I have yet to explore the whole of Kensington Gardens, but what I experienced the other day on my brief visit in the cold, was quite scary. At one of the entrances near The Royal Albert Hall, I was hoping to take lots of shots of the many squirrels roaming around the wooded areas. There were around ten squirrels going about their business, hunting for food, scurrying up trees. I realised as I was setting up my camera on manual and fiddling with the ISO, shutter speed etc. (as quietly as possible), that a few of the squirrels were intrigued and moved towards me, completely unperturbed by my presence. I like to keep some distance from my animal subjects, (out of respect for their space and habitat), so I backed off. But, a few of them scurried onto the footpath and started chasing me as I walked away. They became a gang of predators and I was their bait. I increased my walking pace and ended up running – afraid of these squirrels! Of course, they increased their speed and ran after me!
I can’t express how relieved I was to spot one of the park’s gardeners digging a flower bed further up the footpath. I shouted to him “what’s wrong with these squirrels? Why are they are chasing me – is this normal?!” I was actually quite scared by their behaviour!
Then it clicked – I realised the nutty squirrels were after the selection of hazelnut chocolates in my camera bag, which I was hoping to snack on later. I am learning that to be a wildlife photographer, you need to be patient and calm, but more than this… unflustered and fearless.
I have to get myself sorted out before I meet the king of predators – the Big Cats!
The squirrels below were the cute ones I saw up a tree just across Kensington park from The Royal Albert Hall and near to where the gorgeous, friendly parakeets were congregating.
Beautiful Green parakeet, so friendly and sweet and there are many in Kensington Gardens. They love humans!
I had to put the next shot in the blog. When you are an amateur and you have a reasonable camera and a good zoom lens, mistakes happen. After holding the lens for so long (zoom lenses are really heavy if you don’t use a tripod) – this poor parakeet lost the top of its beautiful head. Sorry beautiful. There’s nothing better than sharing a moment with a bird, animal and freezing that moment on film forever.
Please see my instagram posts: wildswans_photography and facebook page: wildswans.photography for more updates. Happy Christmas!
Wild Swans Photography 