Red Deer Stags - Scotland

 

Just back from a solo motorcycle tour of Scotland (again).  DSLR spent almost the whole tour tucked away, with pretty much 10 nights of cloud .. blunting my plans of any astro or Aurora photography.  (Another tour when I lug my tripod 2000 miles without ever using it!)  Particularly frustrating when the Aurora monitor app was pinging very high, very frequently, with the Earth being bombarded by a solar flare and photos coming out of Canada were flooding social media. 

Didn't see any otters at all either this time, despite plenty of coastal riding, walking and camping.  Saw a huge Golden Eagle at close range whilst riding a tiny backroad, but predictably, by the time I'd stopped and retrieved my camera it was an entire valley away, despite its effortless cruising flight.  Fantastic experience though!

The two Red Deer stag photos here are from the two occasions our paths crossed and pretty much the only times I got to press the shutter button.  With a sore ankle from running the London Marathon at the start of the month, yomping into the mountains for any landscape shots was, unfortunately, not an option.  

ISO200, 400mm, f/5.6, 1/500s
Single, young stag wandering the Highlands near Loch Ewe

ISO640, 400mm, f/5.6, 1/500s
Mature Red Deer stag bellowing into the still evening air, near Applecross

2021 - an Easter resurrection?

 

Well .. it's been so long that I barely know what I'm doing anymore, processing and posting photos.  I only hope that I can re-kindle some of my photographic spirit in a post Covid world, but that is yet to be seen.  We're coming out of lockdown, I definitely have my adventurous spirit in bucket fulls, my list of DIY tasks is under control - at least for a more sustainable work/life balance and I'm starting to pick up my camera a little more.  The Land Rover Defender is being prepped for some photo weekends away and I can feel that long forgotten glow of excitement on the horizon.

The last few years haven't been entirely devoid of photography, so I will go back and see what things have been left behind, in the Lightroom bucket.

Since this blog looks like it became a bit of a wildlife focussed blog pre-break, I guess it's appropriate that it returns with this amazingly healthy looking fox.  Hunting across the field towards me and passing within a few meters in the setting Sun.  Totally more luck than skill, but at least my muscles haven't forgotten which buttons to press.  

ISO800, 150-600mm Sigma @ 600mm, f/6.3, 1/2000s

ISO400, 150-600mm Sigma @ 600mm, f/6.3, 1/500s

ISO250, 150-600mm Sigma @ 600mm, f/6.3, 1/500s

ISO250, 150-600mm Sigma @ 600mm, f/6.3, 1/640s