Practice those wildlife photography skills people!

Here in the North East we have some amazing wildlife that is literally right on our doorstep! Seeing as I am waiting for a lot of you to upload your own great photos and videos of said wildlife (www.urbanwildlife.co.uk for links) I thought that I would give you all some inspiration. I found this really great article in Fox UK (thefoxwebsite.org) which gives some handy tips for photographing foxes - hope you enjoy it and try these tips out!!

Wildlife photographer MARK HAMBLIN explains how to take great photos of your local foxes.

"Foxes are often very visible in our gardens and parks and provide new and exciting opportunities for photography. Contact with humans has made some foxes increasingly tolerant of people, and they can become surprisingly tame – all great news for photographers. To get you started, here are my top tips to help capture that magical moment.

1. Concentrate your photography early and late in the day, when foxes are most active.
2. Look for well-worn ‘fox paths’ or an active earth in spring, where you can set up a camera nearby and wait.
3. Keep your distance to avoid disturbance. Try photographing the fox as part of its environment or use a telephoto lens for close-ups.
4. Position yourself downwind to avoid detection and wear camouflaged or dark clothing.
5. Wear gloves, even in summer, as foxes may well spot the movement of your hands.
6. Pay careful attention to the background and either place the fox in context or shoot against a plain backdrop to make it stand out.
7. Try to use backlighting (photographing towards the sun) to highlight the fox’s ears and create an attractive pictorial effect.
8. Keep a low profile and shoot at eye level for more intimate portraits.
9. Be patient and remain still, avoiding any sudden movements.
10 . Photograph using natural light. A sudden blast of flash will often cause alarm.

This wonderful footage of fox cubs playing in Newcastle was taken by Bob Wilkin - thanks Bob!

The Fish Island Kingfisher

The rain has finally calmed in it's tirade against the North East but yesterday was still a sad day for all. David arrived in Gosforth to dismantle the cameras that have become quite at home in Bob's back garden. After about six weeks of otter pursuing, I'm afraid to say that I have given up (kind of). Well, on the big camera system at least. I have changed my tactic to more stealth, more Ouseburn Otter caught unawares. So, the big cameras have come down and in their place is one stealth camera. Under a bridge. On a golf course (as you all know). This probably means that Fish Island will now be teeming with otters whereas the only mammal it was teeming with before was rats. Go figure. Interestingly enough, Fish Island does have a new resident - a kingfisher! This particular kingfisher has defied all evolutionary logic and taken to diving for its dinner off the island (rather than the more traditional branch or perch). I'm glad that something is getting good use out of that island!

So yes, stealth cam 500 is up and running which now means I spend most of my early mornings flattened under the lowest bridge in history, face level with the most otter spraint that I have seen in my life! I can only thank the otter gods that it is the odour of jasmine tea dangerously close to my mouth rather than the foul smelling poo of some other animal. While there is a frustratingly large amount of spraint under this bridge, there is a frustratingly small amount of otter footage on my camera (try none). This is because the Ouseburn Otter is smart. And sneaky. Although I have set the camera up and made sure that it is well wedged and going nowhere, so far I have slithered up to a camera that is face down, recording images of dirt. How does the otter do this?! I just know that my Friday afternoon is going to be spent building an otter-proof contraption so I can rest easy over the weekend, knowing that the Ouseburn Otter will not get the better of me again!

Tragedy has struck!!

In my never ending efforts to capture footage of the otter swimming down the Ouseburn, I set up one of our WildPlaces Moultrie motion activated cameras underneath a bridge on a golf course in Newcastle upon Tyne. The very weekend that I found this brilliant spot, it decided to rain. And rain. And rain. Cue me, on a very early Monday morning, up to my waist in muddy river water trying to rescue the camera. I shouldn't have bothered! The only sign of life was a very determined laser beam shining out of the camera and a final, blurred picture of the water rising over the camera. Muddy river water dripped from every possible crevice. A thorough drying out did no good either. As David, a fellow WildPlaces Officer pointed out "Once the circuit board has been submerged, there's no hope!" So, needless to say, the fast-becoming notorious Ouseburn Otter has evaded me again! My spirits were (briefly) lifted this morning when an otter swam into view of one of my more safely placed cameras on the banks of the Ouseburn. But, as I am fast learning, nothing is ever simple in the world of filming otters! A huge spider leg and a moth obscured the view of the otter playing right in front of the cameras (check this out below). And true to form, at 4am this morning as the otter made his way back home, it cunningly swam under the water, leaving me with only a few ripples and the distinct sound of an otter laughing .....

The photo above (by BBC Tyne) is to give me hope, reminding me of happier times when flooding did not concern me or my cameras and the Ouseburn Otter was captured, albeit under the shadow of a spider, on film. This camera still survives on the banks of the Ouseburn, watching and waiting. RIP Moultrie.