Bradgate Deer and Stag

Another early cold start but the weather conditions were perfect so I headed off to Leicester to see some stags rutting at Bradgate park. This was the first time I had been there so really didn't know where I was going, this was not a problem as when I arrived at the car park you just follow the other hundred photographers walking through the car park.

Immediately after walking through the entrance there was a buck sitting on the hill side about 20 ft away so I took the opportunity to grab a few shots. The sound of roaring was also present so I continued to walk further into the park where I noticed 40+ photographers standing in a open field??? A quick scan of the togs revealed a few fiends so I headed off to say hello. The sun had just come up and was giving a really nice red/orange feel to the place. A few bucks were around so I took the chance to get some early morning shots.

A nice surprise was next to follow with a pair of bucks. Only problem was the several other togs taking the same shot behind them as we were also.

It was now mid morning so we decided to head off up the hill to find some red stags. An hour later and tied legs revealed nothing :(


The rest of the afternoon was spent taking pictures of bucks resting in the sun and also a few gulls in the ponds.

A first for me was a Wigeon sitting with the mallards but it really didn't come out to play and allow me to get any decent shots.


All in all a good day but I will be going again and hopefully get a few red next time.

Cannock Chase Nuthatch's Oct 2nd

It is that time of year again when the small birds start to feed back on seed. The nuthatch is one of my favorite birds and has great character.

I have spent the last two weekends trying to photograph a range of different shots which shows off the bird and it's character.

I am sure there will be many more pictures of these fantastic bird posted before the end of this year.

Little Owl

Thanks to Pete (petes birding blog) I was able to get a few shots of the little owl. On the first visit Pete had to point them out to me as I couldn't find them myself :(

It was great to see them but they were hiding in the tree and I was unable to get any clear pictures. A few weeks later I returned to the site but again no luck.

A few more weeks passed and I was passing the site so decided to call in on the off chance. Looked around and saw the one in it's norm place hiding again. Will i ever get a shot I thought?

Whilst sitting in the car I scanned the tree again and then I caught something in the corner of my eye, a little owl was at the front of the tree looking straight at me :)

I didn't want to move to fast but then again I didn't want to miss the shot, slowly lifted the camera and fired off a few record shots. The owl was quite happy sitting there and just relaxing so I managed to get plenty of shots before leaving to let him rest.