Squirrel at Fountains Abbey (2)

...2nd squirrel in the series...

Camera/lens settings: ISO 250, f/4.8, 1/200s, 110mm, hand held

Squirrel at Fountains Abbey (1)

I know so many people view squirrels as pests, but I still think they're cute and cheeky, so was more than happy to photograph them besides the birds at Fountains Abbey.

Camera/lens settings:

ISO 250, f/4.8, 1/200s, 120mm, hand held.

'Laughing' black dog.

This is our lovely cockerpoo, Kipper, back in March 2014 when he was 2 years old.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/3.2, 1/100s, 90mm, hand held.

Sheep crossing a fallen-down dry stone wall.

This is on the approach to Stoodley Pike from the Mytholmroyd direction - I took the photo in July this year. The sheep were in the process of crossing the wall when they heard us approach and froze as they turned to look at us - perfect posing for a photo!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/8, 1/320s, 35mm, hand held.

Barbary macaque monkey at Trentham Monkey Forest

One of the lovely macaques we saw on our visit to Trentham in April this year.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/400s, 35mm, hand held.

Cantering horse.

This is another one of the photos I recently took for a friend, of her gorgeous horse, Remo. At this point he was charging around me so that I could get a few action photos - I had to keep reminding myself to lower the camera and get out of his way when he was getting close!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/4.5, 1/500s, 70mm, hand held.

Horse portrait

This is one of a few photos I took recently of a friend's horse - the first time I've done a horse/owner photo shoot and I really enjoyed it.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f.5.6, 1/160s, 85mm, hand held.

Sheep perched on the lower slopes of Blencathra.

Here's another one from last week, on our way down the mountain Blencathra. This photo shows the lower slopes of Doddick and Scales Fells and Scaley Beck, which runs between them. It was a dramatic but knee-shaking descent!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/7.1, 1/160s, 35mm, hand held.

Pelican at London Zoo.

Another one from our recent trip to London. We spent a good few hours at the zoo - I never get bored with seeing the different animals. These pelicans were such a bunch of posers! They were standing in a group really close to the path, hardly moving. Their beaks are a beautiful mixture of colours when you look closely.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/5, 1/400s, 35mm, hand held.

Squirrel in the treetops

I was walking along the road towards Midgley, above the Calder valley, one afternoon in April this year, when I spotted this squirrel jumping from branch to branch above me. Luckily, my camera was already set up and ready to use, so I managed to grab a quick shot of it before it leapt out of sight.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/8, 1/125s, 40mm, hand held.

Toad in wet grass

Here's another one from our walk up Stoodley Pike, Todmorden, yesterday. There's a sign on the road at the bottom of the hill, where we parked the car, warning about frogs crossing. Usually when we see a warning sign for any kind of animals we don't see any of them around; this time the sign was spot on - there were hundreds of frogs and toads in the dam and on the lower parts of the path up the hill. The edges of the dam were also crowded with big balls of frog spawn.

This toad (frogs hop; toads walk!) was sitting on the side of the path when we came down, so I could get close enough for a good photo.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/40s, 55mm, hand held.

Kizzy the Easter bunny!

This is Kizzy, our cockerpoo, in our garden today, doing a pretty good impression of a bouncing bunny. My husband was throwing a ball into the air for her to jump up and catch - she was having a great time. Happy Easter everyone!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/4.8, 1/250s, 32mm, hand held.

Contented cat lying on a garden wall

This is George, lying in one of his favourite places on our garden wall, in July last year. I love to remember him like this.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/3.5, 1/400s, 90mm, hand held.

Seal on the Farne Islands

I took this on our holiday to Seahouses in August 2013. This was our second boat trip to Longstone Island, one of the Farne Islands. The first time, we'd climbed up inside the lighthouse (you only have about 20 mins on the island) so this time we wanted to just explore and look for seals. The seals are used to people being around so I wasn't too surprised when this one let me get quite close (although not as close as the photo suggests - I had a zoom lens!). It wasn't until I got round the other side of it that I realised it was actually injured - the poor thing had a cut on the side of its face. Apparently they fight a lot. I felt quite guilty for taking its picture (and very much like a tourist!) once I realised it was probably in pain.

Just a slight increase in contrast and dark vignette in Lightroom on this one.