Nice! Never seen a live badger. I'm not likely to now as we don't have them here

I've seen one live possum here. Unfortunately it was as it ran under our campervan :( Mind you they are pests in NZ.

Sorry off-topic rambling. Great photos!

Ta It is the first time I have ever properly seen a Badger in the wild. He hangs around for 10-25 minutes at a time, 10 mins if my dad puts some food out for him and 25 mins if my mam puts the full banquet out for him (he gets all the stuff I mentioned in one go!) I used a remote shutter release and he didn't like the click of the camera. but eventually got used to it. I found that he is such a noisy eater, if I took the shot when he was chomping on an apple, he couldn't hear the camera shutter He initially was startled just by the auto-focus of the camera zoom (50mm prime @ f2)

He also has a nasty looking wound to his lower back, which might be a bite or perhaps a car related injury, but it looks to be healing I think his biggest health worry is likely to be obesity! He is seriously cute looking though (not quite baby Kiwi cute), even if they have a terrible reputation for being viscous fighters if cornered.

Wonderful badger pics. We had some regular visitors to our garden. I had a motion activated camera which got a few videos/ photos. Also got a few foxes and some hedgehogs

In Scotland last year I went to a wildlife watching evening and had 7 badgers come to the hide and a pine marten.

Wonderful badger pics. We had some regular visitors to our garden. I had a motion activated camera which got a few videos/ photos. Also got a few foxes and some hedgehogs

In Scotland last year I went to a wildlife watching evening and had 7 badgers come to the hide and a pine marten.

7!!! Is your camera fitted with night vision or did the badgers come out while it was still light?

My mum was told that if the badger has a family (we think he is young) he will eventually bring them to the free grub. Funnily enough my mum used to have hedgehogs in the garden but they now seem to have vanished. I have read that badgers are known to sometimes eat hedgehogs :(

Loz - all over the UK. I do thousands of miles annually going to places like Norfolk, Somerset, mid-Wales, Scotland and all over the place in the Midlands area where I live. I use online reports and check other folks' pics of subjects to evaluate if something is worth going for (rare birds usually) but I love exploring new areas too.

If you look at my blog (http://petesbirdingb...blogspot.co.uk/) it'll give you a good idea of where I've been for pics. I use it myself to remind me of when to visit certain places that are favourites, to get the best from them. Not that I'm forgetful... oh no...

Also worth joining forums, especially ones with local sections, to keep an eye on what might be around. Bird Forum.net is particularly good for this, and has a good "Opus" section on locations.

Edited 16 May, 201313 yr by Duck_Pond

About time I added a few more to this thread. A selection...

Adder by Pete Walkden, on Flickr

Dipper by Pete Walkden, on Flickr

Common Snipe by Pete Walkden, on Flickr

Common Snipe by Pete Walkden, on Flickr

Red Squirrel by Pete Walkden, on Flickr

Crested Tit by Pete Walkden, on Flickr

Red Grouse by Pete Walkden, on Flickr

Marsh Harrier by Pete Walkden, on Flickr

Barn Owl by Pete Walkden, on Flickr

Sorry - got carried away there! All subjects are wild, as usual. Don't think any were livid though

I love the crested tit, that kind bokeh really makes the subject stand out.

I assume your using an L-series tele? That kind of sharpness is hard to get above 200mm otherwise

Yes - for the bird shots I normally use a Canon 500mm F4 L lens, with the Canon 1.4TC II behind it. Great combo as it gives 700mm reach at f5.6 and barely any drop in image quality from the straight 500.

I've also got a Canon 100-400mm L lens and the new Canon 100mm L IS macro lens, which is a fine bit of kit too. They are my main lenses for wildlife stuff.

I find the kit lens to be surprisingly good for scenic shots, though I foolishly forget to swap to it for places where I should capture such images. I was on the top at Applecross back in Feb and failed to take any shots of the awesome views from it. That said I was mostly trying not to be blown over rather than capture the scenery...

7!!! Is your camera fitted with night vision or did the badgers come out while it was still light?

My mum was told that if the badger has a family (we think he is young) he will eventually bring them to the free grub. Funnily enough my mum used to have hedgehogs in the garden but they now seem to have vanished. I have read that badgers are known to sometimes eat hedgehogs :(

The 7 came to the hide which had flood lights. The funniest one I saw was a badger chowing down on pizza crusts

Yes it has night vision/ infrared

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bushnell-Trophy-Night-Vision-Camera/dp/B004MC1WC2/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1368724474&sr=8-6&keywords=bushnell+wildlife+camera

I'll see if I can post any videos later

Yes - for the bird shots I normally use a Canon 500mm F4 L lens, with the Canon 1.4TC II behind it. Great combo as it gives 700mm reach at f5.6 and barely any drop in image quality from the straight 500.

