Servee Wijsen - Nature Photography

Another one of the Roe Deer after sunset. Some more contrast in the sky here and a little movement, which I actually like.

Once in a while you get lucky if you're prepared to go out often, get to know the animals and their habitat, be patient and be there at odd times. I envisioned this photo in my head a long time ago. This is a place frequented by Roe Deer. But they never seemed to be there at the right time. The photo was taken 40 minutes after sunset probably the only small hill in the area that obscures the horizon. Just enough light from the sun was left to color the sky red. Perfect for a silhouette :-) Hi ISO and slow shutter speeds were needed, but that's why you drag your heavy tripod with you all day :-)

It's fun enough to shoot nice pictures but the challenge is in finding special moments. The low evening sun can be a great help and makes you see things differently and ads some tension to the shot. The red spot in the foreground is caused by the sun flaring in the lens. The last rays of the sun light up the contours of this Roe Deer buck.

This Buzzard had spotted me well before I'd seen it even though I was a 100 meters away. It gave me just enough time to snap this picture as it kept an eye on me before it took off...

As I checked the number on the ring (not seen in this picture) it turns out that White Stork NLA 2E302 was ringed 311 days ago today and and was 28 Kilometers away from the nest where it was born when I took this photo. I don't know if it left the country, and migrated south because some birds do stay here, but at least it survived it's first winter, which only very few birds do. Storks are typically ringed at about the age of 5 weeks when their legs don't grow any thicker, so this bird is just a couple of weeks away from it's first birthday...

Pretty bird this one. The Common Redstart, this one is a male, likes old varied forest areas with open spaces on sandy soil with plenty of trees with woodpecker holes to breed in...

I'll bore you with yet another Roe Deer Portrait. A different animal but also very close in nice soft evening light :-)

Another portrait of the same Roe Deer taken one day later. As the sun was just about to set I was sitting on the ground by the fence watching birds on the field as I caught some movement int he corner of my eye. This fellow sneaked up un me from behind and was standing about 6 meters beside me checking out a spot to step through the barbed wire. I slowly turned my camera and it looked straight into the lens. Then it slowly walked along the fence completely at ease to fiend the right spot to cross several meters away. :-)

Same Roe Deer was kind enough to let me shoot this portrait :-)

Roe Deer posing.. They seem to be occupied with eating, grooming and recuperating from the long cold winter so much that they don't even mind me being so close :-) This one is so skinny I could count it's ribs...

Male Roe Deer staring at me to check if I don't get to close. It doesn't seem to mind much and I can get to about 10 meters before it slowly retreats. It seems to have some kind of eye disease which I've seen before with Roe Deer. Roe Deer don't have a well developed eyesight, they only recognize large objects, but can detect movement very well. And it sure knows I'm there. It cannot see me if I keep absolutely still, but it can smell me from 400 meters away and he can hear the camera clicking just fine. So I'm just lucky here to be tolerated :-)

Fallow Deer resting under a tree in the snow.

Winter is quite persistent this year, even now in March we still have snow, which is rare over here. So another winter shot before Spring kicks in. These Fallow deer live in the dunes by the North Sea in a protected area where there is no hunting. This makes them very approachable. Great for photographers and Wildlife lovers but also a topic of discussion as some people think there are too many, and they are smart enough to jump over the fences and ruin gardens of rich folk who live in the area and get run over by traffic...

UPDATE: This photo was published in an article about the European Bison of the january 2013 edition of Landschap magazine (in dutch) http://www.landschapvzw.be/landschap-magazine Fighting European Bison [Bison bonasus] @ Sunrise. Last saturday we went back for a closer look at the European Bison and were very lucky to find them in the nicest place @ sunrise! Beautiful backdrops and great light :-)

Roe Deer covered in fresh snow...

These Roe Deer are easy to find under 'normal' weather conditions. Today with temperatures well below zero, strong winds and snowfall, I had to search a little harder. Lucky I knew were to look. They stay closer to the edge of the forest out of the wind where it's less cold and easier to find food. What a nice day :-)