GRANDADS WILDLIFE CORNER

[Ruby Slippers]

Grandad, please think about entering these for the 'Country File' photo competition! They are terrific!

[LovelyLadyLux]

Was looking at your photo of the squirrels again and are the squirrel stands by the birds nest? Would these two bother each other being so close or are they mutually exclusive?

[Grandad]

.......you'll have to ration them to one or 2 cobs per day!

With all the seed, nuts, dog food, and now sweet corn, I am having to rethink my budget They are getting to be rather expensive.

The squirrels will miss out Wednesday to Friday this week. We are off for a couple of nights. NO, not another castle, but something that has, or once had, a castle. May tell you about it later.

Was looking at your photo of the squirrels again and are the squirrel stands by the birds nest? Would these two bother each other being so close or are they mutually exclusive?

I don't think the blue tits or great tits would take up residence with squirrels SO close LLL. I will move one or the other before next spring. I had thought about that but only have the small oak tree in a good position. Might have to put a tall post somewhere.

OMG, I am even thinking about affordable housing and snack bars for the wildlife now......must really be losing it.

[Horus]

RS the Country File Competition would be a great idea, I am sure you would be on a winner Grandad

[LovelyLadyLux]

PSST Grandad - think STRATA and CONDOS!

What is the Country File Competition? Online competition? Newspaper competition?

[Horus]

Its a general programme LLL about all things countryside and rural in the UK, very popular and they run a annual photographic competions and the winners get to be included in a callendar, plus prizes.

[Grandad]

Thanks for the suggestion RS and H I had intended to try to get something to enter but the brief would not include anything with human intervention.....might pop one in though 'tongue in cheek' The title this year is 'Our Living Landscape' and can be anything countryside from fauna and flora to landscapes.

LLL, last years calender comp attracted over 30,000 entries and sales of 280.000 copies raised over £1.2M for the BBC charity Children in Need.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Sounds like a great charity and wonderful way to raise $$ for a needy cause.......

I think your albino squirrels are definitely an entry Grandad.

[Grandad]

Not much to say about my little corner. Life goes on, everyone is getting fed, and I am spending a lot of time 'busking' to keep up with the expenses

The little vixen cub is very thin and seems to have been cast out and is now fending for herself. We try to make sure she gets something to eat but the outlook is not good

The white squirrels don't photograph well but here is a grey feasting on sweet corn.
(Nikon 145mm 1/100s ISO400)
He looks a bit strange but it is the angle. His paws are up under his chin.

I posted this on FB so some may have seen it. I saw this poppy field on the day before we went to Portsmouth last week. I went back on Saturday before they went past their best. Nothing to do with my corner but I thought you might like the poppy field.

[Kiya]

Great pics again Grandad I love that spread of poppies the colour is amazing

[LovelyLadyLux]

I like your little squirrel photo Grandad. You got him at a good angle. How high are your corncob feeding stations? Anytime I think tree I always envision everything to be sky high however this looks like you were pretty square on frontage wise. Nice photos.......

Last week I had the twins at the lake. We were having a picnic lunch when we had a sudden visitor. A squirrel came begging food. I tossed a small crumb of bread which got scooped up right away. The twins were thrilled that a squirrel came down out of the trees and was eating almond butter sandwiches. He or she WAS quite a cheeky little devil and I bet if we hadn't been on the table it would not have hesitated in the least to fill up on our picnic. Bad enough we have to constantly ward off crows (and seagulls if we're at the ocean) but now the squirrels are starting to horn in.

I have 2 young bucks with quite a rack of antlers sleeping just outside my fence. I realize by fencing my yard I've broken up their natural walking and sleeping area but they're still camping down in the long grass beside me for afternoon snoozes. The does are also all over here too. They're all quite tame, don't run when they see you. Keep thinking I have to get the camera and keep it handy on the back deck to catch some photos.

[Horus]

Nice pictures Grandad, the Squirrel and Poppies are superb. Unfortunately my photography has been a bit on hold lately as I just seem to be so busy one way or another.

[Grandad]

Glad you like the pics folks and thanks for your comments. Horus the squirrel pic is heavily cropped but as I was set to 'fine' image which gave a 6Mb file cropping did not loose too much quality.

LLL, I DID have two of the corn feeders but I removed one and the remaining one is only chest high so that I can easily replenish it.

That poppy field is stunning.....only downside when I was there, another chap was also taking pics with some really serious kit......a 6 x 6 Hasselblad and all the lenses....my dream camera.....spoilt my day

[Grandad]

BOKEH
We have talked about this before but I think the squirrel pic is a good example brought about by the shallow depth of field of the long lens turning background highlights into circles or other irregular shapes which then emphasize the in focus subject..

Just mentioned it to remind us of the effect of shallow DOF with longer lenses. And also a reminder that to increase the DOF you need to choose a smaller aperture (higher 'f' number) but this will reuire a longer exposure or faster ISO....... Sorry, Grandads and teaching to suck eggs is coming to mind ) )

[LovelyLadyLux]

I personally like the bokah effect in most photos. I like seeing the main subject IN focus up front and everything else blurred out in back. It is a style I try to do and quite enjoy seeing.

[Grandad]

I like your little squirrel photo Grandad. You got him at a good angle. How high are your corncob feeding stations? Anytime I think tree I always envision everything to be sky high however this looks like you were pretty square on frontage wise. Nice photos.......

As mentioned earlier, I took one feeder down and just have the one for the time being. Here it is in relation to the little oak tree and the bank.


The tits nesting box hangs just above so they will lose their feeder next spring

[LovelyLadyLux]

Looks nice - I couldn't figure how you got such a straight on photo of the squirrel. For a while I was imagining you might have been standing on a ladder half way up the tree

[Kiya]

Your trees look lovely

I think that's best for me in my garden to add some pots

[LovelyLadyLux]

Speaking of pots - do you have bamboo planted in the pot on the left of the photo Grandad? And do both plants live year 'round in the pot?

Am asking as I'd think bamboo would quickly overgrown the pot as would the maple? OR are they quite happy there? Do you have to take them out and do root pruning or anything like that?

The few times I've planted big plants into containers they did ok for a couple years but then they quietly passed. Actually I found they started to yellow and then just didn't seem to thrive any more.

[Jayway]

Grandad, your squirrel seats are brilliant, hilarious to see them sitting there, those photos would win a contest - I have never seen a white squirrel before, are there many that colour ?