Tag Archives: animals

May 13 2019
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On The Boardwalk

Common Lizard

On The Boardwalk

A visit to Thursley Common NNR yesterday brought a wealth of wildlife treats! One of my favourite inhabitants of the common are the common lizards. They bask on the boardwalk in the sunshine and some are quite bold. This lizard was about 10cm long and had truly beautiful colours and patterns! I was able to get a close up of him using my 100-400mm lens so that I could keep a reasonable distance and take the image from a low angle.

Sep 4 2017
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Catnap

Catnap

Catnap

The weather closed in on us yesterday and scuppered plans for heading outdoors! The cats were equally unimpressed. Once they’d given up on meowing at us to fix the weather, they headed off for a Sunday catnap. This monochrome image is a soft capture, using my 50mm 1.8f lens, of our Juno snoozing on the bed. Juno and her sister, Luna, are actually quite colourful tortoiseshell and white rescue cats but I decided to go mono with this one to reflect they greyness of the day. Photographing the cats was the sum total of work I managed this weekend, so this is my choice for this week’s Fotospeed challenge. Good luck everyone!

May 1 2017
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Piglet Playtime

Piglet Playtime

Piglet Playtime

Something a bit different for Wex Monday this week! These wee little piggies are Gloucester Old Spots, a rare breed pig, that are being raised at The Cotswold Farm Park in Gloucestershire. The farm belongs to Adam Henson who is a co-presenter of BBC’s Countryfile program. He specialises in rare, British breeds of all farm animals. I had such a large album to choose from but just couldn’t get this image of the piglets out of my head! They really were so cute playing together in the field. It’s lovely to visit a free range, ethically managed farm! The park is only a part of Adam Henson’s farm and is a great day out for families and animal lovers. I even managed to bring home dinner from the wonderful farm shop!

Oct 30 2015
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Weekly Photo Challenge: Careful

Tigers Of Memory

Weekly Photo Challenge: Careful

I’ve put a lot of time and care into processing my image for this week’s challenge. The original photo was taken several years ago at London Zoo. I’ve only ever seen tigers in zoos. I doubt that I will ever get to see a tiger in the wild! As individuals, groups, nations and citizens of Earth we need to take more care of our environment and our precious wildlife. There are more tigers in captivity, including as peoples pets, than exist in the wild. Tigers are still being hunted and poached for the rich elite, who hold onto arcane beliefs of medicinal benefits from parts of this beautiful animal. In the next century it is entirely possible that all that remains of the tiger will be images in books and online; perhaps a few stuffed exhibits in museums.

We must do all that we can to protect the world’s most endangered species but we also need to look to our own local wildlife and their diminishing habitats. In the UK the RSPB are running a campaign to Give Nature A Home. There are twenty different and simple things that you can do in your garden or neighbourhood to give our wildlife a helping hand. With Winter approaching this is especially important! All over the World there are National and Regional charities and organisations that you can contact to find out how to help your local wildlife. If you don’t have a garden you can get involved with volunteer projects in the countryside or you can donate money to help these organisations achieve their goals.

My image is called Tigers of Memory, named after a truly beautiful song by Celia Barrett. Please do follow the link and listen to the song, it’s very poignant! Time is running out for much of our wildlife, not just the tigers. Please try to do something to help protect them and ensure that they don’t fade from the World of Life, to exist only in our memories.