Sarah Longes
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sarahlonges.bsky.social
Sarah Longes
@sarahlonges.bsky.social
700 followers 500 following 2.3K posts
Nature - Wildlife - Music Photographer, Speaker, Educator. SheClicks Ambassador. Fujifilm X Series. Poetry/Spoken Word. Wheelchair User. Living with Crohn's, an ileostomy, and fibromyalgia. Love to laugh! aka MiradorDesign, Sarah Williams
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sarahlonges.bsky.social
Come Into The Light #ShareMondays2025 #FoxOfTheDay

The young #vixen known as Star was shining bright as she came into the afternoon light from under a #beech #tree 🦊🍂 #wildlife #nature #redfox #mammals @rbgkew.bsky.social @chrisgpackham.bsky.social @ldnwildlifetrust.bsky.social #fujifilm_uk
A close-up portrait of a young vixen approaching me with curiosity from the shadows beneath a large beech tree. The background is dark brown shadow in the top half, graduating to light browns and bright russet colours in the leaf litter around Star's feet. It's mid afternoon and the sun is low, sending golden light across the parts of the gardens that it can reach. I was sitting at the edge of the path when Star decided that she needed to come a bit too close so she could examine me properly! The light that caught her face, mostly the left side as we look at her, was simply gorgeous, highlighting her rich winter coat that blends perfectly with the russet coloured leaves around her on the ground. She and the leaves are aglow like a warm fireside. Even as I took several photos of her I was warning her that she was a bit too close, encouraging her to back away a bit. It was one of those moments where as a wildlife photographer you're caught between the desire to capture the beautiful light on your subject, with the concern to keep your subjects safe and wild by discouraging them from getting too close to people. She looks wary and alert because I'm discouraging her while shooting the scene with the camera low, composing through the LCD tilt screen. She did move to a more appropriate distance after this and settled down near another beech tree trunk. Star has earned her name from a small star-shaped white patch on her chest, just above her front legs. Her chest and underneath her body are quite a dark grey, almost totally black in places. This extends down her tail. There are white accents on her muzzle, the edge of her ears, the joints of her legs and a brighter white tip to her tail. The rest of her coat is a rusty-orange, peppered with grey. In this image only her head and one front leg and haunch are visible.
December 1, 2025 at 7:19 PM
sarahlonges.bsky.social
Bouncing On Bracken #ShareMondays2025

A brief outing to #BushyPark brought a brief encounter with a little female #stonechat flitting about amongst the #bracken in the golden afternoon light @theroyalparks.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social #nature #wildlife #birding #autumncolours
In the right half of this landscape-aspect image is a golden-brown frond of bracken, rising vertically from the lower edge, bending halfway up its length under the weight of a small bird. It's a female stonechat, about the size and shape of a robin, blending perfectly into the colours and speckled textures of the Autumn bracken frond she perches on. She is in profile facing to the left with her back slightly turned towards the camera so that you can see the tips of both wings, held slightly behind her to aid her balance, along with her tail, which she was bobbing around and flaring while I watched her. She was busy bouncing from frond to frond, to the ground and popping back up again to feed on insects active in the warming sunshine. The background is a blurred mix of grass-green, rusty orange and hazy blue layers of shadow, that hint to a landscape of mixed grassland with bands of bracken crossing horizontally behind the subject. Here's the RSPB's description of a stonechat: Stonechats are robin-sized birds. Males have striking black heads with white around the side of their neck, orange-red breasts and a mottled brown back. Females have brown heads, brown backs and an orange tinge to their chests. Stonechats are frequently seen flicking their wings while perched, often doing so on the tops of low bushes. As its name suggests, these birds utter a sharp loud call that sounds like two stones being tapped together. They breed in western and southern parts of the UK, but spread out more widely in winter.
November 24, 2025 at 11:26 PM
sarahlonges.bsky.social
Sisterhood #ShareMondays2025 #FoxOfTheDay

