The most amazing experience!

jennyb

jennyb

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Jenny
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I decided to go for a walk in the woods this evening just before it got dark. My garden adjoins some woodland so I hopped over the fence (well crawled through actually) and walked about 50 metres looking for a badger sett that I found last year.

I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye and just froze, standing right out in the open. There under the trees was a family of badgers. Not sure if there were 4 or 5 but they were all cleaning each other. I did not move a muscle and stood watching for about 15 minutes. Mum or Dad then sauntered off and I decided to try to get closer. I had been about 20-30 metres away and I inched closer and closer. 2 of the youngsters noticed me and was not sure what I was so came over to investigate. They came to within 3 metres, had a sniff, then ran back. Then they came over again for another sniff, and again....

I was watching them for about half an hour in total. Absolutely magical :D:D:D

Sadly, I did not take my camera tonight. Tomorrow - camera!

Does anyone have any recommendations for taking the shots? They are going to run straight off as soon as they hear the shutter, so I need to make my first shots count.

It was still light enough to take shots without flash when I first saw them tonight, but I would have to use a high ISO. Flash would be better.

Suggestions would be very welcome.

I would just like to stress that I did not go too close to the sett. I know they are protected. The badgers actually came to me.

Jenny
 
I'm guessing that flash wouldn't be ideal, that would really scare them and I guess as mainly nocturnal creatures they would be even more blinded by flash than we are!
 
No flash high ISO gaps between shots. It works for deer for me and they don't run off

Good luck its my wish to get badgers:)
 
Thanks for the comments, guys. I was out again tonight and saw lots of badgers including a tiny baby one! No decent photos, though.

They have a really interesting routine. They come out of the sett and have a really good scratch for about 5 or 10 minutes - one of them, I suspect the male, turned over on his back with his legs in the air scratching his stomach. When the second came out, they were scratching each other. The male then wanders off, foraging I guess. The other stayed behind and seemed to be keeping an eye on the baby.

It is really too dark under the trees to attempt photos without flash.

This sett that I have found is not the sett I found last year, so I went looking for that one. I think I found it because I saw a badger head sticking out of the ground. These woods are heaving with badgers. If only I knew how to photograph them.

3 munjacs wandered by while I was out there and all sorts of weird noises which I cannot even begin to imagine what was making them.

Jenny
 
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We've got a 3 legged one that trots down the street about midnight. Just too dark with only 1 street light to be able to get any shots. Good luck with yours.
 
Great moments Jenny. Munjac make such funny noises. The wood I get my deer shots has a group of munjac and the noises make me laugh.

What lenses do you have?
 
salacalvet said:
Great moments Jenny. Munjac make such funny noises. The wood I get my deer shots has a group of munjac and the noises make me laugh.

What lenses do you have?
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I have a 170-500mm and 70-300mm IS. Last night I tried with the 70-300mm which is more than long enough. Lack of light is the problem, not the length of the lens.

Each night when I come back from the woods, there is a roe deer doe watching me from the field out front. She has a tiny little kid which follows her around in the field, but the grass is long and only the kids ears stick above the grass! It's really cute.

Jenny
 
If you can try and borrow a F2.8 may give you the results you are after.

Of to my wood with Louise to see if what we heard the other day is a badger sett. Fingers crossed.

If not lets hope the fallow are in with there young. They are keeping them well hiden at the moment:)
 
salacalvet said:
If you can try and borrow a F2.8 may give you the results you are after.

Of to my wood with Louise to see if what we heard the other day is a badger sett. Fingers crossed.

If not lets hope the fallow are in with there young. They are keeping them well hiden at the moment:)
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The only 2.8 lens that I have is the 60mm. I don't think I can get close enough to use that.

Having seen Jean's badger photos on another thread taken at ISO 6400, I have had an idea. My DSLR only goes up to 1600, but my son has a P&S which goes up to 6400. As an experiment to see if 6400 will be adequate under those conditions in the wood, I will have a try with the P&S - if I can figure out how to use it in non-automatic mode!

Hope the weather brightens up before tonight.

Did you find the sett yesterday? I have never seen fallow deer. We only have muntjacs and roe around here.

