Brown Hares Getting Frisky

I have been photographing these Brown Hares for over 12 years now. I have shots of them in most poses, from running, chasing each other, resting, some boxing and a few of the very cute leverets. With each visit it gets harder to find something different to capture of them. It would be nice to have more shots of them boxing, but it is very difficult to be in the right place at the right time and often this is over in seconds.

Having spent so much time with them over the years, you learn the signs of a possible action shot. A few weeks ago, a male was giving a female a lot of attention. He was following her around closely, at first she kept running away a little and I thought I might be in with a chance of some boxing shots, as she fended him off. This didn't happen, she accepted his advances and I was rewarded with my first photographs of a pair mating.

I now have 140 Brown Hare images on my main website -  Steven Round Bird photography

Session with a Kestrel

I was recently invited by Austin Thomas to photograph a female Kestrel.  It is a wild bird that has become very confiding in him, as he has been feeding it for some time now.  He recently won the award of Birdguides photo of the year with a shot of the bird running towards him.

When we arrived at the site the Kestrel obviously recognised Austin's car, as it flew in and perched up nearby.  I got set up, lying on the ground, and in no time at all the bird had flown down onto the track.  This low angle produced some weird and wonderful images.  As it would run towards us, it's feet were at times completely off the ground, and with the track sloping away, the only thing in focus would be the bird.  It was great fun and I managed a good variety of shots in a relatively short session.

Many thanks to Austin for the invite.  I am very grateful to be invited to share, in reaping the rewards of the many hours he has put in, to be able achieve such images.

Winter Thrushes

I have done a few sessions recently photographing Fieldfare and Redwing. I really enjoy working with these colourful species. They can be quite a challenge though, especially the Redwing, which are extremely twitchy. This makes it all the more rewarding when I achieve some good shots. You can tell they are a popular subject, with 137 Fieldfare and 74 Redwing images now on my main website.

Fieldfare

Fieldfare

Fieldfare

Fieldfare

Fieldfare

Fieldfare

Fieldfare

Redwing

Redwing

Redwing

Redwing

Shore Lark

A shore Lark has been on the beach at Rossall Point in Lancashire for several months now. At the end of  December I took a trip to try and photograph it. Fortunately when I arrived there were some birdwatchers and photographers watching the bird. This saved me, what could have been hours, searching for such a small bird on a long stretch of coastline.
I moved in and settled down on the beach, It was foraging for food on the tide line and soon headed towards me. With some good light I was able to get the best shots I have achieved of this species. A Shore Lark on the shore.

Robins and Calendars

I have just added next years A4 calendars for sale on my website. There are two to choose from, these being Birds and Mammals. They were very popular last year and make great Christmas gifts at £10 each inc p&p. Here's the link to the page - Steven Round Bird Photography A4 Calendars

Recently I have added 150 new Robin images to my website, making a total of 250. With a great assortment, many are in frost and snow and I even have them skating on ice. I will do a festive post featuring some of them nearer Christmas.

Photo of the Day - Great-spotted Woodpecker

One from some years ago.

Photos of the Day - Bathing Sparrowhawk

A few years ago this male Sparrowhawk would bathe in our garden pond, almost daily. On this occasion I was in my hide photographing smaller birds when it turned up. The lens I was using was far to big to fit all of the bird in and get shots of it bathing. So I literally crawled out of my hide and managed to get to the house, collected my 300mm lens , crawled back, swopped the lenses and the job was done. Who says you can't outwit a bird of prey.