A brief moment of quiet at @rbgkew.bsky.social with these two beautiful #vixens 🦊🦊 From a distance they blend right into the fallen leaves! #nature #wildlife #foxes #redfox #mammals @ldnwildlifetrust.bsky.social @chrisgpackham.bsky.social
Two female foxes are lying on the ground with their eyes half closed, resting in the quiet of the afternoon in a wooded area of their territory. The ground fills the lower half of this landscape aspect image. It's almost completely covered with fallen leaves from beech and chestnut trees, a pacthwork of gold and amber, sprinkled with a few tender green grass shoots, straining to reach above for the sparse light of late Autumn. On the left side is a vixen known as Grey, for the grey patches of fur mixed in to her orange coat. The grey fur arches around her brow and is very prominent on her flank. She has a paler orange coloured coat to that of her sister (littermates in the family den, though I suspect they were from different mothers), who is lying on the right side of the image. She's known as Red for the rich auburn colour of her coat. Both foxes have a white muzzle, bib and inside legs, but Grey's white fur is also peppered heavily with the grey hairs. Grey's features are similar to her brother's, Wolf who has featured in previous posts here. This colouration is more apparent in their thicker winter coats. Behind the vixens, in the upper half of the image are a mix of deciduous and evergreen trees, mostly beech, laurel and juniper. The yellow of the beech leaves is a strong contrast to the dark trunks and branches alonside the very deep green of the evergreens. Although I knew I would get a bit damp, even through my weater resistant clothing, I lowered myself to the ground to spend time with the vixens as I have learned that they feel most relaxed around people who are on the ground, remaining reasonably still. It also helps Grey to feel more certain around Red who she is subordinate too, often nervous to approach until Red has settled down and is ignoring her. This seems to be an unspoken permission that Grey can approach and share space together.
November 17, 2025 at 11:19 PM
sarahlonges.bsky.social
Cheers Damien 🙏🏻 Check out the fastidious grooming 🤭
November 11, 2025 at 6:03 PM
sarahlonges.bsky.social
The Golden Era #FoxOfTheDay

It was a dull, grey day out at @rbgkew.bsky.social last week but the #Autumn #colours and wonderful wildlife shone brightly 🍂🦊💛 #wildlife #nature #fox #redfox #woodland #fujifilm_uk @chrisgpackham.bsky.social @ldnwildlifetrust.bsky.social
A male fox is climbing over a huge, felled tree trunk that has been left as deadwood for wildlife to use and children to explore. The fox is climbing from right to left, his body in profile but his head turned to look directly at the camera. He is stood just in front of a sawn branch that sticks up at an angle behind the main trunk. The branch is stripped of bark and is a pale skin-tone colour, compared to the heavily textured orange wood of the trunk that looks like it has twists in it. I think it's probably an old sweet chestnut tree. In the background lies a wooded area with beech and birch trees that provide a blurred, bokeh backdrop of golden foliage. The fox is known as Wolf for his lupine facial features. He uses this area of deadwood as a cut through between parts of his territory that he is patrolling. His coat has rich, rusty-orange and red tones with hints of grey in his face and on his flank. He has a white muzzle and chest. The white extends under his body and down the inside of his legs. There are well defined black markings extending down his legs, seperating the white from the orange. His tail is very bushy, quite black with a hint of grey. The once white end of his tail is missing after an altercation earlier in the year, leaving a it with a very rounded tip.
November 11, 2025 at 12:58 AM
sarahlonges.bsky.social
A Little AutumnOWL #ShareMondays2025

Excuse the pun 🤭 A favourite pair of #LittleOwls have been twit-t-wooing recently 🦉🦉😉 Lovely to watch them preening each other! #nature #wildlife #birding @theroyalparks.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social @ldnwildlifetrust.bsky.social #fujifilm_uk
A dark scene looking up into a bare tree with a heavily weathered branch crossing the scene from lower left corner to just above the middle of the right edge. Even though the sun has just set, the background is a tapestry of blurred Autumn-coloured leaves, the yellow being the most prominent. Patches of deep blue sky show through the bokeh leaves. Two little owls are perched on the branch. They are sitting close together, their bodies at a fourty five degree angle to the viewer, but facing straight down the lens of the camera. The bigger of the owls, sat on the left, is the female. Her feathers are puffed up creating a rugby ball like profile. The male sitting to the right is shorter and more slender. His eyes are wide showing the yellow colour that tells us that these are owls that hunt in daylight as well as dusk. In common with almost every little owl that I have encountered, they both glare at me with such a grumpy expressions. And that's what makes them so very endearing! Here's the RSPB's description of a little owl - This small owl was introduced to the UK in the 19th century. It can be seen in the daylight, usually perching on a tree branch, telegraph pole or rock. It will bob its head up and down when alarmed. In flight, it has rounded wings, rapid wingbeats and flies with a slight bounce. Breeding Bird Survey data suggests that Little Owl numbers are declining, with the UK population estimated to be down by 24 per cent between 1995 and 2008. It’s 21 to 23 cm long, with a wingspan of 54 to 58cm. The feathers are cream/buff, brown and white, with yellow legs and a brown/black beak.
November 10, 2025 at 10:00 PM
sarahlonges.bsky.social
Firework Foliage #ShareMonday2025

