Snooping on Foxes and Fox Cubs in Warwickshire

A few years ago I had an amazing experience where I stumbled upon an area of wasteland full of fox holes carved into a stretch of sloped woodland. By sheer luck and good fortune I encountered a group of fox cubs playing in the afternoon sun. They allowed me to get really close and either didn't notice my presence or didn't seem to mind it. I only had my phone with me but made sure I took loads of video footage of them darting in and out of their hole and chasing each other around. It left me feeling privileged to have seen it and was easily the best wildlife encounter I've ever had.

Then, disaster struck (and a lesson learnt) - when upgrading phones and after backing everything up to my PC, I formatted the phone memory card, convinced everything had been transferred to the computer. But... it hadn't. 😭 The videos were missing and the phone was now wiped. Gutted was an understatement.

Each April/May since I've returned to the same spot in hopes of seeing more fox cubs, but so far I've had no luck. A few weeks ago, however, I visited the area again with a sense of optimism and anticipation.

Suddenly I heard a series of terrifying screeches and squeals in the distance, so I headed slowly - covered head to toe in camouflage - in that direction. The sounds got louder and after my eyes adjusted to the scene I could see glimpses of movement up ahead, but I still wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. I knew that foxes sometimes sound like babies crying when they fight, but these were closer to the kinds of noises a pig would make when scared.

But sure enough, after a little while I noticed three fox cubs darting in and out of their den, chasing each other and rolling around in the dirt.

The light was terrible and shrubbery was very much in the way, so I didn’t get any of those actions shots. I was sitting a fair distance away on this occasion, too, so the photos are cropped to all heck, but I was very pleased to get them anyway.

The first two photos of the adult fox were taken about two weeks prior to those of the fox cubs, in a slightly different area, but I suspect they are they same family.

Big Horse, You Come to Me

This may be the biggest horse I’ve ever encountered, in terms of height at least. It towered over me when it came over to see who I was and why I had the nerve to let myself into his field.
The lighting that evening was brilliant, the sun covering everything it touched with a lovely glow. In the background is The Wrekin.

Snow Photography in Warwickshire - Woodlands, Sheep and Horses Braving the Cold

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - I love snow!

I love the way it looks when it’s falling, all gentle and hypnotic. I love the way it looks when it has settled, coating everything across the land in a clean white sheen. I love the way it reminds us that nature doesn’t care about our systems or our road network or our need to do things. It just comes along, plonks itself down and causes a beautiful chaos.

Obviously it’s got some pretty strong competition in terms of the chaos part lately - For anyone reading this in the distant future (where hopefully the human race still exists in a renewed state of ignorant bliss), I’m writing this just after having had my first COVID-19 vaccine dose…

I made the most of the snow over the mid January weekend and ventured out, first on Saturday to Hay Wood in Solihull, one of my favourite places all year round. There wasn’t a huge covering of snow, especially deep under the cover of the trees, but it was lovely and cold and crisp, with a slight lingering mist in the air.

On the Sunday I took a walk locally around the block and off down a nearby footpath cutting through some farmer’s fields. Here I encountered a lovely horse and some sheep, grateful for their woolly jumpers.

All photos of the snow in Warwickshire were taken by Luke Bennett.

Please visit the rest of my website, www.lukebennettphotos.com for much more content, including further landscape and nature photography from the UK and visit my Print Gallery to buy high quality prints of my UK landscapes.

Also, if you would like me to photograph your wedding or event in Solihull, Birmingham, Coventry, Warwickshire, the Midlands or Beyond, please say hi!

The Stiperstones

I took the opportunity to re-visit the Stiperstones in Shropshire a few weeks ago. I’d been before and took what I think were a nice series of photos, only in a moment of what can only be described as ‘stupidity’, I formatted my memory card before uploading them anywhere. Not my finest hour. But, a lesson learnt - always back up, always double check before deleting!

This most recent visit, whilst sharing the same rainy atmosphere was about 10 times as windy! It looks pretty nice and peaceful in some of the photos, but I’ve never experienced such windy conditions. At one point I was actually kept on my feet by the severe gale blowing against my back when I ended up losing footing on my way down the rock formations. So, thanks wind, I owe you one.

According to Wiki -

The Stiperstones is a distinctive hill in the county of Shropshire, England. The quartzite rock of the ridge formed some 480 million years ago. During the last Ice Age Stiperstones lay on the eastern margin of the Welsh ice sheet. The hill itself was not glaciated though glaciers occupied surrounding valleys and it was subject to intense freezing and thawing which shattered the quartzite into a mass of jumbled scree surrounding several residual rocky tors.[1] At 536 metres (1,759 ft) above sea level it is the second-highest hill in the county, surpassed only by Brown Clee Hill (540 metres (1,772 ft)). Stiperstones' 8-kilometre (5 mi) summit ridge is crowned by several jagged outcrops of rock, which may be seen silhouetted against the sky.
The general area has a long history of lead mining, most notably during the Roman occupation of Britain. Several pigs of lead have been found nearby, and the tradition continued into Victorian times.

