Bitterns 2013!

Almost a year ago to the day I photographed Bitterns as well as I had before. and was treated to spectacular views, all within London. Over this winter I've spent many many hours encamped in hides waiting for these elusive and expertly camouflaged birds to appear. There's no guarantee with them of course, but I've managed to get some images I'm pleased with over the past few weeks.

 This image was taken when one individual ventured very close to one of the hides, but never came out in the open, so the only opportunity for photographs was when its head appeared through the reeds.

One day, I had been sitting in a hide from 9.30, and it was fast approaching 4.30. The light was getting worse, and I was starting to think about packing up. It was lucky I didn't though, as at 4.20 one flew in from the main reedbed and into the reeds right in front of the hide. The above image has been altered however. I had to add some canvas onto the left, and also extend a couple of the reeds out to the left.

It then landed halfway up the reeds and stood there for about a minute.

The day after that I saw the birds from another hide, this time in lovely evening sunlight. It had gradually worked its way closer to the hide, and then emerged from these green reeds.

I did get some other pictures of Bitterns, so will share these with you next time.

Thanks for reading.

Some more foxes

Following on from my last post, I went back to the foxes a couple of days later and was able to get some more pictures of them in the snow.

Since then my photographic attention has been diverted somewhat, to my favourite bird. Some of you will already of course know what this is, but for those who don't, here's a sneak peek.

There will be a blog post on these in the near future!

Thanks for looking

Snow!

Earlier this month, London was covered in a thick layer (for us anyway!) of snow for at least 3 days. We don't get enough of the white stuff down here, so I spent as much time as possible out photographing in it. Predictably, I went to see my foxes, and despite struggling to find them at all to begin with, by the end of 2 days I'd got some shots I was really pleased with.

On the first afternoon I only really got two pictures I was pleased with:

 I also found this Robin perched in the snow.

The following day I was out again, this time in the falling snow, and I was keen to get some pictures of the animals against a completely white background.

This one, however, is probably my favourite from the day:

I do have some other fox images to show you, but I'll leave them for next week.

Thanks for reading.