WARNING‼️ NO WILDLIFE IN THIS IMAGE 😂 Not like me at all but, this week I was mostly entranced by #autumnal #acers in #BushyPark #WoodlandGardens 🍁🍂 @theroyalparks.bsky.social @sheclicksnet.bsky.social #nature #trees #autumncolours #fujifilm_uk #fujifilm_x_series
This landscape aspect image is a study of acer tree leaves turning autumnal, with a deep orange, blurred backdrop of swamp cypress leaves. Swamp cypress where introduced to the UK in the 17th century and are one of only a few conifers that are deciduous, the feathery leaves turning orange or russet-red in autumn, dropping them in the winter. The left side of the image is predominantly green and the right side is predominantly deep orange. The leaves of the acer tree, which have seven pointed lobes, are largest and in sharp focus in the centre and the left side. They have a mix of colours from rich forest green, paling to lime green, yellow, orange, red and hints of purple. Between the foreground leaves and the orange background are partially blurred acer leaves hanging down from the other side of the tree's canopy. They are mostly green and yellow, seemingly floating in the air like polka dots against the orange background on the righthand side.
November 3, 2025 at 10:21 PM
sarahlonges.bsky.social
Chestnuts, Crocus & Hazel #fsprintmonday #FoxOfTheDay

It must be #autumn! It’s a #mast year for many trees including the #SweetChestnut. The husks of the nuts are littering the ground at @rbgkew.bsky.social 🌰🍂 #nature #wildlife #trees @ldnwildlifetrust.bsky.social @chrisgpackham.bsky.social
A young male fox, known as Hazel for the colour of his eyes, is standing beneath a huge sweet chestnut tree, surrounded by a carpet of purple autumn crocus flowers, fallen leaves, and what chestnut husks on the ground. In the background, there is a large, gnarled tree trunk of this amazing sweet chestnut tree which has to be around three metres in diameter! Hazel has a coat of reddish-brown fur with a white chest and abdomen and bushy grey-black tail with a white tip, is the central subject and is looking directly at the viewer with his head lowered. I’ve noticed that he uses this pose when he’s really studying his surroundings in case of a threat. There were a number of other visitors to the gardens standing not far from me on the path and I was talking to them about the role that the foxes play in their ecosystem. Hazel studied everyone and decided they weren’t threatening before returning to forage in the leaf litter. I think he was actually eating some of the sweet chestnuts although I couldn’t see definitively exactly what was being snuffled down rapidly every now and then.
November 1, 2025 at 12:11 AM
sarahlonges.bsky.social
A Head For Heights #ShareMondays2025 #FoxOfTheDay

Red the #vixen has been seen #climbing this #tree a few times, and now she's passing the skill onto young Hazel 🦊 More info in Alt! #nature #wildlife #fujifilm_uk #fox @chrisgpackham.bsky.social @rbgkew.bsky.social @ldnwildlifetrust.bsky.social
A portrait aspect, focus stacked image that shows an adult vixen climbing a tree while her male offspring, from March 2025, waits his turn below. In the background of the image are slightly blurred, dark evergreen laurel trees filling a little over the top harlf of the image. The foliage meets the ground with lush green grass that becomes gradually covered towards the subject tree and foreground. The fallen leaves are the browns, yellows and oranges of a red oak tree that the foxes like to climb. The oak itself has a thick base to it's trunk, that is cropped in the lower-right, second quarter of the composition. Two thick branches curve away from the trunk like the letter U, tiltled at a minus fortyfive degree angle. The branch at the base, the left of the U shape, itself branches into two more U shaped branches. The upper branch continues up into the top left corner of the composition. The bark of the tree is heavily textured, rusty-brown, split in places and stripped away from areas of the branches. Much of the bark is obscured by cyan-blue coloured lichens and thick moss in various shades of green. In the upper left quarter of the image, the branches are are surrounded by a smattering of autumn coloured oak leaves that have yet to fall. The vixen we refer to as Red is stood on the upwards curving branch in the top third of the image. She is in profile, facing to the left as she climbs as high as possible up the branch. In the lower third of the image, right in the foreground, the young male fox that we refer to as Hazel, is stood in profile, facing to the right and looking across directly at my friend and I. There are a lot of elements snaking their way through this composition, but essentially it's a behavioural story of a young fox learning new skills from his parent. And it was only shortly after this that he was following her example (only one false start!) and made it all the way up to where she is standing in this image!
October 27, 2025 at 10:19 PM
sarahlonges.bsky.social
My #ShareMondays2025 Top 4 this week (with some assistance from my mum when I got stuck on several 🤭) are:

Colin @ckphotography.bsky.social
Jonny @supergios.bsky.social
Graeme @graemetaplin.bsky.social
Mick @mickh5.bsky.social

