Twilight and Daylight at Bristol Zoo

LOOKING UP OLD FAVOURITES

19th July 2013

I had not planned that so many of my recent posts would be about zoo visits. Circumstances have made it difficult to find time for a day viewing British wildlife, but I have managed squeeze zoo visits into my schedule.

I did this again on a trip from Manchester to Devon, when I stopped at Bristol Zoo. Unfortunately I had to set my alarm very early because Bristol Zoo is unusual in opening at 9 am, and many of its most interesting animals are in the Twilight World, which actually experiences its twilight hour until 10 am, when the lights go out. As many of the animals are fed in this twilight time, they are easy to see and it is possible to photograph them. But when the house goes dark, it becomes so dark that I find it hard to see much and almost impossible to photograph anything.

This Turkish spiny mouse is one of a large colony at the zoo. It's a species that I haven't managed to photograph before.

My two favourite species in the Twilight World are the aye-aye and the kowari. I saw both aye-ayes, but I couldn't get a decent photo of either. I was luckier with the kowari (or Byrne's marsupial mouse, if you prefer its Sunday best name). This species is a true Australian marsupial, larger than your average mouse with big ears, a pointed nose and bushy tail - but it is actually a carnivore, closer in habits to a weasel than to any rodent, and almost indecently cute to boot. Bristol has the only group in the country; they arrived last year and I see from the zoo's Annual Report that they bred successfully too. Good show!

Photography in low light settings is tricky. I never like to set the ISO too high, this image was taken at 640 ISO, exposure 1/10th sec at f/6.3 and I underexposed by 1 stop so that it doesn't appear to be taken in normal illumination. I used my 105mm Micro-Nikkor with Vibration Reduction and I also held my rubber lens hood against the glass of the cage front to minimise camera shake. Even so, I needed to take a lot of shots to get one with adequate exposure, accurate focus and no significant subject or camera movement. In difficult circumstances it's sensible  take extra shots to improve your chances of getting a decent one.
In processing the shot, I used the colour of the dark grey nest box to set my neutral grey, which got rid of the yellow cast from the lamp over the cage. I also reduced the colour saturation of my original image to produce an image which matched my memory of the scene: of course I know that's a pretty unreliable process, but remember that at night all cats are grey, so in twilight I feel confident that all kowaris are fawnish.

Out in the daylight, I enjoyed walking around the zoo. It's been nearly a year since my previous visit and I was pleased to see some more of my favourite animals. Regular readers will have worked out that I like gorillas and I first visited Bristol to see Daniel, the first gorilla born in England, 40 years ago. Daniel and his father Samson passed away many years ago, although his mother Delilah is still alive in Belfast. The old gorilla house was demolished long ago too; it was replaced by the Ape House, which was converted into the Twilight World. At that time, Bristol sent the chimps and orangs away and moved the gorillas into new accommodation that was previously the elephant house. 

The gorillas have done so well that they are now extending and modernising this building. The indoor part is off-show during the building work, so I didn't see the gorillas until their 12.30 pm feed because they stayed out of the July sunshine until lunch was served. Even then it was difficult to get photos because the gorillas wanted to stay in the shade and they all went back inside as soon as they could - except for old Salome and her son. Salome relaxed in her favourite shady spot in the shelter, while little Kukena found a carrot that the others had missed and settle down to eat it. Kukena will be two in September and is growing well, he can now climb the old tree on the gorilla's island and he is happy to be out of Salome's sight for a few minutes. I needed my 500mm lens for this shot.

Finally, from the Reptile house, a colourful panther chameleon from Madagascar and a plainer common chameleon from southern Europe, showing some of the extraordinary adaptations of these strange lizards. I used the 105mm macro lens again.

A Quick Visit to Paignton

JUST A FEW SUBJECTS THIS TIME

25th June 2013

I didn't have a full day on my latest visit to Paignton, but I wanted to see the baby Bornean orang utan born to Mali on the 11th of April (two weeks after my previous visit).

Unfortunately Mali was on the large orang island in the morning and she spent the time so deep in the vegetation that I could hardly see her, let alone her daughter. Fortunately I was on the viewpoint when the keepers called her back to the house for a snack of fruit. She climbed up to the entrance door (which was locked so that another orang could use the indoor area). She sat and enjoyed her titbits between the plastic draught excluders, which gave me the opportunity for an extended sequence.

My original photos showed a lot of the plastic screens. I tried cropping to a square format, but I liked the facial expressions of both apes so much that I thought a pair of portrait crops might work better. This took a little more work in Photoshop, but I like the results.

You just have to love baby orangs! I am also very pleased that Mali is such a good mother.

My other subject was the old short-beaked echidna, the only monotreme in the UK. He was taking a constitutional before his afternoon feed. The dappled sunlight in his enclosure was very attractive, but a photographic nightmare. The old guy trundles around his enclosure on his habitual paths and it doesn't look as if he is moving fast: but any photos shot at less than 1/200 s are quite blurred, unless you can catch a rare still moment. Neither of these shots are perfect, but both show him quite well.

