Forest of Dean, April/May 2015

Persistence has finally brought rewards after many trips to the Forest of Dean at dusk to capture two of its rather shy inhabitants. My main focus was wild boar but one evening I stumbled upon a herd of yearling fallow deer without them detecting me. The light was perfect and I managed to prepare my equipment and creep into a good position. This is the only time I've managed to get good shots of them in the Forest.

The wild boar proved more elusive. After four evenings roaming, I decided to lie in wait with camouflage and a long lens hoping they would appear. This proved successful. Despite my distance, they still knew something was odd. The group consisted of seven adolescents. Their alertness is not surprising; the boar have been and still are the subject of a massive and unjustified cull to appease a local vocal minority and to generate cash by supplying local butchers.

On a later evening, I ended up being much cloaer and immediately drew their attention. Light was poorer and some shots were taken at ISO 6400! It was too dark when a mother and piglets appeared after much snorting and squealing just inside the woods from where I was sitting.

Whilst waiting for wild boar, I also took a few pictures of other mammals that happen to pass by; namely squirrels and rabbits.

Severn Bore, March 2015

Thus was the second wave (no pun intended) of five-star bores this year, conveniently occurring at the weekend (21/22 March). The tides were very high but meteorological conditions were not good: high pressure and a wind from a northerly direction. The weather was best on the Saturday, with early-morning sun, especially at Newnham on Severn were the bore was due very early in the day at 07:33.

Just before the bore arrived, a makeshift studio was set up on a sand bank in the middle of the river at Newnham on Severn to photograph surfers en route to the water (also done the following day). This would appear foolhardy but the photographer and assistant did manage to leg-it to the safety of the bank before the surge arrived.

These three shots were all at Newnham on Severn

These were taken just north of the Severn Bore Inn at Minsterworth. The first is a surfer getting into position in front of a large crowd on the bank.

These were two shots were looking south towards the Severn bore Inn.

These final five were taken on the Sunday, all at Newnham on Severn. It was overcast.