The Raven's of Tennyson Monument

I had a lovely walk with my family today over the Tennyson trail. At the Tennyson monument there are often a pair of Raven's.
The Raven is an amazing bird that has been seen on Mount Everest at over 6000m. This is the highest altitude a Passerine bird has been seen. We are very lucky to have a few pairs that can be found over some of the cliffs of the Isle of Wight.Still being without my 500mm lens I set myself a challenge to try and photograph the Raven with my 70-200mm. As much as it has been very frustrating to be without my big lens it has helped push my photography to another level.

I wanted to capture them in their surroundings, showing the cliffs and trail down to Freshwater Bay or towards the Needles.One observation I made was one of the Raven's would glide in a straight line flipping upside down for a second and back again. I watched the Raven do this 3 times, something I have never seen done before or know why.I also noticed one of the Raven's was missing a few feathers, and in flight you could see a big 'V' shaped gap in one of its' wings.It was a fun shoot and I am quite pleased with the results. As with all wildlife, nature rarely does exactly what you want it to do. I had about only had about 20 minutes with the Raven's before my girls wanted to go fly a kite, but I will go back soon.

Paul

Boisterous Hares

There have been some young Hares congregating in one particular field where I often walk. I got up early yesterday and got some fun shots of them running on the hard frost and checked out the area for a shoot today.This morning I decided to wait for the sun to come and give me some light on the field. There is a path that runs along the east side of the field with a high hedge on east side of the path and low hedge on the field side. It was perfect as I crept along the path trying not to make any noise. The sun was behind me, and the high hedge made me almost invisible to the Hares.Before I had even set up the tripod two of the Hares came charging past me only a few feet away. I knew this was going to be a great shoot.

I spent about an hour watching the Hares running about the field. It was like watching a group of young boisterous boys playing. There was lots of chasing and jumping but no boxing today. They were definitely not bothered by me and one came over and sat only a few feet in front of me.

A couple of them sat grooming for some time, which was lovely to watch. After an hour I was freezing as I was in the shade and had been standing still.

I am having some of my equipment repaired now so it may be a couple of weeks before my next blog.