Suffolk Wildlife - Water Vols at RSPB Minsmere

So I recently took a trip down to Suffolk for a few days away. Whilst down there I spent a couple of days down at RSPB Minsmere Wildlife Centre.
On the first day, we made an early start with an arrival of 6:30 AM heading over to the island Hide, it was a bright sunny morning with clear views across the water however it was fairly quiet in terms of wildlife with just some cormorants a passing Kingfisher, and a group of Bearded reedlings flying around in the reeds.

As we made our way around the reserve visiting many of the heights along the way we were fortunate enough to see a couple of marsh harriers and a pair of Hobby’s flying above us which was really nice to watch and also get a couple of photographs of them.

Second day at RSPB Minsmere proved more lucrative than the previous day we had come across the pond where the water voles were living and had decided to make an early start to come and photograph these waterfalls as they woke up and came out to feed, however after a couple of hours it was still quiet and not a single voles insight so I turned my attention to the dragonflies and spent an hour photographing the dragonflies using manual focus as they hovered in front of me.

After 2 1/2 hours the water bowls finally started to appear and I got down low on the decking to photograph these fantastic little creatures as they started feeding on the grass reeds.

RSPB Minsmere is a fantastic nature reserve full of wildlife and opportunities, to see some fantastic wildlife and birds, a worthwhile couple of days spent here photographing wildlife in Suffolk.

PHOTOGRAPHIC EQUIPMENT USED

Canon rf 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L
Canon EF 70 -200mm f2.8 IS III L
Canon RF 85mm f1.2L USM DS Lens
Canon RF 1.4 x convertor
Smallrig Camara cage x3
Benro Tortoise 24CLV Tripod

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SOCIAL MEDIA & OTHER CONTACTS TO SUPPORT MY WORK

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Other items used, and in my Kit

Hikmicro LYNX LC06 Handheld Thermal Monocular: -

RSPB Harrier binoculars 10 x 42: -

[BobCratchit-]

Many thanks for your photographic work at Minsmere. You really do justice to one of our most vibrant reserves.

[carlearrye]

There last week still plenty of water voles in pond 😊

[tonycritcher]

Excellent! Most enjoyable! Lovely camera work. Thank you.

[SkylarkFields]

Superb vole and grass snake footage. Well done you!!

[mikesphotography]

Nice one love Minsmere and the voles 👍

[joanhuggett]

Really do enjoy your vlogs, Ashley. The water voles were so cute, dainty little hands holding the reed. I hope most survive. What do grass snakes eat besides baby voles, I wonder! Lovely slow motion shot of the swan coming in to land. And the dragon fly... so good. Your walk through those beautiful trees too. Absolutely loved everything. Thanks so much.

[mikek]

Thanks for the great video, really enjoy them.

[shalom]

Fantastic photography.
The watervoles were such a treat for watching. 😊😊👍👍
You have photographed so many variety of wildlife and difficult to find ones.🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Please continue uploading more wild life Vedios.
The added music was only one thing I did not like.
I prefer no added music for wildlife Vedio.
Nature with its nature sounds makes it more lively and peaceful.
May be you can try one vedio with no added music.

[michaelchapman]

Lovely to see the voles. Keep up the great videos.

[foto-spective]

Those Kingfishers have such beautiful colors. It would be fun to create a portfolio of different Kingfishers from around the world. Great video and wonderful photos.