I'm mixing things up a little today having posted street shots most of this week I decided to share a couple of wildlife pictures.
Still in France for these pictures of a beautiful heron. I had gone hoping to walk around the gardens of the palace of Versailles. I knew that the gardens are normally open without having to pay to go through the chateau and to avoid the queues I had walked around to the side entrances where there are grand stone staircases leading up past the orangery. Sadly because of the terrorist threat the entrances were closed and padlocked and so I didn't get to walk the gardens on this trip.
Instead of queuing up I went across the road to walk around some parkland with an ornamental lake and a nice view of the chateau. Part way round I spotted this heron and tried to get a coupe of shots but it was a bit too far away. But patience paid off because a bit further round I saw it again and this time I was able to get much closer and I watched it carefully stalking some prey. It was clear that it was eyeing up something tasty and so I had my camera ready and captured the moment that it struck. When it brought its head back up I was expecting to see a frog or toad clasped in its powerful beak. I was surprised to see it was a rodent, perhaps a vole or maybe a small rat I can't be sure. Whatever it was it quickly flipped it up into its gullet and swallowed it whole. In the second image you can maybe make out the slight bulge in its neck as its lunch is working its way towards its stomach.
The third shot is a simple close up of the magnificent head an its shiny eye.
I was disappointed to miss out on the palace gardens but these shots help make up for that to some extent.
I have been so frustrated recently because it is about five weeks since I was able to get out at a weekend to take some photos and when I saw the weather forecast for today I thought it would be another washout. However I decided that I would head off to Mere Sands Wood and if the weather turned nasty at least I could take shelter in the hides.
I had hoped to get some pictures of some of our winter visitors however I was told by the warden that due to the unseasonably warm weather the usual migrant species from Scandinavia and the Arctic haven't turned up yet (if they do at all) and so there wasn't very much in the way of bird life and waterfowl to see.
Undeterred I walked around the quiet woodland and had a really lovely day. The light was really poor so getting good shots was a challenge, as you can see from the first two images I had to use a high ISO (10,000) and the resulting images are a bit grainy. I was however pleased to get the shot of the Grey Heron just as it landed and you can see its wings extended to slow it down and the feathers along the leading edge of its wings extended further to act as air brakes.
The third picture is of a male Goosander, there is not a lot of detail in this picture but I like the reflection and the sense of motion created by the ripples in its wake.
The final picture is my first photo of a Robin this winter, I know that everyone loves Robins so thought I would add it to my blog for today.
I had a great day out, it was peaceful and quiet and although I did have to take shelter against a really heavy downpour I was happy.
This beautiful Heron was busy hunting/fishing in the River Glaslyn at Beddgelert. It moved from rock to rock searching in the small pools out of the main flow of the river.
At the same time it was keeping a very watchful eye on the Buzzard which was flying just overhead.
#Fishing #Heron #Beddgelert #NorthWales
