Tree Rats and the White Stuff

I know I have slightly missed the boat on this one, but seeing as every newspaper, tv channel, and casual conversation last week was jam packed with facts figures and images about this winter's record breaking "big freeze" I thought I should publish at least one article mentioning it. I will however try and make it a little more thoughtful than a generic article with the format "ooh! snow! *insert happy childish or cynical adult comments*"

The benefits of a local patch can never be overstated enough. Every wildlife photographer dreams of the big trips to Yellowstone, the Okavango Delta, or the snow monkeys of Japan. Even days out in places such as Wales seem more appealing than another trip to a well known place. In reality dedicated photographers grab most of their "keepers" near their homes in patches they know well.

During my undergraduate degree in Oxford my local patch because Port Meadow; the largest open meadow in England bisected, and sometimes flooded, by the Thames.

During the winter the flood plains were a mecca for wildfowl including hundreds of geese and one year around 200 golden plover (sorry for adding yet another silhouette to my blog!)

At my home in Worcester, my bird-feeder-filled garden is my local patch. One group of visitors to the garden, much to my parents annoyance, is our local grey squirrel population. In the past I have had grabbed some shots of them in our plum trees, despite the fact they are a little more skittish than the average garden squirrel as my parents regularly chase them with shouts of "bloody tree rats".

This winter I finally had the chance to photograph them in the snow, resulting in an image with an almost monochrome palette. I always find simple palettes help reduce the complexity of images making them more effective, especially when they are combined with narrow depths of field such as those produced with the 300mm F2.8 lens I currently have on loan from Nottingham University's biological photography department.

I hope you will agree that the moral of the story is not to neglect your local wildlife. Just because it is everyday does not mean it is uninteresting, even if it is a nasty foreign invader! This term my aim in Nottingham is to photograph the Foxes and Badgers that seem to be only too keen to leave their deposits in my garden, I shall keep you posted.