I've also got a Canon 100-400mm L lens and the new Canon 100mm L IS macro lens, which is a fine bit of kit too. They are my main lenses for wildlife stuff.

I find the kit lens to be surprisingly good for scenic shots, though I foolishly forget to swap to it for places where I should capture such images. I was on the top at Applecross back in Feb and failed to take any shots of the awesome views from it. That said I was mostly trying not to be blown over rather than capture the scenery...

Your pics are superb. If you're ever down in Kent make sure you visit dungeness rspb reserve. There's been a purple heron or 2 visiting for the past couple of years.

Thanks - it's a county I really need to make an effort to explore - well, the whole south east area is to be honest. Usually better weather down there too, than up north where I normally head.

If you look at my blog (http://petesbirdingb...blogspot.co.uk/) it'll give you a good idea of where I've been for pics. I use it myself to remind me of when to visit certain places that are favourites, to get the best from them. Not that I'm forgetful... oh no...

Also worth joining forums, especially ones with local sections, to keep an eye on what might be around. Bird Forum.net is particularly good for this, and has a good "Opus" section on locations.

Consider yourself twitchered bookmarked in the RSS reader.

About time I added a few more to this thread. A selection...

Adder by Pete Walkden, on Flickr

Red Squirrel by Pete Walkden, on Flickr

Stunning set of photos.

Have a bit of a snake phobia - but even I concede that this is a beautiful and impressive photo.

love the red squirrel - fantastic photo and so great to see .

Thanks for sharing these.

Totally agree ^^^

Pleasure And thanks for the comments.

The adder, by the way, was tiny. Its head would have fit inside a thimble. Was "fun" photographing those one morning. It was cloudy with occasional sunshine, so the snakes would be out absorbing the warmth when sunny, but as soon as the sun went in, they vanished into the vegetation.

Then as the sun came out, you'd see the bracken etc in your peripheral vision start to move, and out they'd come. Mostly, thankfully, to the same spot, though one did come out a tad too close for comfort, but as I rocked slowly back on my heels, it detected me and backed off too.

Apparently there are slow worms in the area too, which would be great to see and photograph. Not seen one since Skomer - was on the steps on the way up from the quay, but we were offloading the gear from the boat and I couldn't get a shot.

Totally agree ^^^

Me too !

Anyone else not too impressed with the updated Flickr? I have the old PRO account as it let me upload more stuff, but the new free account is even better in terms of storage. In fact if I want to stay with the PRO account I will have to pay twice as much as present and the only benefit is I wont have adverts! I also hate the new tiled front page Photostream. Very slow to load and looks like it's designed for kids :(

Edited 21 May, 201313 yr by Lady Elanore

Can't say I'm impressed with the layout either. Took me ages the other night to work out how to do things, which have been squirrelled away in menus now. I've not looked at the renewal fee yet. Given the number of people who use it, if they've stitched up the paying folk, I'm sure they'll have to address it for fear of the backlash. 500px will be leaping for joy... otherwise, as that's the alternative.

Took me by surprise. The whole thing changed in about 10 mins between me uploading a couple of images!

I took the following when I was in New York in November 2011. Tried to link Flickr, but couldn't get it to work for some reason.

It's taken a while, but here's a couple of the badger pictures from Scotland

A pine marten also made an appearance.

Here's a couple more pics from my Scotland holiday

I'll still try get some of the pics or videos from the wildlife camera

ha ha, I loved the badger pictures, but got a shock when I saw the giant overweight badger eating bamboo!!!!

Wild Polar bears and Panda's in Scotland?

Must be the outskirts of Glasgow?

Wild Polar bears and Panda's in Scotland?

Must be the outskirts of Glasgow?

Must be. The polar bear was bin raiding

Found a broken down sea king on the way home and after chatting to the crew and being ex-raf they let me get the car up close for a pic.

Edited 23 June, 201312 yr by vrscarl

Don't worry Carl - I've sorted out the mistakes.

Found a broken down Mk1 Octavia vRS on my way home and after chatting to the driver and being an ex Skoda owner, he let me get the helicopter close up for a pic!

Very fortunate to get pine martins! Would love to see one. Certainly beats the grey squirrels that feed from my garden...