Jenny
 
jennyb said:
The only 2.8 lens that I have is the 60mm. I don't think I can get close enough to use that.
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Jenny I shoot a lot of rugby so dark winter afternoons under floodlights with my D300s and a 70-200 2.8 and I was still struggling at ISO 6400 to get a 200/250 sec shutter speed so even with a 2.8 if it is too dark then even that will be no good.

But why not take your 60/2.8 and just fire off a few shots to see if a 2.8 would work, just an idea. What time are you there usually?.
 
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AFC said:
Jenny I shoot a lot of rugby so dark winter afternoons under floodlights with my D300s and a 70-200 2.8 and I was still struggling at ISO 6400 to get a 200/250 sec shutter speed so even with a 2.8 if it is too dark then even that will be no good.

But why not take your 60/2.8 and just fire off a few shots to see if a 2.8 would work, just an idea. What time are you there usually?.
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Hi Martin, I will have a go with the 60/2.8 to see what happens.

They usually appear around 8.15pm, but I don't know whether the rain will stop before then today :(

Jenny
 
jennyb said:
Hi Martin, I will have a go with the 60/2.8 to see what happens.

They usually appear around 8.15pm, but I don't know whether the rain will stop before then today :(

Jenny
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At least it will give you some idea as to whether it will be worth persuing a bigger better lens.

I hope it works out to be OK. Will keep my fingers crossed for you. Good Luck.
 
Hi Jenny
No sett that I could see but the wood is getting tall bracken is getting tall so hard to tell. Tomorrow going in foe the afternoon to investigate further.
Last night I was in the wood and at 7pm was shooting with ISO 1600 with a f4 500mm shutter speed 300sec on a monopod. Some nice shoots of nutthatch in very dull light.
Louise was with a 70-200 f2,8 and shooting much faster. We were still out at 8,30 trying barn owls in the field. She was fine with her lens but the reach was the problem as I left the 300mm st home. I stupidly changed lens to a 400mm for some reason that I can't even remember so mine were only record shots.

I am sure a 2,8 mounted would be fine as they will be slow moving at times.

If you want to see fallow drop me a pm.
 
Having taken on board everyone's suggestions I went out tonight to experiment. I took the P&S set to ISO 6400 and the DSLR with the 60mm lens. All the photos were rubbish. I think the position of the sett under the trees really means that flash is required.

I also experimented with some video on the P&S. Terribly amateur, of course. It was handheld. However, I think it gives an impression of the situation of the sett and the lack of light. There were 5 badgers tonight, including the tiny one. It amazes me that I can sit there in full view of them and they just go about their daily routine.

Tomorrow during the day I am going to tidy up some branches and dead bluebells that are getting in the way of the photos, so that maybe I can achieve something better.

I have no idea how to put video into a post so I will just put a couple of links here, in case anyone is interested.

Video 1 - (7MB)

Video 2 - (9MB) - this one shows one of the badgers dragging something back to the sett. Not sure what it is, I think, a branch of some kind. It also shows the little one.

BTW, I can't stop scratching, having sat and watched these little characters having a good scratch for at least half an hour!

Jenny
 
Good luck. Never tried this but could you leave your flash outside near the tree late afternoon/early evening before they come out, so it's already in place for you to shoot when they come out later on?

Never left a flash off the hotshoe for very long so no idea if it will power down after a few mins and need manual intervention, however if not and your camera can reactivate it, my be worth a try?
 
I've tried to get badgers several times and have always struggled with getting natural results with flash(s). Have thought about led panels as badgers haven't got great sight and seem fairly oblivious to low power lights. They love custard cream biscuits... also get in touch with your local badger group just in case they don't know about your set. I must admit I've set up all my gear but just sit there an watch, they are fascinating animals.
 
Jenny,

Badgers love peanuts too. We have one that comes into our garden, I have managed a few reasonable pics. Believe it or not they normally dont worry about the flash in the garden, possibly because they are used to the security light coming on.

I keep meaning to go into the wood and try to photo them in a more natural setting, but never found the time yet:(
 
jennyb said:
I think the position of the sett under the trees really means that flash is required.
Click to expand...

I would hope you think about the animals and put them first before the need for a picture... I would suggest finding out if any damage or harm can be done with flash in these circumstances before just doing it.

just my thoughts :)
 
n2desilv said:
Good luck. Never tried this but could you leave your flash outside near the tree late afternoon/early evening before they come out, so it's already in place for you to shoot when they come out later on?

