Blog Posts in Category: Wildlife

Marmots above Saas Fee

Alastair BegleySwitzerland, Wildlife Short Link

After our four days in the Bernese Oberland, we were in need of a rest day which was thankfully forced on us by the weather anyway. To make the most of the day, we decided to head up to Spielboden to see the Marmots in a brief window without any rain towards the end of the day. We didn’t quite know what to expect, but went armed with some nuts which were bought from the tourist office and were very surprised. To say the Marmots were tame would be an understatement, as they quite aggressively came up to us demanding more food which was certainly a surprise. This wasn’t so good for the photography from my point of view, but the others have some entertaining photos of humans and marmots together. I aimed for some marmots which were in the landscape, which seemed more natural, even if it was still very staged. After an hour of fun it started raining and we had to get back to the lift before it shut, so we made a hasty retreat back to Saas Fee for the evening.

2021 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, General, Landscape, Mountain Biking, Mountaineering, Paragliding, Wildlife Short Link

Another year has passed and what a year it was with some outstanding high points due to living so close to the alps, but also with plenty of covid induced low points in the first half of the year. The year started with the first variant and a full on lockdown in the UK, which resulted in Becky being unable to travel backwards and forwards as required for her job and me staying in the UK until mid February. It was my first full year living in Munich and I certainly made the most of living an hour from the alps and regularly had my mind blown about what I could achieve without even taking any annual leave! I am not sure I have ever had a year in which I have spent so much time in the mountains, and I am really looking forward to Becky also discovering this properly this year! Winter After heading back to Germany in mid February winter was looking pretty bleak, with most of the snow in Bavaria having melted and no travel possibilities to the higher mountains in Austria. However, the lack of. Read the full article…

A trip to the zoo

Alastair BegleyWildlife Short Link

This weekend was one of the few weekends that I spend in Exeter and it happened to coincide with a friends birthday and to celebrate this we headed down to Paignton zoo for the day and I couldn’t resist the chance to take my camera to photograph the animals. It turned out to be a very enjoyable day with great company despite it being bitterly cold and overcast, though I nearly didn’t make it there twice as I missed the train as you can no longer buy tickets on the train from Exeter Central and there was a long queue for tickets and then when I was driving down I nearly ran out of fuel on the duel carriageway! Getting photos was harder than I expected due to having fences and people in the way or animals just not playing ball (though that is expected!). Although it was a good day I couldn’t help but feel sad for some of the animals, especially the larger animals such as the elephants and rhinos as well as some of the birds such as owls that were confined to what seemed like fairly. Read the full article…

Slimbridge Wetland Centre

Alastair BegleyWildlife Short Link

Today I was due to head up to Snowdonia to photograph the RAF fly their jets at low level with David from VeroPhotography but due to forcasts of snow and blizzards we decided to head to Slimbridge Wetland Centre in Gloucestershire instead to photograph some birds and ducks. It was a very different form of wildlife photography than I am used to as over the summer I speant many hours sitting in a hide near Glasgow waiting for birds to come but here we just walked around and could see loads of rare birds with no waiting, in fact one of the hard parts was just getting a shot with no other birds or parts of birds in! And even when we were in the hides waiting for more specific things such as birds in flight we were never waiting that long as there was so much to do while we were there.

Snowy Bath

Alastair BegleyLandscape, Wildlife Short Link

Yesterday I headed into Bath to see a friend from school and Bath was covered in snow, so much snow that we actually went snowboarding (these pictures will appear in a later blog post). Shortly after I arrived at his house it was pointed out that a pair of deer were at the opposite side of the field next to their house, so in an attempt to get my first wildlife pictures of an animal other than a bird I hastily changed lens and “stealthily” ran across the field to get as close as I could before spooking them, unfortunately the one that was hiding in the bushes was more timid than the one in these photos and got spooked and ran away causing the one out in the open to follow suit! Then later in the evening after it got dark we went for a wonder around town and near Pulteney Bridge and came up with these two cityscapes, unfortunately the photo of the bridge it’s self did not come out as well as I had hoped as the weir was not lit up as it often is, though. Read the full article…

Finch in Flight

Alastair BegleyWildlife Short Link

I am back up in Glasgow for a few more weeks on an extension to my summer internship, so I decided to go to Lochwinnoch again in the hope of some good activity. Unfortunatly it was a fairly quiet day with variable weather.  There were however alot of chaffinches so in flight shots was the name of the game and here is one that worked.  They don’t half move quickly!  We did get a visit by a pair of Coal Tits and a Grey Wagtail.

Another visit to Lochwinnoch…

Alastair BegleyWildlife Short Link

Well this weekend I had planned to go walking but unfortunately I didn’t have time so decided to pop over to Lochwinnoch in the afternoon and ended up staying there for 7 hours.  It was a very slow afternoon as the Sparrowhawks were about all afternoon but just hiding in the bushes which kept all the other birds away but eventually they came out to play which made the wait worth it.  Now this is probably my last trip as i am moving back down south on Thursday however there is a chance I will be back in Glasgow for a few weeks in September so might get another trip in then.

My final visit to Lochwinnoch

Alastair BegleyWildlife Short Link

Today was probabilly my last visit to this RSPB reserve as I am only up in Scotland for one more weekend and I am probabilly busy both days.  It was a good day albeit a bit slow with lots of Chaffinches and tits but the few other birds that appeared more than made up for it and the company made the gaps between them go quickly!  We got treated to a Sparrowhawk but unfortunatly it only landed on some green wire a long way away in the shade but it was still great to see, the Greater Spotted Woodpeckers also came twice but played hard to get by hiding on the wrong side of the perch.  Due to the slow day in the middle I had a wonder over to the hide in the woods where it was very dark but there were two Juvenile Robins about which was great.