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.

Elveden Forest

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
 
Crossbill pair


Grey Squirrel I think eating a boiled potato!



Barnacle Geese



Male Siskin



Siskin juvenile or female



Brambling male



Chaffinch male



Collared Dove



Lesser Redpoll



Muntjac Deer

Wun Wabbit Wun

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!



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.

An obliging Siskin...

This male Siskin posed well amongst the branches in a spot of bright sunshine at the weekend at North Cave Wetlands.  Sticking with the green theme, it was good to see some Greenfinches too on the feeders.  They used to be regulars in my garden but have clearly been hit by trichomonosis.

Sunny January day in East Park

Pochard


It was such a sunny day today, more like April than January, that I thought I would head to East Park hoping for Goosanders.  I saw 17 in total though up to 30 have been seen recently.  They are shy though and won't come very close to have their photo taken.  Great light today which you really need to light up dark headed ducks.  Even our everyday Mallard looks very smart in the sunshine. The Coots were leaping out of the water in an almost Dolphin like fashion to snatch bread from a chap's hand.

Mallard



Coot



Goosander

Happy Festivities to one and all!

Bullfinch berry bonanza...

Four Bullfinches have spent most of today feeding on these squishy red berries on a tree outside our bedroom window.  The only bright red male didn't come within effective camera range unfortunately.  If only some Waxwings would drop in too!