I just had time to catch the gorilla keeper's talk at 2.30pm. There were so many people around her that I couldn't use my camera. But I walked a few metres further and spotted my favourite gorilla waiting on one side in the shade. He was keeping out of trouble as he is the youngest male in the group.
Matadi is the great great grandson of Stefi and Achilla, the first gorillas to breed in Europe. I photographed them at Basel forty years ago. I have images of all the gorillas in Matadi's family tree since then, except for his late father Sekondi, who always disappeared when I had my camera. Matadi is now a well grown blackback and I don't think it will be too long before he is moved to a zoo where he can meet some females as he is not closely related to any other gorillas in the Studbook so his genes are important.

Principally Primates

Another day at Paignton Zoo

28th March 2013

 

Each time I visit a zoo I learn a bit more - it may be about the best time to see an animal or the best place to stand to view or photograph a particular enclosure. I try to remember each point for future visits, but I also keep my eyes open and look for fresh opportunities.
The Allen's swamp monkeys gave me an example. Their enclosure is roughly triangular and is bordered by streams and hotwire barriers, which are good for photography. The island has a large fallen tree trunk and a thick covering of low shrubs (I think it's an evergreen Cotoneaster) where the monkeys spend a lot of time foraging. As I walked up I saw that they were shut outside while a keeper was cleaning their house. The little female kept climbing on top of the tree truck, looking along the path and calling. She was at a nice distance for a shot with my 500mm lens except that I had to look directly into the sun, I had a look through the viewfinder and I saw that the small leaves of the shrubs reflecting the sunlight made an interesting background and the light passing through the long hairs around her head made a partial halo. A purely pictorial effect, but I liked it. The potential problems were catching her mouth open and giving the right exposure to show the details of her face. A quick trial shot and a histogram check showed that my Nikon's exposure was good for this contre-jour lighting, so then it just took patience to shoot a series as she repeatedly returned to her vantage point and called (until another keeper arrived with their feed).

The ability to check exposure and framing is one of the great advantages of digital photography: the photographer's term for this activity is one of my favourites, because looking at your images can be exciting if you happen to see one or two good ones so you naturally make "oo oo" noises, hence the name is chimping :) You just have to try to contain your excitement.

I avoid chimping, but I would be happy to gorilla if I could. My favourite subject 'Kumbuka' was out in spite of the cold. Now that he is a silverback, he has to kept on his own so that he can't challenge the dominant male 'Pertinax' or disturb the hierarchy of the blackback males. He has first use of the island in the morning, but he goes into his den for lunch and the other gorillas go outside in the afternoon. I may be wrong to use the present tense here as he may already have gone to Regents Park to lead London's gorilla group. He is a very handsome animal and he is genetically important as he and his half brother are the only surviving offspring of a wild-caught male, so it would be very welcome if he breeds with 'Effie' and 'Mujukuu'. For various reasons the last three males at ZSL have not been successful, so everyone hopes he will become a good group leader and eventually a father there.

I tried to get contre-jour shots of his breath condensing in the cold air, but it didn't show up well. The alternative was to shoot from the other side of the island with the sun behind me. This shot pleases me, I think because the angle of his head shows the height of his crest and it also allows the light from the sun (still quite low in the sky) to illuminate his eyes.

I think I realised subconsciously that it was primate portrait day. I was soon in Monkey Heights working on the white-faced saki monkeys, this is a subadult (only adult males have white faces). This was shot through very fine mesh, almost at the minimum focus distance for the 500mm. I love this lens because it is very sharp and because it simplifies the composition of the images, making them very direct.

I think this is 'Katya' a female cherry-crowned mangabey. The zoo has a nice group of these attractive monkeys with a newborn infant too. Unfortunately for some reason they have the habit of plucking the red hairs from their crowns, which really spoils their looks. 'Katya' is the only one who has escaped. I love her sweeping whiskers. Shot through green-painted, heavy-gauge wire - but I don't think you can tell from the image. It's a pity I clipped the tips of the hairs on her crown.

I couldn't pass by this grey-winged trumpeter. It had flown up to a perch and it was sunbathing with its wings spread. I managed to include a glimpse of the tuft of blue feathers on the breast of the bird - the only bright colour in its sombre plumage. I have tried to convince myself that I don't mind the tartan background (wire mesh, vegetation and sky) - without complete success.

This shot was a bit of an afterthought near the end of my visit after clouds had obscured the sun. The yellow-shouldered amazon is a real rara avis and I wanted a record shot. The framing was difficult as they were at the back of their aviary and I was shooting between their perches. It's far from brilliant, but I feel that the combination of the individual poses makes it a little more than a record.

Diffuse light from a cloudy sky suits some creatures. I had put the long lens away and just used the 105mm for this shot of a red panda which came quite close to pose. It's easy to overexpose the white face and lose highlight detail in bright sunlight, but this lighting worked nicely and the evergreens in the enclosure provide both foreground and background.

