Roe Deer Rut

Dawn view on 6th July over my garden gate.
Usually I use a graduated neutral density filter to control the contrast in a scene like this but this morning was unusual because the gentle mist was catching light and creating some detail on the ground which would otherwise have come out entirely black.
It's a relief to know that the sun is rising later every day now as I'm trying to photograph the roe deer rut at the moment.

Brief Encounter

Got up at 4.30am this morning and photographed this fox just before I headed home around 9.00am. I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of it perhaps 200 metres away across the field, which gave me a crucial advantage. With only a minute at most before it would reach me, it was a simple decision to quickly tuck myself into the hedge, set up the camera and hope.

In fact the fox took several minutes to arrive because it was pausing and 'mousing' as it came. That also meant it was distracted somewhat (less likely to spot me) and it also provided more time to take four shots at the right range before it went behind a patch of nettles and past into the hedge behind me.

I can't be sure if it's the same fox that appears in my film but it's the same field. Foxes and badgers breed in the same burrows year after year if they are not disturbed but they don't often live for long - mange is a very common and highly contagious disease that kills a lot of them.

I don't get the chance to take many stills so I don't bother with the latest and greatest stills equipment. This was taken with a Nikon D60 (used on Ebay £250) and a 25 year-old Canon 300/2.8L FD manual focus lens which has been adapted for use on 16mm and 35mm cine cameras.

Filming Life: Highspeed slowmotion hippo photography

"Life" - is a recent 10-part BBC natural history TV series.

I didn't do very much for the series in the end - I was working on the Yellowstone series at the same time - but I did a trip to Zambia to film male hippos fighting. The white camera in the photo (by Tom Clarke) is linked to a laptop and does extreme slow-motion - the 'Leadership Challenge' sequence features in episode 1, still available on BBC iPlayer.

I spent about 10 days in this hide during a 3 week trip. Very hot and humid - no breeze inside and it was just before the rains come. Stressful physical conditions like this seem hard at the time while you are worrying if you'll ever succeed in getting any good shots and the clock is ticking - you have a limited number of days - and constantly fretting you're really in the best spot but when I succeed my long-term memory records it as a fun experience.

Hippos, like most creatures, don't fight seriously very often, even at the end of the dry season when there is the least amount of deep water for all of them to rest in in the heat of the day. Only one or two good punch-ups happened here in that time and only one of those was at the right sort of distance and position to film. The slow-motion camera is impossible to move quickly - it is powered by several exceedingly heavy tractor batteries - you have to choose a spot and stay there. Then it was a case of constant vigilance to spot even the hint of a power struggle developing and then being lucky with the anticipation to make sure the beast was in focus as it erupted from underwater.

I'll try and get a post done for my filming trip to Deception Island in Antarctica for the 'Birds' episode which features chinstrap penguins. There is a From the Field diary about it on the BBC site.

Wildlife DVD

"Through the Garden Gate - A Diary of the English Countryside" DVD.



Released 30th April 2010.

It's about the wildlife I spent a year looking for and found very close to where I live in an Oxfordshire village in England. It's a very personal view - I narrate the whole thing (don't worry, you hardly see me at all) and it's aimed at those who enjoy the purely observational style of popular natural history films. There's no music - just natural sounds, some of which were recorded by emminent wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson.

The film is a sort of antithesis to the years of globe trotting I have done filming for television documentaries for the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol - an amazing job of course but I've always wished I could do more filming work closer to home. The reasons why most wildlife films we see on TV are not about British wildlife are a subject for another time.

I am collecting ideas for the next film and would be glad to hear from anyone what they'd most like to see.

Visit britishnaturefilms.com to see the trailer and buy copies. Some of it shot on my local Wildlife Trusts reserves - 5% of procceeds go to the Wildlife Trusts.

Send an email to newsletter at stephen-devere.co.uk if you'd like to hear about future productions.