Froggy Leap

This Little guy and a bunch of his mates were hopping around on dry ground in grain fields. They looked a little out of place but seemed perfectly happy.

gridded sea

The fences are meant to keep the sand in place and make them build up. As you can see it is working. The whimbrel is using this beautiful habitat.

Duck Pond

On this murky day, the ducks were faint in the distance. Still I could capture them pretty sharply.

Heron alone

The heron was cleverly waiting for the water to come back in between the breakwaters. Just when the water was high enough, he started fishing from his vantage point.

Swan Lake

The egret is stalking the swans. Or at least he is stalking by.

Through the reeds

This image is from the same hike as yesterday's image: the large carp pond in the winter. 

This time, peeping through the reeds I could bring the birds into the picture. Lots of ducks, but also gulls and other water birds.

Hunting Birds

Hunting birds is a hobby of mine.

While hunting them, they stay unharmed and don't even always notice me. These images were shot out of a car with a 500mm lens on my crop sensor camera. The resulting images are cropped in post, in addition. The distance to the bird explains some lack of clarity, that I have to admit.
But I guess, as you can tell, despite the distance: he did spot me and focussed on me.

Swans in the back

Winter views over a lake. No snow, nothing frozen. But the swans and egrets in the shallow water towards the reeds in the back.

The day was gloomy and subdued. But the photographic conditions were actually really nice.

Wood pecker

Yesterday we got to watch a wood pecker high up in the tree. With a tele lens you get a much better view of birds than with your naked eye. Just you need to spot them first to know where to direct and zoom that lens.

Bird on the rack

As I climb around on the scaffolding at roof bottom level, this little guy has found a perch at roof top level. It is a strange feeling to meet a bird in its habitat and to be climbing around close to it. It really did not seem to mind a lot. He almost landed next to us a few times that day or hung out at spots really close to us.

Hedgehog Time

This fall we stopped alongside a busy country side road and saw this little hedgehog headed for the tar. Cars were dashing by and we did not see the slightest chance that he would make a safe transition across. So we picked him up and carried him across the road to the field he was headed for.

I hope that he is well and finds a great place to winter.

A gull at sunset

Even sea gulls stare into a sunset like this. Well, I do assume that it may have been staring at the water that was rushing in from the ocean to fill the bay of St Michel, waiting for fish.

Carried into safety

We just stopped in a small village when we saw this tiny hedgehog move towards the busi main road and cars were coming up fast. I stood in the road - just on the side - so that the cars would see us and not hit the hedgehod.
Then I used a calm moment to snap a few shots of him. He seemed nicely calm.

We then picked him up with a tshirt for padding and carried him across the road and into a field on the other side.

We hope that this saved him and he had a great time in the field. It seemed to us that he was headed there when we encountered him.

Fox baby

I bet this fox baby, that I photographed a few years back in the wilderness of northern Iceland is a beautiful adult fox, roaming the hillside up there. The fur is probably starting to turn white this month, because, believe it or not: this is a polar fox and it is absolutely white in the winter.

Here the baby is right in front of the den and on the bottom you can see the pieces of bird wing it was eating of.

Fisher's Fortune

We watched the tidal power plant in Saint Malo. It was a dream of me for a long while to go and see it. We had fun standing ontop of the dam and looking down into the sea side of the installation and watched the troubled waters as the plant began the process and let the water stream out.

The sea birds were really active at the time, since the waters seem to be ideal fishing grounds.

But what on earth has this bird caught here? We watched him drift around with it for a bit, finally landing it on a rock and digging in. The second gull got to share the meal.

Less than heroic

The issue is obvious when you set up a monument for a hero near the sea shore. Then you watch the sea birds flock in. But how else would you celebrate a hero there? 

Red Rocks and some birds

The côte granit rose in Brittany is really toned red. Here you see some really pretty rocks with some birds on them.

Birdy

This bird was fluttering along next to us for a little bit as we hiked along the côte granit rose, Brittany.

Sea Gull with Style

This gull was looking at us with quite some style.

Coming in for a landing

A mallard duck swooshing in for a landing - Lippeauen