Well done everyone for making me struggle 🤭👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I love this tender moment as a red deer hind lowers her head to groom the ear of her offspring. It shows just how late some of the red deer births were this year! It has surprised me to see as many young fawns among the hinds in my local area. Great to see the frost and dew whitening the habitat too. You could almost believe that it was a smattering of snow melting into the muted greens and bracken-brown of the ground. A picture of Autumn that is a beautiful contrast to bold colours or the bellowing stags 😊 A dreamy cloud inversion in the Lake District taken from the summit of Helvellyn at sunrise. What strikes me the most is the alternating layers of red and blue created by shadowed cloud seen from above and the first light bouncing brightly from the peaks of the hills! A few pink tones to the sky and the waterfall effect of clouds spilling between the peaks, links the warm and cool together beautifully. It’s often hard to get a dynamic image from an overcast sunrise, but Graeme has used the soft tones of blue/grey, peach and purple to great effect within his gentle seascape, with the centrally placed dark, industrial platform (now defunct) of Sizewell Nuclear Power Station and soft sweeping white horses, gently spilling onto the shore, leaving a foam upon the golden sand. The platforms were there to service the intake and discharge tunnels used to run sea water through the cooling system of the old power plant. Today they provide perches for seabirds 😊 This square composition depicting autumnal seed heads, and fading petals of plants, within a polytunnel at the allotment is so cleverly observed, captured and processed. The diagonally opposing subjects have a very graphic look, almost as if this is a work in progress by a botanical artist, the final, fine details of the structures yet to be completed. A faint horizontal line dividing the subjects could almost be a fold in a sheet of fine art paper! And the hazy effect given to areas of the subjects by the distance between them and the polythene actually reminds me of a favourite old process from in the darkroom, selective solarisation. So creative 😊
October 21, 2025 at 6:37 PM
sarahlonges.bsky.social
Fox And Fungi #FoxOfTheDay

Great seeing all the #ShareMondays2025 entries 😁 Judging will be tough tomorrow!! A quick reminder, I've "liked" all the posts that showed up in my # search, so you'll know if I've seen yours. Info on my image in Alt text 🦊 @rbgkew.bsky.social @chrisgpackham.bsky.social
A panoramic landscape-aspect image of a young vixen called Star. She's earned her name from a small star-shaped white patch on her chest, just above her front legs. Her chest and underneath her body are quite a dark grey, almost totally black in places. This extends down her tail. There are white accents on her muzzle, the edge of her ears, the joints of her legs and a brighter white tip to her tail. The rest of her coat is a rusty-orange, peppered with grey. There's a slight kink in her tail at the moment from a muscle injury known as limber tail. This could have been caused by vigorous tail-wagging that foxes do as a greeting with each other, or during a tussle with one of the family members over their standing in group hierachy. Dis you know a group of foxes is known as a skulk? The etymology is from a Scandanavian word and refers to their stealthy movement. Anyway, back to the description! I have placed Star almost centrally to the composition. She is in profile with her tail in the left of image and her head is turned across her body so she is looking backwards to the left of the image. In the shadowed background of the late afternoon are slightly blurred trees with deep green foliage. In the top left corner a few golden leaves hanging from a closer tree seem to be almost floating in the air. On the right edge of the image is a the side of a gnarly old tree trunk with lots of detailed texture. Around the tip of Star's tail and in the foreground of her front legs are clumps honey fungus at different stages of maturity. Here's a description I found for honey fungus (Armillaria) mushrooms on the RHS website: The mushrooms are produced in dense clumps and are very variable in size and colour even within each species. The cap or stalk is often honey coloured, hence the common name of the fungus; otherwise the mushrooms are some shade of brown. A whitish collar-like ring is always present on the stem of pathogenic species, just below the gills.
October 20, 2025 at 11:17 PM
sarahlonges.bsky.social
The Autumn Foliage Inspection #ShareMondays2025 #FoxOfTheDay

Red the #vixen's verdict - getting there nicely! #trees #nature #foliage #foxes #wildlife #autumnclours @rbgkew.bsky.social @chrisgpackham.bsky.social @ldnwildlifetrust.bsky.social #UrbanGreenspace @sheclicksnet.bsky.social #fujifilm_uk
Almost all the right side of this landscape aspect image is taken up by the trunk of an old and gnarled tree. The bark is slightly orange toned, rough textured and split in many areas. The trunk twists upwards, splitting into multiple branches. One branch reaches from the upper centre trunk to the top left corner of the composition. A sapling of the tree is growing beneath it to the right of the trunk. It still has green leaves. The leaves of the mature tree are golden and amber, falling like the material of an umbrella aroud the trunk. A female, adult fox is standing on her hind legs with her front paws positioned part way up the trunk where the first branch starts to come away. She's looking up into the tree above. Her coat is a rich auburn with a white bib and white patches on the inside of her legs. She has black sock-like markings on her front legs. The back of her ears are also black. Her coat is such a rich reddish tone that we have named her Red. She is an excellent tree climber! I suspect she'd seen a squirrel or magpie. She really doesn't like magpies!!
October 13, 2025 at 10:52 PM
sarahlonges.bsky.social
Autumn's Arrival #ShareMondays2025 #FoxOfTheDay

