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Okavanga β€” Winter Stoat 1

#stoat #wildanimals #wildlifephotography #ken_dee_marshes
Published: 2018-03-04 07:20:47 +0000 UTC; Views: 214; Favourites: 29; Downloads: 3
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Description Pushing It.I recently bought a new lens: the Canon Zoom EF 100-400 mmΒ  1:4.5-5.6 L IS II USM. This is the Mark II version of my previous long zoom that I have used for wildlife work. While in Scotland recently, I gave it a test on a dismal, grey day at the Ken Dee Marshes, an RSPB reserve on the banks of Loch Ken in Dumfries and Galloway. I had preset the camera for bird photography with a Tv of 1/1000th second, a floating ISO that turned out to be 6400, and the widest aperture on the lens. The high ISO is a giveaway that the light was very poor and that I was pushing my luck to take anything half-way decent. However, this was a test run to see how the lens fared in adverse conditions. As it turned out, I was remarkably lucky in what I saw and captured even though the quality of the images certainly suffered from the poor light and high ISO.
As I slowly made my way along the track I saw movement in the far distance and a few seconds later a stoat in its winter coat came running towards me. T
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Comments: 10

AlicesPlace [2018-03-05 14:42:39 +0000 UTC]

Cute looking predator.

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Okavanga In reply to AlicesPlace [2018-03-05 17:14:41 +0000 UTC]

Cute...try saying that as it goes for the throat!!

Many Thanks, Alice.

David

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AlicesPlace In reply to Okavanga [2018-03-05 18:29:47 +0000 UTC]

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DouglasHumphries [2018-03-04 08:25:49 +0000 UTC]

Read a book many years ago called Greybeard by Brian Aldis ------Β en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greybear…
Lots of stoats in the story ( set near London ) --- had never heard of a stoat before !

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Okavanga In reply to DouglasHumphries [2018-03-04 09:57:04 +0000 UTC]

Sounds like my kind of book, Douglas. I'll check Kindle for it.

As for stoats, they are fairly common here. Along with weasels they are major predators of small wildlife. They get a bad press as they kill bunnies, but are delightful creatures if you get to see them at play.Β 

Cheers

David

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fotoponono [2018-03-04 07:27:16 +0000 UTC]

Why run towards you, David? For a feed?

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Okavanga In reply to fotoponono [2018-03-04 09:52:35 +0000 UTC]

Good point, Henry. In fact, the stoat is just doing what wild animals, including lions, do. It is using the track because it is easier and quicker than traveling through the undergrowth. The stoat knows where it wants to go hunting and just uses the quickest route to get there. I'm sure it did not see me until about this point when it would have registered my presence. Then, it stopped to have a good look. It would not be afraid, stoats don't do fear, just curious. With a leap and bound it was gone, into the adjacent field to hunt ground nesting birds.

David

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fotoponono In reply to Okavanga [2018-03-04 12:49:52 +0000 UTC]

Thank you, David, for putting me in the light.Β  I am not familiar with these stoat animals.

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Okavanga In reply to fotoponono [2018-03-04 15:58:03 +0000 UTC]

I'm not sure what the African equivalent would be, Henry, the nearest I can find is the polecat and the weasel.

David

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fotoponono In reply to Okavanga [2018-03-05 03:39:23 +0000 UTC]

I thank you, David



Cheers


Henry K

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