Wildlife

I have always been passionate about wildlife and conservation and when not photographing people I can often be found out in the countryside and on nature reserves. Though we have of course lost species, we are lucky to still have such a diversity of birds, butterflies and insects in the British countryside. Many species are still under threat, but it is heartening to have met so many like minded people when out and about photographing the natural world.

You can contact me on 07866 316577 or via e-mail at info@mauricephotos.co.uk

TO GO STRAIGHT TO DETAILS OF PHOTOGRAPHY COURSES AND TO SEE SOME OF MY FAVOURITE IMAGES PLEASE CLICK HERE AND SCROLL DOWN

Some wildlife links:
Michael Flowers birdwatching classes and walks
Yorkshire Butterfly Conservation
Yorkshire Dragonflies
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust
Yorkshire Nature Triangle
Yorkshire Mammal Group
East Yorkshire Birding Forum
Birdguides
Tophill Low Nature Reserve
Yorkshire Red Kites
North Cave Wetlands Nature Reserve
The Wild Bird Cafe - North Cave Wetlands
Paull Holme Strays sightings
Potteric Carr Nature Reserve
Hull Valley Wildlife Group
Spurn Bird Observatory
Mike Robinson Bird Photos
Vince Cowell Photography
Steve Mulligan Bird Photography
David Ware - Wolds Birding
Paul Ashton East Yorkshire Wildlife
Wold Ranger
Beetle Boy's Bio Blog
Rory Selvey (age 13) Wildlife Photography
Kill the Badger Cull
The Brown Hairstreak Blog
Africa Gomez Bugblog
Zilch - eliminating litter
Keep Britain Tidy
Plantlife
Buglife

Next Photo Event dates to be announced...

Wednesday 29 February 2012

Photography Classes at Wolfreton School

I will be teaching adult education photography classes at Wolfreton School shortly if enough people enrol.  The "taster" day is on Saturday March 10th where I will be running a one hour session in the morning from 11am to midday.  The school is situated on South Ella Way in Kirk Ella, tel: 01482 659356.

Saturday 25 February 2012

Elveden Forest

cp1048
Crossbill male

We spent a few days at Elveden Forest Centreparc over the half-term break and I was hoping to spend some time looking for wildlife.  Grey Squirrels and Moorhens are everywhere and were often seen on top of the rubbish bins.  A bit of a shame the Centreparc doesn't recycle/compost its food waste but the Squirrels certainly thrive on the titbits.  I saw Squirrels eating various potato products and chinese food but unfortunately missed the tree rat drinking a carton of apple juice as witnessed by my wife!  Mallards arrived on the patio for bread at breakfast and tea-time, but there were other animals to see too and the Crossbills were a highlight for me.  I was looking forward to seeing some in the coniferous forest.

Crossbill female
cp1031 
Crossbill pair
cp1032

Grey Squirrel I think eating a boiled potato!

cp1017

Barnacle Geese

cp1006

Male Siskin

cp1081

Siskin juvenile or female

cp1108

Brambling male

cp1129

Chaffinch male

cp1136

Collared Dove

cp1120

Lesser Redpoll

cp1154

Muntjac Deer

cp1113

Tuesday 14 February 2012

Wun Wabbit Wun

stoat0990

Still very frozen over at North Cave Wetlands today.  During my walk around the reserve these two pelted out of the undergrowth.  I think the Rabbit escaped the Stoat.  In the interests of transparency I should add that the below image is a composite as the action happened too quickly for me to capture both hunter and hunted in the frame at the same time in any sort of focus!

stoat

I'm no David Attenborough, but I thought I would put Stoat and Weasel below for a front view comparison.  Both can be brown or gingery brown, but if you see the whole animal the Weasel is the smaller of the two (15-25cm) and only has a short tail.  The Stoat is larger (15-30cm) and has the distinctive long black-tipped tail.  Looking from the front though the Weasel has a more jagged edge where the white fur blends into the brown whereas the Stoat has a straighter more uniform border between white and brown.

steasel