The area around the Stiperstones is rich in myths and folklore relating to the rocks of the Devil's Chair. According to one legend, the ghost of Wild Edric, a Saxon earl who held lands that were confiscated after 1066 and successfully defied the Normans, for a time at least, rides the hills whenever England is threatened by invasion.

Aside from the incredibly blustery conditions and the spitting, cold (surprisingly painful) rain, there were frequent breaks in the cloud where the sun lit up the land through the atmospheric haze. I look forward to visiting again in the future.

All photos of the Stiperstones were taken in Shropshire by Luke Bennett.

Please visit the rest of my website, www.lukebennettphotos.com for much more content, including further landscape and nature photography from the UK and visit my Print Gallery to buy high quality prints of my UK landscapes.

Also, if you would like me to photograph your wedding or event in Solihull, Birmingham, Coventry, Warwickshire, the Midlands or Beyond, please say hi!

Badger Watching in Warwickshire

A few years ago I had an amazing experience whilst walking through some hills in Warwickshire where I stumbled upon an area of wasteland full of fox holes carved into a stretch of sloped woodland. By sheer luck and good fortune I encountered a group of fox cubs playing in the afternoon sun. They allowed me to get really close and either didn't notice my presence or didn't seem to mind it. I only had my phone with me but made sure I took loads of video footage of them darting in and out of their hole and chasing each other around. It left me feeling privileged to have seen it and was easily the best wildlife encounter I've ever had.

Then, disaster struck (and a lesson learnt) - when upgrading phones and after backing everything up to my PC, I formatted the phone memory card, convinced everything had been transferred to the computer. But... it hadn't. The videos were missing and the phone was now wiped. This has been a source of regret for me ever since.

Each April/May since I've returned to the same spot in hopes of seeing more fox cubs, but so far I've had no luck. Last week, however, I visited the area again with a sense of optimism and anticipation.

Suddenly I heard a rustling in the distance, then in my periphery vision I saw an unusual shape that took my mind a few seconds to decipher... This badger! I spent a fascinating hour watching him (or her, I’m no badger sex-er) from a distance rummaging around the undergrowth, oblivious to me watching.

Whilst not what I was looking for, it was a really welcome substitute and a great wildlife experience. I’m particularly pleased with how these turned out given I don’t have a true wildlife lens so had to gradually get as close as I could without being detected.

All badger photos were taken in Warwickshire on the Fuji X-H1 with the Fujifilm XF50 - 140mmF/2.8 lens, processed from RAW with Capture One.

Please visit the rest of my website, www.lukebennettphotos.com for much more content, including further landscape and nature photography from the UK and visit my Print Gallery to buy high quality prints of my UK landscapes.

Also, if you would like me to photograph your wedding or event in Solihull, Birmingham, Coventry, Warwickshire, the Midlands or Beyond, please say hi!

Oat Fields and Storm Clouds

The weather in the UK, as everyone here will know, has been a little bit erratic of late… One minute we’re experiencing record breaking temperatures, the next we’re enduring months worth of rainfall in a couple of hours.

Personally, I love it. I think the extreme weather keeps things interesting (although I am lucky not to live within a flood plane). Much like when snow hits the country, the extreme heat forces you to slow down and abandon your usual routines. This can either prove stressful and frustrating, or, if you’re prepared to embrace it, it can be strangely liberating!

Lately, in an attempt to embrace the stormy conditions, I’ve been desperately hoping for thunder and lighting. I have a couple of locations planned out where I really would love to capture some extreme weather on camera. Sadly, the lightning seems to be hitting everywhere but near me. I’m still hopeful though…

In the meantime, last weekend I ended up in an oat field near Kenilworth after taking a chance on a footpath I’ve driven past multiple times but never explored before. The sky was looking incredibly moody, threatening some of those vast showers I mentioned earlier. I exaggerated the stormy effect with a Lee Circular Polariser and 0.9 ND Filter to save the highlights in the clouds, and I’ve made a black and white conversion to my own tastes in Capture One.

All storm cloud photos were taken on the Fuji X-H1 with the Fujifilm XF16 - 55mm f/2.8 Lens, processed from RAW with Capture One.

Please visit the rest of my website, www.lukebennettphotos.com for much more content, including further landscape and nature photography from the UK and visit my Print Gallery to buy high quality prints of my UK landscapes.

Also, if you are interested in hiring me as your wedding photographer in Solihull, Birmingham, Coventry, Warwickshire, the Midlands or Beyond, please say hi!

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A Black and White Cloud Study

So, just as the UK enters a mini heatwave - as I type the sky is basically all blue - I get round to editing a small cloud study from a couple of weeks back. I'm nothing if not contrary.

Whilst I love the sun, I really love a good cloud! And on this occasion they were particularly tall and fluffy.