A #DogFox developing his fabulous #WinterCoat out patrolling his #lakeside territory at @rbgkew.bsky.social last week. #nature #wildlife #fox #mammals @chrisgpackham.bsky.social @ldnwildlifetrust.bsky.social #fujifilm_uk #AutumnColour
The heavily textured, orange-brown trunk and root of a swamp cypress tree sweeps down into the image rom the top left corner to the bottom right corner of the composition. The roots are reaching out to a lake that is just out of shot. The bark is rough textured and undulates in twists toward the base of the trunk. A few deep green ivy leaves twist around the base of the trunk and root. A male fox is stood just behind the root. he's facing to the left and situated centre-right of the composition. He's coming into his thick Winter coat, looking quite filled out in comparison to the summer. His face has regained it's wolfish features that led us to naming him Wolf. His coat has rich, rusty-orange and red tones with hints of grey in his face and on his flank. He has a white muzzle and chest. The white extends under his body and down the inside of his legs. His tail is very bushy now and quite black with a hint of grey. The tip of his tail is missing after an altercation earlier in the year, leaving a very rounded end to the tail. Despite this injury he's still a very handsome fox! In the background are soft and slightly blurred bankside shrubs and ground cover, ranging in tones from vivid green through to the yellows, oranges and reds of autumn foliage. The thinning leaves reveal a tangle of branches that droop to the ground providing the cascade of Autumn colour.
October 6, 2025 at 12:02 PM
sarahlonges.bsky.social
The Conqueror Crowned #ShareMondays2025

With a wreath of ferns on #bloodied #antlers this #RedDeer #stag stands victorious on the riverbank, looking out over his harem. #TheRut #BushyPark @theroyalparks.bsky.social @ldnwildlifetrust.bsky.social #nature #wildlife @sheclicksnet.bsky.social
The lower third of the image shows the raised bank of the Longford River flowing through Bushy Park. Rust coloured stems and foliage of trampled bracken line the bank and deep green reeds rise up from the river itself. The backdrop is a hazy scene of mature trees, mostly oak, that line the riverbank further along it's course. A large rusty-orange coloured red deer stag is standing on the bank in the left of the image. He's facing the camera with his antlers curving upwards in a cup shape, just off-centre of the upper third of the image. There are torn green ferns wrapped around the base of the antlers, like a crown placed upon the head. The first branch of the antler on the deer's left is bright red from a fight with another dominant stag holding territory close-by. My SheClicks friends and I watched the fight unfold from around 150m away and it still felt almost too close! The stags were at full speed, around 30mph, and I struggled to follow them with the camera. One stag tripped over a hind laying down in the bracken and he almost tumbled right over. The hind was tossed upside down with her hooves in the air and I was very relieved to see her regain her feet and run off to safety. This image with the bloodied antler is a stark reminder of the injuries that can occur during The Rut, to the stags, the hinds, and anyone visiting the park who happens to stray too close to these powerful creatures.
September 29, 2025 at 10:36 PM
sarahlonges.bsky.social
Juno #ShareMondays2025

Stuck in the house this week 🤦‍♀️ My #cat Juno has been keeping a close eye on me though! She even allowed me to point the #phonecamera in her direction 😹 #iphoneography #pets #LRMobile #Snapseed
A profile portrait showing the cropped close face of a calico cat. She has black fur behind her pale green-yellow eyes with ginger above the eye, rising up the forehead. There’s a band of white fur across her cheek and running straight down the centre of the forehead and down her nose. The muzzle is ginger with bright white whiskers and her nose is a peachy pink colour. She’s facing to the right where sunlight is streaming in through the window creating bright highlights across her features and a dark background. This image was taken using the iPhone 15Pro
September 22, 2025 at 10:33 PM
sarahlonges.bsky.social
Riverside Walk #ShareMondays2025 #FoxOfTheDay