Never left a flash off the hotshoe for very long so no idea if it will power down after a few mins and need manual intervention, however if not and your camera can reactivate it, my be worth a try?
Click to expand...

I've never used a flash off the camera before. I don't have a clue how to use my flash actually, but I wanted to try all the options before resorting to flash.

pmaccyd said:
I've tried to get badgers several times and have always struggled with getting natural results with flash(s). Have thought about led panels as badgers haven't got great sight and seem fairly oblivious to low power lights. They love custard cream biscuits... also get in touch with your local badger group just in case they don't know about your set. I must admit I've set up all my gear but just sit there an watch, they are fascinating animals.
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I agree with you. Just watching them is amazing and the photographs are secondary.

I can't really get in touch with the local badger group. The sett is on private property (not mine!) and I don't have permission to be there. Since it is only 50 metres from my garden fence, I am sure no-one minds me sitting there quietly for an hour each evening.

bren-escape said:
Jenny,

Badgers love peanuts too. We have one that comes into our garden, I have managed a few reasonable pics. Believe it or not they normally dont worry about the flash in the garden, possibly because they are used to the security light coming on.

I keep meaning to go into the wood and try to photo them in a more natural setting, but never found the time yet:(
Click to expand...

Yes, they love peanuts. They wander through our garden each night and I usually leave out peanuts, sultanas or peanut butter sandwiches for them. I have taken photos of them in my garden but the sett is a much more natural setting and seeing them as a family unit is lovely.

KIPAX said:
I would hope you think about the animals and put them first before the need for a picture... I would suggest finding out if any damage or harm can be done with flash in these circumstances before just doing it.

just my thoughts :)
Click to expand...

I think you can tell from my posts that I am very careful about disturbing them in any way. They are just wonderful to watch.

Jenny
 
Good luck Jenny, we have numerous sets on the farm, but it is picking which one to go to what night as you can be sure I will pick the wrong ones when I take my camera out :LOL:

They are great to watch, quite funny at times, but yet to get pictures as I a am to busy watching them, then the roe deer come out grazing and then a fox, you dare not move but sit and take it all in. (y)
 
jennyb said:
Having taken on board everyone's suggestions I went out tonight to experiment. I took the P&S set to ISO 6400 and the DSLR with the 60mm lens. All the photos were rubbish. I think the position of the sett under the trees really means that flash is required.

I also experimented with some video on the P&S. Terribly amateur, of course. It was handheld. However, I think it gives an impression of the situation of the sett and the lack of light. There were 5 badgers tonight, including the tiny one. It amazes me that I can sit there in full view of them and they just go about their daily routine.

Tomorrow during the day I am going to tidy up some branches and dead bluebells that are getting in the way of the photos, so that maybe I can achieve something better.

I have no idea how to put video into a post so I will just put a couple of links here, in case anyone is interested.

Video 1 - (7MB)

Video 2 - (9MB) - this one shows one of the badgers dragging something back to the sett. Not sure what it is, I think, a branch of some kind. It also shows the little one.

BTW, I can't stop scratching, having sat and watched these little characters having a good scratch for at least half an hour!

Jenny
Click to expand...

The videos are good considering it was fairly dark and you can clearly see the animals. How wonderful to have them so close to your home.Enjoy them.
 
Jenny something has just come to me as I was sorting out my old camera gear. I have a SONY H50 and it has a Night Shoot and when you use this its like infra red and you can take photo's in a pitch black room - it works as I have tried it.

So do you know anyone who has a camera or Camcorder that has nightshoot? Just a thought.

Like Sue I thought the video's were good considering.
 
Badgers a very hardy/robust mammal but your all right they are easily spooked but found once they are comfortable feeding they relax quite quickly. Now is the best time to shoot badgers and have found badger groups a fantastic resource. I've actually cuddled a rescued badger cub which fell asleep in my arms, a truly magic experience.
 
I have done Opossums at night with flash and found that the only thing that bothered them was the sound of the lens focusing, the flash never bothered them at all. Thinking about this I assumed they are used to lightning at night as they are still out and about in storms looking for food
 
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