec – {Flickr Link}

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Long wait for the Vixen tonight

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.

{Click image for a higher resolution, click Flickr Link in caption to view photo on Flickr}
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}

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

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.

Vixen
Vixen
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Another shot of the Vixen from Saturday Night

Here is the 2nd photo I managed on Saturday night. I cropped in tight due to the fact that she was slightly too close for me to fit her into the frame.

As I type this she is currently darting around the garden, not quite sure why as she usually just eats the food and runs away. I look forward to getting more photos soon.

{Click image for a higher resolution, click Flickr Link in caption to view photo on Flickr}
Vixen - D7100, AF-S 300mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, ISO3200, 1/15sec - {Flickr Link}

The Vixen in Full Colour

After putting the food out last night, I left the garden flood lights on and used my Land Rover as a hide. I wasn’t sure if she’d come with the lights on, but after waiting for about half an hour she showed up.

Even with the lights on, it’s very dark for a camera which meant a very high ISO of 3200. Even so, the shutter speed was only 1/20 second which means she had to be very still at the time of the photograph.

This is the best one I managed to get which I’m pretty happy with. It’s a bit “noisy” due to the high ISO, but still good enough.

I have the option of setting up a remote flash to light the scene, but I’m not a fan of this as I’m sure she won’t appreciate it. It worked for the Mouse shot a few weeks ago but pretty sure it would scare the Fox away and the last thing I want to do is spook her enough that she stops coming.

{Click image for a higher resolution, click Flickr Link in caption to view photo on Flickr}
Vixen - D7100, AF-S 300mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, ISO3200, 1/20sec - {Flickr Link}

The Foxes had to share their food last night

We have a pair of Foxes that regularly visit the garden overnight, well why wouldn’t they, we do leave food out for them.

Some may think that we shouldn’t do this, but my way of looking at it is, what’s the difference between feeding the Foxes and feeding the Garden Birds?

We live quite rural too, so not really affecting anyone.

Last night, I set up my Bushnell Natureview Cam HD Max and it seems as the Foxes had to share their dinner!

The video contains captures from between 10pm and 4am. I noticed that only one of the Foxes came to feed last night, and as it’s the end of March, it could be that they now have young. The one shot of the Fox grabbing as much as it can leads me to believe that maybe it was taking food back to the Den. If they do have young, depending on how far away the Den is (I have no idea where it is) they may even bring the cubs to feed at around 8 weeks old.

The one strange thing I did notice is the birds are singing at 4am? It’s not Dawn until around 5:30am?

{Remember to watch in HD if possible}

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