Plenty of #hunting and #foraging among the #brambles and #shrubs along the #RiverThames by #Kew for this #fox 🦊 @rbgkew.bsky.social @chrisgpackham.bsky.social @ldnwildlifetrust.bsky.social #nature #wildlife #mammals #fujifilm_uk #ThamesPath #Brentford
The background of the image shows modern, brick and glass fronted, apartments and an old church spire along the north side of The Thames Path in Brentford, opposite the car park for Kew Gardens. The skies are a soft blue above the buildings, which are lit with the soft light of the low sun near the end of the day. A brick wall runs parallel to the viewer along the bottom fifth of the image, and the think branches of trees with teardrop-shaped green leaves extend into the upper third of the frame from both left and right. There are brambles poking up from behind the brick wall with some blackberries still on the stems. A male fox is walking along the lefthand side of the wall, facing ahead to the right with his nose almost to the bricks as he takes in the scents of other animals that have passed along this route. His tail is getting bushy again, as we head into autumn, and is pointing straight out behind him, in line with the length of his back. His coat is a rusty-orange, his tail has a bright white tip to it and both his undercarriage and inside legs are white, with black sock coming up from his paws. His ears have black on the back and are pricked forwards as he listens intently for the sound of prey. There's a little notch in his right ear that tells me this is the dominant dog fox that we refer to as Notch.
September 15, 2025 at 9:02 PM
sarahlonges.bsky.social
A Song For September #ShareMondays2025

This #RedDeer #Stag has been #bellowing for several weeks now, indicating that the annual #rut is early this year. @theroyalparks.bsky.social @the-wildlifetrusts.bsky.social @ldnwildlifetrust.bsky.social #nature #wildlife #mammals See ALT text for more info!
Against a soft, blurred background of an avenue of chestnut trees in shades of green with hints of yellow, brown and orange leaves on dark shaded trunks that rise above a grass lawn, scattered with leaves fallen early due to drought stress, is a Red Deer Stag. He is lying on the ground in the lower left of the image with his head turning towards the right, raised up as he bellows loudly to signal his presence to both adversaries and hinds as the annual Deer Rut, or breeding season, begins. His antlers are titled back with the tines pointing upwards, looking like a gothic candelabra. With over 16 tines on his antlers this stag is known as a Monarch. The red deer is Britain’s largest land mammal. When fully grown males (stags) weigh between 90 to 190kg and stand at around 1.07 to 1.37m tall at the shoulder. Red deer are a distinctive rusty red colour in summer turning to a brown winter coat. The rut usually occurs from the end of September to November. Stags rcompete for hinds by engaging in elaborate displays of dominance including roaring, parallel walks, and fighting. Fights are always the last resort! Reaching speeds of 30mph a large stag can cause a lot of damage. In fact, if a person gets in the way and is hit, it’s the same as being struck by a motorcycle at that speed. Both The Royal Parks and The British Deer Society have important information about watching and photographing deer safely, especially during the rut. In the Deer Society’s Code of Conduct there are 3 points that I feel are key, not just when photographing deer, but for all wildlife. I’ve highlighted them here and include links to the websites for both organisations. 1 - Research your subject beforehand and avoid risking harm to capture an image 2 - Educate others by your actions; enhance their understanding 3 - Treat the wildlife, plants and places as if you were their guest https://www.royalparks.org.uk/deer-safety-advice https://bds.org.uk/photography/photographing-deer/code-of-conduct/
September 8, 2025 at 9:58 PM
sarahlonges.bsky.social
Tricky if you don’t quite know what you’re looking for!! I’ve encircled it 🤭
September 3, 2025 at 11:33 AM
sarahlonges.bsky.social
The One That Got Away #ShareMondays2025

Look closely and you'll spot a lucky #grasshopper leaping away from the clutches of this beautiful #kestrel in #BushyPark last week. @theroyalparks.bsky.social @ldnwildlifetrust.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social #nature #wildlife #birding #fujifilm_uk
The image shows a kestrel swooping into long grasses, hunting for grasshoppers at Bushy Park in Teddington, London. The golden grasses are bending slightly to the left in a strong breeze. The kestrel is dropping in from the upper left side of the image. They often hunt into the wind to help them hover in the air for longer. The wings are pointing up in a V shape with the kestrel looking down at the ground past his outstretched talons that are poised to grasp the prey. Just behind the outstretched limb is a grasshopper with its' wings out as it propels itself away from the kestrel's clutches. The background is a blurred landscape of golden grasses in the lower two-thirds of the scene and the green hues of trees in the upper third. Here's the RSPB's description of a kestrel: Both males and females have pale undersides with black speckles. Males have a slate-grey head and uppertail with a single black band at the tip. Females are browner all over, with bars all along the uppertail Both males and females have dark ‘tear’ marks extending below each eye. Wing tips are more pointed than a Sparrowhawk’s. Longer tail than other falcons, with a black band at the end. Fanned out while hovering. The beak is yellow and black. Legs are yellow. They are between 32 and 35cm in length.
September 1, 2025 at 8:20 PM
sarahlonges.bsky.social
“By Golly Your Breath Stinks!” reshare for #fsprintmonday @fotospeed.bsky.social
(accidentally deleted 😱 original)

