Firstly, I must apologise for the long gap between posts. The fire really knocked me back and I had no enthusiasm for going outside. Everywhere was black and dead, and most of the places I had enjoyed the wildlife in, were destroyed. I finally got myself back together and ventured out to Old Kabitsata early one morning a few weeks ago. These are the ruins of the village from the big earthquake in 1953 and have wonderful views down our valley.
I was waiting for the sun to rise and enjoying the plaintive call of a buzzard, when a slight movement caught my eye. In the rubble from a collapsed wall was a rat. It was still fairly dark, but I watched it scamper though the granite and into a wild sage bush. It had stopped to sniff at a flat piece of wall, and I knew that was where I could photograph it. The next morning, I put a few pieces of granola there and nearly breaking my ankle clambering over the strewn boulders in the dark, I waited for it to appear.
Obviously, it did not reappear, but my granola had all gone. Baffled, I returned the next day and repeated my preparations and put a little more granola there. The rat slunk into the building and was gone in a flash, into the gloom of the early morning. This was going to be difficult I thought, and when the sun came up, I went to retrieve the granola. All but one piece had gone, and this last large crumb was making its way across the boulder. Ants.
You have to admire the little beasties, as they manhandle items much larger than themselves to their nest. I tried ant powder, but this did not deter them. If I could not get the rat to pause or stop, then there was no way, in the bad light that I could get a shot. I decided to have a break from the rat and ants and went to the weir the next morning.
The weir is at the bottom of a valley and is very dark before the sun rises. I got there early, hoping to hear owls and was not disappointed as a scops owl was calling quite close to me. I have never seen one, but they are tiny, only the size of a starling. I was sat on the wall next to the road, enjoying the owl, when something bumped into me. It banged into my bum, and being the cool photographer, I jumped up. I may even have squealed a bit, and as I turned around, I caught a glimpse of something disappearing into the green frondy things that line the water.
My first thought was that it was another rat, but I would have thought that even though it was dark, a rat would have sensed me and stayed away. I began to hope that it was a water vole. They are a similar size to a rat, but their feet, tails and ears are covered in hair, whereas rats are bald. I could imagine a short-sighted vole bumping into me, and I knew, another challenge had presented itself.
I was never going to get a shot in the dark, and I am against using a flash on wildlife. The wonderful wildlife photographer Simon Wantling (www.simonwantling.co.uk), advocates the use of continuous led lighting. Having admired his barn owl shots for a while, I thought I should try to rig something up to capture the vole. I have a large led work light, for illuminating a job in dark places, and so I charged it up and took it to the weir the next morning. It fitted perfectly over a metal pole in the wall and lit up the area nicely. I expected the vole to be wary of the sudden illumination and was sure I would have to wait a few days as it got used to it, but within a few minutes, a creature bolted along the top of the wall and into the bushes. It was way to quick to identify it and to quick for my photography skills. I needed it to stop on the wall.
The next day, there was some granola and small pieces of apple on the wall to tempt it. I waited, camera poised, and it appeared and ran along the bottom of the wall in the shadows. The day after, I moved the light to shine on the bottom of the wall. Of course, it ran a short way along the top and then disappeared. I had assumed it had gone, and cleared away the food, moved my camera bag against the wall, turned off the light and sat down. I peered up the creek hoping to spot anything, all was quiet and so I turned around and saw the rodent sat next to me, peering into my camera bag. I jumped up, it jumped and legged it straight down the wall towards the water. I retrieved the light and shone it down the wall. There, making its way back up the vertical surface was a rat.
A water vole would have been great, but I was quite happy with my new companion. Unfortunately, I have been playing rat and mouse with it ever since. Whatever I prepare in order to photograph it, it does the opposite and is always one step ahead of me. I am still surprised that it ran into me, but it moves very fast and was probably thinking of a nice warm bed, and not an old photographer sitting in the way on its journey home.
This photo is from a few years ago on a local beach. They are quite handsome.
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