Video - Wild Boar, Forest of Dean


Video - Wild Boar, Forest of Dean, originally uploaded by Ben909.

This is a series of exerpts from a much larger amount of video that I shot this month. However, the video is 6 minutes long, and this is just 90 seconds. The full 6 minutes is available on youtube here. I've reduced the video resolution from 1920 x 1080 to 720 x 576 to give my slow connection a chance!

Close Encounters


Close Encounters, originally uploaded by Ben909.

This shot is one of a series from perhaps the most exciting, and at times heart-pounding, wild boar encounter I've had yet. They were on a hillside completely covered in fern, in many places way above my head. It was all very 'Jurassic Park' with ferns shaking and moving all over the place (there are youngsters about too), and very few actual glimpses of the boar. In order to get any visibility I ended up lying down under the fern canopy after this shot, from where I managed a lot more shots. I have a huge respect for these elusive creatures, and fell in love with them the very first time I found them. I also got quite a few minutes of HD video, which might also find its way on to the blog.

Elephant Hawk Moth


Elephant Hawk Moth, originally uploaded by Ben909.

This was in our garden on the coal bunker. This shot was taken in the same place, but with the addition of a piece of paper to make him stand out a bit better.

BBC Springwatch

This week the BBC contacted me to say they wanted to use one of my wild boar photographs on the Springwatch programme. It was unexpected, particularly as a year ago, they also showed a number of my pictures. Nevertheless, it was a pleasant surprise, as was Kate Humbles admission that it was her favourite picture that week :) Here's the (very short) clip...


and here's the clip that was shown a year ago...