. . . and a little bonus

The ostrich and zebra paddock was very popular with wild birds. Apart from the inevitable herring gulls and wood pigeons, it also attracted magpies, a robin, blackbirds, a song thrush and a splendid pair of mistle thrushes. One of them came well within the range of my 500mm with hastily fitted 1.4x converter.

Selected Images from 2012

I did not have as many opportunities for photography as I wanted in 2012, but I have chosen a few images of wildlife and of zoo animals to show what I managed to achieve.

Wildlife

 Greenfinch

16th May, Leighton Moss RSPB reserve, Lancashire; from the path between the Eric Morecambe and Allen hides. 500mm lens and 1.4x converter.
Early morning light makes this image special, it shows the shape of the finch and brings out its coloration.

Avocet feeding

21st May, Leighton Moss RSPB reserve, Lancashire; from the Allen hide. 500mm lens and 1.4x converter.
Several pairs of pairs of avocets nested on this brackish lagoon beside Morecambe Bay. I can remember when avocets were very rare in the UK and you had to go to East Anglia to see them.

 Male marsh harrier

21st May, Leighton Moss RSPB reserve, Lancashire; from the Lower hide. 500mm lens.
My best BIF (bird in flight) image from 2012. I have spent many hours in this hide over the years, hoping for a shot like this. This male was a busy boy as he had to provide for three nests.

Emperor dragonfly male

8th July, Aylesbeare Common RSPB reserve, Devon; at a pool NW of the entrance. 500mm lens and 1.4x converter.
700 mm focal length would seem like overkill for a dragonfly, but Emperor males are large and very skittish. I took this shot from the opposite side of a small pool. This old male has worn wings and a damaged clasper.

Stoat in long grass

9th October, Martin Mere WWT reserve, Lancashire; from Ron Barker hide (Miller's Bridge).  500mm lens and 1.4x converter.
I watched this stoat hunting around the hide for several minutes and I was lucky to catch this pose. I tried to take some shots as it was bounding through the grass, reminding me of a dolphin 'porpoising' through a choppy sea, but they were total failures.

A murmuration of starlings

9th October, Leighton Moss RSPB reserve, Lancashire; just before dusk from road overlooking the Lower hide. 105mm lens.
One of the spectacles of the British autumn and winter as our local starlings are joined by thousands of migrants from northern Europe.

Carrion crow

4th November, Leighton Moss RSPB reserve, Lancashire; from the Eric Morecambe hide. 500mm lens and 1.4x converter.
This wild crow sat on the fence right in front of the hide and watched the birdwatchers. I like crows and I would far rather get a nice photo of a common bird like this than a fuzzy shot of a rarity.

Grey seal bull

11th November, Donna Nook NNR, Lincolnshire; from main footpath. 500mm.
Donna Nook gets thousands of visitors in November and December. Most people photograph the seal pups. I know the adult seals are not as cute, but they are more interesting; this big bull is looking out for rivals.

Zoo animals

Male Derbyan Parakeet

5th March, aviary attached to Elephant House, Chester Zoo. 300mm. Beautiful light showed the colours of this wonderful bird.

Common Tenrec

24th March, Tenrec House, Paignton Zoo. 105mm (through glass). I needed patience to shoot this unusual crepuscular species.

Black-headed village weaver male displaying

1st April, Tsavo Aviary, Chester Zoo. 500mm. I liked the contre jour lighting, but I had to take quite a few shots to get a clear view of the bird's eye with the wings in the position I wanted.

Tuatara male 'Pixie'

10th June, Tropical House, Chester Zoo. 500mm (through glass). A  very rare animal which is a true living fossil. With a little effort you can imagine that Pixie is 50 metres long, although his real length is only about 50cm.

Boelen's python

1st September, Islands in Danger, Chester Zoo. 105mm (through glass). The first species I go to see when I visit Chester Zoo, because they are most active as the zoo opens. This snake is my favourite because of the fantastic iridescence of its scales.

Spectacled bear female 'Franka'

1st September, Bear enclosure, Chester Zoo. 105mm. Franka has the most perfect spectacle markings that I have ever seen. I think she was looking for her keeper and hoping for another watermelon.

Gorilla infant 'Kukena'

22nd September, Gorilla Island, Bristol Zoo. 500mm plus 1.4x converter. I photographed Kukena running away from his mother Salome a few days before his first birthday. His game was to run about 4 metres as fast as he could, climb onto a log and turn to look at his mother, then to run back to her again.

Gorilla male 'Kumbuka'

27th September, Gorilla Island, Paignton Zoo. 500mm. I confess that gorillas are my favourite animals. This exceptionally handsome young silverback is due to become the leader of the group at London Zoo.

Belanger's tree shrew

3rd November, enclosure inside Elephant House, Chester Zoo. 105mm (through glass). It may look as though I used flash for this photo, but the little guy was actually illuminated by a spotlight in the roof of the enclosure.