An encounter between two sibling #foxes that’s more than meets the eye! Read ALT for story and description 😊 @rbgkew.bsky.social @chrisgpackham.bsky.social #nature #wildlife
Two foxes are sitting with their bodies facing the camera but they’re facing one another other. The one on the left is a male fox, his eyes are closed, the one on the right is female, her mouth is open wide. They’re siblings who were born last year grew up in a tight knit family group together. But when the breeding season started in January this year, the dominant male fox forced the young male out of the family group and he made his home territory on the outer edge of his former home. Until a few weeks ago we didn’t know how much interaction there might still be between the lone male and his family. But we have discovered that his sister goes to visit him on the border of their territories. And we’ve watched her do it on a number of occasions now, at almost the exact time each day. Onlookers might not realise exactly what they’re seeing and hearing in the brief visits, but both foxes flatten their ears to their heads, lower their bodies into a submissive stance, wag their tails and screech at each other. It’s a friendly greeting! Sometimes they both lie on the ground near one another and vocalise gently, but the day on which I took the image, the female fox sat right next to her brother and screeched continuously for around five minutes. It drew a lot of attention from visitors to their home and my friend and I were able to explain that this was a friendly expression during a brief get together of two siblings. Fox vocalisation sounds alarming to us, but in fact it’s often affectionate and affirmation of a familial bond. I asked family and friends to provide some captions for the image as it does look like she’s just shouting at him 😂 My sister came up with my favourite and that’s the image title! “Hmmmm.....looks like a bit of rabbit stuck in your teeth....” “Open wide.” “What big teeth you have.” “It wasn't THAT funny!!” “Yes, dear” “I hear parsley gets rid of halitosis “ “Yes, your tonsils look fine but, by golly, your breath stinks!”
August 31, 2025 at 10:52 PM
sarahlonges.bsky.social
Undercover #fsprintmonday #FoxOfTheDay

We call this young #fox Hazel for the #colour of his #eyes. So here you have Hazel under Beech 🦊😉 @rbgkew.bsky.social @ldnwildlifetrust.bsky.social @fotospeed.bsky.social @chrisgpackham.bsky.social @the-wildlifetrusts.bsky.social #nature #wildlife #fujifilm
In the lower right corner of the image stands a young male fox. He's looking straight down the lens with open curiosity. His coat is a rich amber colour, amost blending in with the dead leaves on the ground that have gathered beneath the large canopy of the beech tree he's stood under. His eyes are a slightly lighter hazel tone, which has led to his moniker. The wide trunk of the beech is on the upper left side of the image, with many branches sweeping across to the right of the piece where they meet the ground. A few areas of dappled light at the base of the tree trunk have lit the dead leaves up in a bright amber that matches the fox. The leaves on the beech tree are still mostly a rich green, with just a few turning to yellow where the tree is showing a few signs of drought stress after the long dry summer and multiple heatwaves. The many veteran trees in this habitat have provided shelter and shade to the foxes and other wildlife inhabitants of this urban greenspace.
August 31, 2025 at 10:37 PM
sarahlonges.bsky.social
This Is NOT Autumn #ShareMondays2025

Plants are under #drought #stress in many parts of the #UK. This #comma #butterfly blends in with the stricken leaves on a shrub in #BushyPark. But it's not yet #Autumn 😞 @theroyalparks.bsky.social @ldnwildlifetrust.bsky.social #nature #wildlife #fujifilm_uk
In the lower left of the image are the dead stems and leaves of a shrub in The Woodland Gardens of Bushy Park in London. These leaves are a rusty orange colour, with some of them curled and twisted from the heat and drought of our Summer. On one of these curled leaves perches a Comma Butterfly with it's orange and brown speckled wings open, basking in the sunshine as it blends into it's surroundings. Not all of the plant is withered and brown. In the blurred background you can see a patchwork of yellows, greens and oranges. The plant is suffering from drought stress. To cope with the heat and lack of water, it's dropping some of it's branches and leaves. Many of our trees and shrubs are doing this after the dry Spring and Summer with repeated heatwaves. Some look like they're dying, others appear as if Autumn has come early. But it hasn't. This is the result of climate change and extreme weather conditions. And it's having a knock on effect on the wildlife in the park. Here's a description of a Comma Butterfly courtesy of the Wildlife Trust's and Butterfly Conservation's websites: The comma is a medium-sized orange-and-brown butterfly. The scalloped edges and cryptic colouring of the wings conceal hibernating adults amongst dead leaves. It gets its name from the comma-shaped white spots on the underneath of its wings. It is on the wing throughout the year, having several broods and overwintering as an adult. It is a common and widespread butterfly of woodland edges, particularly during the spring and autumn. The caterpillars feed on common nettles, elms and willows. They have brown and white flecks that make them look like bird-droppings and help to camouflage them.
August 25, 2025 at 8:46 PM
sarahlonges.bsky.social
Wait Your Turn! #ShareMondays2025

