Wildlife Photo of the Week

Wildlife Art Photographic Studies

A Beautiful Wildlife Photograph Every Week

From foxes to red squirrels, jays gathering acorns to mistle thrushes in full throat, my photographs are the perfect snapshot of winter. I use these photos as studies for my paintings and I've selected the best images of the season for you. Scroll down to see more and to learn about wildlife in winter.

Click here for more snapshots taken throughout the seasons.

Click here to see these photographs translated into paintings on my Wildlife Painting of the Week’ blog.

February 23rd 2019

Mistle Thrush

The old name for mistle thrush is 'storm cock' because of the way these birds like to perch at the tops of high trees and sing on rainy or windy days. They have a mournful song that suits the cold winter days when they begin to sing. In contrast, their calls are sound like noisy football rattles.

Mistle thrushes often build their nests close to humans - a pair was once found nesting inside a set of traffic lights - and don't seem to mind the noise of modern life. This mistle thrush was photographed nesting in a noisy wood workshop. Click here to see my photographs of the brood.

February 16th 2019

Woodpecker

Wildlife photo of the week

Listen out for the sharp rat-a-tat-tat of a great spotted woodpecker now. Trees take a hammering at this time of year as the males mark out their territories on their trunks. In the same way that other birds use song, woodpeckers drum. They peck so hard and so fast that they ought to get headaches, but their skulls are cushioned by a matrix of minute pockets of air supported by strengthened ‘shock absorber’ bone tissue. Click here to read my blog post on watching woodpeckers for a painting.

https://www.robertefuller.com/5128-2/

February 9th 2019

Roe Doe

Wildlife photo of the week

Roe deer lose their lush red coats in winter and adopt a duller, grey tone to their fur. About the size of a goat, the males have small antlers which they shed in autumn in order to grow a new set ready for the spring breeding season. Both males and females are easy to identify by the pale, buff around their short tails. It is becoming increasingly common to see roes in cities and towns.

February 2nd 2019

Fox Calls

Wildlife photo of the week

Listen out for the blood-curdling love calls of courting foxes now. The eerie screech of a vixen is typically heard in the dead of night, shattering the peace. Vixens are at their most receptive to fertilisation for as little as three days in midwinter, so any potential mate needs to shadow his intended partner closely to deter rivals and to ensure his paternity of the spring cubs. You’ll hear two typical calls, the raucous triple bark of the dominant dog fox as he proclaims his territory and the loud wailing scream of the vixen during mating.

January 12th 2019

Hooray for Jays

Wildlife Photo of the Week

Watch for jays this month as they skip along the ground retrieving acorns that they have stashed in leaf litter all winter. Studies have revealed that a single jay can store as many as 5,000 acorns over the season. They also remember where they have left most of their haul, although they don’t recover them all - which is good news for the oak trees that then germinate where they have been ‘planted’.

January 5th 2019

Squirrel Nutkin

Wildlife Photo of the Week

Red squirrels don’t hibernate over winter; they just take it easy. They need to conserve energy to keep warm so they are not as active during cold spells and rely on a stash of nuts gathered in the autumn to keep them going rather than having to search for food. Their coats are less of a rich red over winter and more of a dull grey-brown. But their tales usually remain their trademark rust-red. I photographed this squirrel in the Yorkshire Dales.

Click here to read my blog post on watching Yorkshire's red squirrels.