I was very fortunate to see such a rare treat as this today. He was a very long way away and I wished I had a longer lens, but am still really pleased to have got this. Both images have been very heavily cropped.
The species has great variations in colour, with four main variants, "common", "menil", "melanistic" and "white" - a genuine colour variety and not a true albinistic which is extremely rare. The common form has a brown coat with white mottles that are most pronounced in summer with a much darker coat in the winter. The white is the lightest coloured, almost white; common and menil are darker, and melanistic is very dark, even black (easily confused with the Sika Deer).
White Fallow Deer (Dama dama)
Red Fox (Vulpes Vulpes)
I only had about 2 seconds to react to this one as he crossed a very narrow opening in the long grass, and had unfortunately been struggling to manually focus on a close up little bird just beforehand. This was the best I could focus in the time available.
Unlike many canids, foxes are not usually pack animals. Typically, they live in small family groups, opportunistic feeders that hunt live prey (especially rodents). Using a pouncing technique practised from an early age, they are usually able to kill their prey quickly. Foxes also gather a wide variety of other foods ranging from grasshoppers to fruit and berries.
Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis)
This photo was taken from a long way away and has been heavily cropped.
The Green Woodpecker spends much of its time feeding on ants on the ground and does not often 'drum' on trees like other woodpecker species. It is a shy bird but usually draws attention with its loud calls. A nest hole is excavated in a tree; four to six eggs are laid which hatch after 19–20 days.
Fallow Deer (Dama dama)
Fallow deer can be found in most counties in England and Wales, and there are large populations in pockets spread across Scotland. The species was introduced by the Normans and quickly became established in the wild in hunting forests and chases.
Fallow Deer (Dama dama)
Fallow deer are herbivores and graze all types of ground vegetation. They also browse shrub layers in a wood, and the growing shoots and leaves of holly and beech trees. Fallow deer inhabit woodland both for food and shelter.
And for my next trick....
Saw some fine stags today, and heard their calls resonating around the forest, but they were either too fast, or in too dark a situation to photograph. This picture has been brightened quite a bit - it was way too dark for good pictures - I mainly only uploaded it because I thought it was funny.
Last light at Woorgreen Lake
Woorgreen Lake is fed via Foxes Bridge Bog, with the water levels being managed by a sluice. There are different habitats in the area, woodland, heath land, marsh and open mud areas; these support a variety of wildlife and plant species.
I saw a group of four deer and a large heron at the end of the evening, but it was too dark to photograph them.
Dusk over Woorgreen Lake
Woorgreen Lake is found in the heart of the Forest of Dean and is on land that was once used for open cast mining, this mining finished in 1981. The lake and surrounding area having quickly been inhabited by wildlife, now there is an abundance of flora and fauna to be found, being one of the best sites for dragonflies in the Forest of Dean.
Stevie the boar showing off his tusks
At two years or so old, Stevie is not yet at his full size, but he's already starting to show some nice tusks.
Meet Stevie Wonder, the wild boar
This is Stevie Wonder. He's a 2 year old blind wild boar. He's lived in the Forest of Dean for a week so far. He was being picked on by the sounder (group) he was living with in the wild, and was clearly not going to survive for long. He's been kindly brought to the Forest of Dean and given a very good and caring home with the owner of Severnwye Llama Trekking.
Something tells me that Stevie will soon become something of a local celebrity!
Flaxley Panorama
This is something I've never tried before... it's a panorama stitched from 6 images in a 3x2 arrangement. I used too much vertical overlap, so the resulting image wasn't as tall as I'd hoped, but at least now I know it can be done. Already thinking about doing some huuuge stitches :)
Grey Squirrel
Spent the afternoon walking Grace (my dog) in the forest, but it wasn't the most photogenic of days really, and none of the deer wanted to pose for a shot today either. The intention here was to try to capture the squirrel 'in flight' between one tree and another, but it didn't quite work out that way in the end.
Wild Boar (Sus Scrofa)
I took this photo back in June, when I was observing the wild boar in the Forest on an almost nightly basis, which is what led to me getting so close to this chap. He kept a very close eye on me, as you can see, and I kept an equally close eye on him! You can see more pictures of this, and other boar, earlier on in this blog.
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