The Great Badger Stakeout - update 21st May, new pics

[buckas]

Thought I'd put the still images in this thread.

7th May 2013

Having seen the Badgers at Sett A start to come out early I set my hide up along from the sett a few days ago to get them used to it, last night I went into the hide just before eight o'clock and was happy to see one venturing out at twenty past eight. It's the main female I've come to recognise on the night time videos, was also nice to finally 'meet' the clan members in daylight and see them in colour for a change.

#1

Venturing out of the sett, slinky side profile of a female badger

#2

Female Badger

That one started feeding towards me, but was hidden behind the small grassy mound - need to make a few tweaks to the hide position so I get clearer views next time. The female disappeared, then one of the cubs came out along with the below (male I think). Was quite dark now so shooting at ISO 6400 on the 5D, shutter speeds down to 1/100 at f/2.8.

#3

Badger in low light, ISO 6400 on the 5D Mark 3

#4

Badger in low light, ISO 6400 on the 5D Mark 3

Haven't checked the trail cams yet so hopefully have some more cub footage to upload.

To follow my Badger photography project check out my blog > http://drewbuckleyphotography.com/the-great-badger-stakeout/

cheers!

drew

 

[neilyb]

Fabulous.

 

[dinners]

Fantastic stuff and I'll be sure to check out your blog.

 

[Solo man]

Amazing!..... great to see them.

 

[buckas]

Thanks chaps, have done some adjustments to the hide position today so hopefully get some more this evening

cheers
drew

 

[crieffy]

Love 'em all - would sooooo love to photograph one - in fact I'd be chuffed just seeing one! great DoF shows them off really well

John

 

[buckas]

Update - 9th May 2013

A very blustery but sunny evening yesterday, made me wonder if they would turn up as sometimes they can be put off by unsettled weather due to impeding their sense of smell. Back at Sett A a young dog (I think?) Fox turned up for a look-about. Didn't hang around long but manged to catch it.

A while passed and then the male Badger from the previous evening appeared. I thought I noticed some injuries to it the other evening but managed to get a closer view tonight. A*definite left ear injury and a*bald patch above the tail, together with the blood stained tail; obvious signs of scrapping with other Badgers, either over food or territory.

A nearby Blackbird (with chirping chicks) noticed the oncoming Badger and made enough noise for it to scare it off! Just as well, as it was then too dark to shoot then - left the trailcams to do their thing and video below.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/O9J9FHi8Gi4&hd=1

cheers

drew

 

[TrishR]

lovely set of shots

 

[Will H]

Really great set. #2 in the first post and the 4th image in your latest post really stand out for me, but they're all really nice images

 

[flavio]

Wonderful images, reckon your dedication and skill have paid off handsomely.
Great thread, thanks for sharing.

Tony

 

[Brent62]

stunning shots of lovely animals

 

[buckas]

Thanks for the kind words everyone,


Cheers
Drew

 

[pingu666]

nice pics

 

[jakeblu]

Fantastic shots and an interesting commentary well done

Steve

 

[vince31]

Awesome Photography Drew

 

[SeanQ]

Superb shots with great detail

 

[Diving Pete]

Thats a lot of dedication to a shoot - love them

 

[snappertvr]

Well done and well deserved, its hard work catching these.

 

[buckas]

Thanks guys hoping to get out more this week

 

[SLRUser]

A very nice set.

 

[WillNicholls]

Lovely shots mate

 

[TimmyG]

What a stunning series. I loved looking through these. Amazing work.

 

[buckas]

Update - 18th May 2013

Bit quiet on the Badger front, bad weather and busy*elsewhere*meant limited time in the hide this week - only just collected the memory cards from the trail cams with a weeks worth of videos on them, so will be a while going through them. All cubs seem to be present and growing fast! Managed some time in the hide on Thursday evening and here's a few images of the main female, came out around five past nine so ISOs were either 6400 or 8000.

Still a few previous session images and some night videos to fill in as and when.

 

[michael23]

A cracking set of pics Drew, nice to see a thriving family of badgers, our local sett has been tampered with big time, so not had any chance to even see a badger this year.

Looks like the 5d3 is doing a great job at the high iso's. What kit do you use for the videos?

 

[Brent62]

another lovely set

 

[Solo man]

Another good set of images Drew, thanks for sharing them.

 

[buckas]

Thanks all

Looks like the 5d3 is doing a great job at the high iso's. What kit do you use for the videos?

The vids on the blog are from my Bushnell Trophy cam HD, have done some videos on my 5D, just need to put them together

drew

 

[Martyn D]

What a great thread and great pictures Drew, your dedication is a pleasure to view and read about.

 

[killy]

Great work - well done

Regards

Mike

 

[Longimanus]

Great pictures, I would really like to get into something like this!!!

 

[buckas]

Thanks very much

new video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGsRLjFBTEE&hd=1

 

[TrishR]

Lovely to watch

 

[jc55]

Thank you that was very enjoyable

 

[buckas]

Hot off the press these images taken less than an hour ago - thought I'd test out using the 1D Mark 4 at the sett this evening, to see if they were bothered by noise. They were! Up til now I've been using my 5D Mark III with it's handy silent shutter mode, whilst it isn't completely silent it's a lot quiter than the 1D's and the sow proved that by legging it after a few clicks. Thankfully for me, I managed to get a few shots and the 1D's ISO performance is still pretty good in the higher numbers as the 5D.

Next session will*definitely*be resorting back to the 5D to go un-noticed.

cheers,
drew

 

[buckas]

Rubbish light last few evenings, hope to have a new update soon

 

[michael23]

Cracking pics again Drew, I really like number 2 in the latest set.

 

[killy]

Great set Drew - I would be interested to know the iso you used on the last set

regards

Mike

 

[Cheffievrs]

Fantastic set..

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Beautiful images. Of the most recent three I particularly like the second one. I love badgers, I'm going to have to try and get more photos of them myself.

Great set Drew - I would be interested to know the iso you used on the last set

ISO 3200, 4000 and then 3200 again according to the exif data. If you're using Chrome then I use an extension called EXIF Viewer to show the details on photos on mouse over. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/exif-viewer/nafpfdcmppffipmhcpkbplhkoiekndck

 

[buckas]

Thanks chaps