During processing in Capture One, I decided to go for a low key black and white conversion as it suited the scene. An interesting thing that occurred to me during the editing process was that out of all the things we photograph over time, clouds are some of the most transient; never remaining the same, always moving through the sky and eventually falling away into rain never to return in the same configuration again. And that's why I love a good cloud.

All cloud photos taken on the Fuji X-H1 with the Fujifilm XF50-140mm f/2.8 Lens, processed from RAW with Capture One.

Please visit my website, www.lukebennettphotos.com for much more content, including further landscape and nature photography from the UK and visit my Print Gallery to buy high quality prints of my UK landscapes.

Also, if you are interested in hiring me as your wedding photographer in Solihull, Birmingham, Coventry, Warwickshire, the Midlands or Beyond, please say hi!

Finally, please Help Support This Blog by Buying Photography Equipment on Amazon via this link and following me on social media.

Wild Welsh Ponies on the Shropshire Hills

A few weeks ago I spent a couple of days visiting my parents over in Shropshire. I'm lucky that they live in a very scenic part of the country, not far from some reliably lovely views and walks. On my first day I spent the afternoon walking up and around the Long Mynd. It's a place I've been a few times before and it hosts a number of footpaths and routes, with wide open views to all the surrounding Shropshire Hills.

I didn't really have a plan of action with regards to the type of photos I wanted to take whilst I was up there; I'm not much of a planner when it comes to taking images in my own time - I tend to just go with the flow and hope that I've brought the most suitable lenses with me for whatever situation or subject happens to present itself. Spontaneity is a wonderful thing I think, but I had a vague notion of getting some landscape photography done - When in Rome and all that... It came as a genuine surprise, then, to find myself taking portraits of horses for the majority of the excursion! I genuinely had no idea they were up there or that they'd be quite so photogenic.

In fact, after a bit of research, I think what I saw were actually ponies rather than horses, specifically Welsh Carneddau Mountain Ponies (please do correct me in the comments if I'm wrong!). Either way, they were beautiful, rugged looking creatures with quite an impressive range of  colours, textures and hairstyles.

Unfortunately the sun didn't really break through at any point so the lighting was rather dull and flat, but I'm still very pleased with how these turned out. All taken on the Fuji X-H1 with the Fujifilm XF50-140mm f/2.8 Lens, processed from RAW with Capture One.

Please visit other pages on my website, www.lukebennettphotos.com for much more content, including further landscape and nature photography from the UK.
To buy fine art photography of my UK landscapes visit my Print Gallery.
Also, if you are from Solihull, Birmingham, Coventry, Warwickshire or the West Midlands and are interested in hiring me as your wedding photographer, please say hi!
Finally, please Help Support This Blog by Buying Photography Equipment on Amazon via this link.

More Spring Lamb Photography in Warwickshire

I know I've posted a fair few lamb photos recently, but working through my current Capture One catalogue today, I can't help but want to post a few more!

I can honestly say that watching the lambs this Springtime has been one of my favourite nature photography related things of late. In fact, it never fails to put a smile on my face.

Take these little bundles of joy for example. The amount of energy and enthusiasm they have for play as well as the curiosity they have for the environment around them is just lovely to observe. Especially when contrasted against the almost deadpan seriousness of the fully grown sheep, who look to have long forgotten what it's like to be young, happy and carefree.

It turns out humans and sheep aren't that different after all...

Please visit other pages on my website, www.lukebennettphotos.com for much more content, including further landscape and nature photography from the UK.

To buy fine art photography of my UK landscapes visit my Print Gallery.

Also, if you are from Solihull, Birmingham, Coventry, Warwickshire or the West Midlands and are interested in hiring me as your wedding photographer, please say hi!

Finally, please Help Support This Blog by Buying Photography Equipment on Amazon via this link.

Horse Photography in Warwickshire

This week, I have been mostly taking photos of horses…

Horses make pretty great subjects, especially when the sun is low in the sky and the last light of the day creates a nice shimmery glow around them.

I encountered these particular beasts in a field in Warwickshire that they were sharing rather harmoniously with some sheep. They seemed pretty content, being largely left to their own devices, exhibiting a lot of the natural behaviours you’d probably expect to see from a wild band of horses - drinking from a large area of pooled rain water, moving as a herd from one area to the next and following the vocal instructions and body language of the dominant male.

I really love taking my time to just observe when taking photos of wildlife. The longer you stay and the more patient and calm you are, the more natural your animal subjects end up behaving. This in turn tends to present the best photographic opportunities.

Please visit other pages on my website, www.lukebennettphotos.com for much more content, including further landscape and nature photography from the UK. If you have a horse or any other pets that you’d like some beautiful photos of, please contact me for a quote.

To buy fine art photography of my UK landscapes visit my Print Gallery.

Also, if you are from Solihull, Birmingham, Coventry, Warwickshire or the West Midlands and are interested in hiring me as your wedding photographer, please say hi!

Finally, please Help Support This Blog by Buying Photography Equipment on Amazon via this link.