29 October, 2010

Autumn Tufties

Autumn Tufties

As I'm sure many of you will have realised by now, trees shed their leaves in autumn, but in the short period before this, the leaves show off vibrant, warm colours that provide ideal light for any photographer.

These colours are emphasised even more over water, where reds, oranges and yellows blur and merge together... and when there is the potential of wildlife to fill the frame as well, its an added bonus! For me locally, there is nowhere better to find wildlife, trees and water than Richmond Park, where the wildfowl are also used to humans walking through daily, allowing me to get closer to the subjects.

I started off at Pembroke Lodge, where a walk through the dying grasses and ferns saw a few Redwings fly over, and a Reed Bunting call in the scrub near a quiet pond...


From there, it was on to Pen Ponds, where the sun had finally come out, and lit up the Ponds with a late autumnal orange glow. Tufted Duck were numerous out on the lake, and would hang at the back of a party of ducks being fed bread, ready to catch any pieces that were missed by the main gang of Mallards, Black-headed Gulls and even a Shoveler! The female, with its fudge coloured plumage...



Now and then one would dive under, and appear amidst the frantic group at the front, nip a piece of bread and go back under, and other times they would just show their cute face and beg for a piece...

Aww... who wouldn't give this little guy a piece a bread and break its heart...



The males are very smart looking, with a comical tuft, that would be lifted in the wind, turning them into little punk rockers...




As the sun went lower over the tree-line, it would shine on the seemingly black face of the birds, and produce a smart purple glossy sheen...

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