A sight that made me laugh this week 🤭 The 2 tufted ducklings on mum's back didn't want to give up their spaces 😂 #BushyPark #birding #nature #wildlife @theroyalparks.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social @ldnwildlifetrust.bsky.social #fujifilm_uk #TuftedDuck #ducklings
A female tufted duck is swimming across a shallow area of a blue-toned pond with pale green duckweed floating on the surface. She's a rich orange-brown colour with a slate-grey bill and yellow eyes. Bobbing along in front of and beside her are three fluffy brown ducklings. Two more fuffy brown ducklings with pale coloured chests face their siblings while standing on their mum's back with expressions that almost seem to say, "Wait your turn!". The sight made me chuckle as I have only ever seen grebe chicks or cygnets riding on a parent's back across the water and it did look like the three ducklings on the water were waiting in a queue! Perhaps she's running Duck Boat Tours of Bushy Park. Here's the RSPB's description of a tufted duck: The Tufted Duck is a medium-sized diving duck, smaller than a Mallard. It's black on the head, neck, chest and back, and white on the sides. It has a small crest and a yellow eye. In flight it shows an obvious white stripe across the back of the wing. It breeds in the UK across lowland areas of England, Scotland and Ireland, but less commonly in Wales, with most birds being year-round residents. Numbers increase in the UK in winter because of birds moving to the UK from Iceland and northern Europe.
August 18, 2025 at 10:51 PM
sarahlonges.bsky.social
Time for this week’s #ShareMondays2025 #Top4! Thanks to everyone that entered 👏🏻
@theworldofmattp.bsky.social
@mysillyphotos.bsky.social
@geoff-franklin.bsky.social
@helenecookphoto.bsky.social
See ALT text for original descriptions and my thoughts on each piece 😊
Well done to you all 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Matt: Black and white, intentional camera movement (ICM) image of power pylon. The pylon repeats several times. From me: The rigid structure of an electrical pylon is used creatively with ICM in a piece that appears almost as if a stamp shape of the pylon has been used repeatedly at slightly different angles, rising up through the centre of the square image. The surrounding area has sweeping and swirling shapes of the surrounding countryside and sky that create a smoky atmosphere that softens the harder lines of the pylon. The resulting piece has the appearance of a vintage black and white photograph that is soft and industrial at the same time. Very clever movement of the camera to achieve this effect! The resulting image also makes me think of a helter skelter 😊 My Silly Photos: A barn swallow hunting insects over a small lake. If you ever tried photographing birds in flight, you'll know how difficult it is, even with slower ones. But swallows are *fast*. This one was part of a group of about a dozen birds... From me: I know just how difficult it is to photograph swallows, swifts or martins in flight, and getting the bird set against a backdrop of green foliage from trees on the banks, probably willow from looking at the yellow-green colour and how it meets the water’s edge, is excellent. The swallow looks like a juvenile as its plumage is more of a brown colour than the blue-black of an adult and it doesn’t have the distinctive “tail streamers”. It’s banking low above the water with wings outstretched and back towards the camera. From the RSPB: Swallows are small birds with dark, glossy-blue backs, red throats, pale underparts and long tail streamers. They are extremely agile in flight and spend most of their time in the air. They are widespread breeding birds in the Northern Hemisphere, migrating south in winter. Swallow numbers in the UK have fluctuated over the last 30 years with strong regional variation in trends. Geoff: Multi-exposure icm woodland abstract. From me: An abstract image in blues and oranges created from a woodland scene. There’s almost a repeating pattern throughout the scene where trunks of trees are either lovely dark verticals cutting into the scene, or bold orange verticals that pop against the blue tones of foliage and the off-white of sky beyond the trees that appear almost cloud shaped and soft circular shapes that are linked together by the vertical lines of the tree trunks. This image is created by intentional camera movement (ICM) in sweeping movements following the vertical lines of the trees, and the technique is repeated in a multiple exposure that overlays each exposure in one output image. The image has the feel of an inks and watercolour design that would look stunning on fabric. I’d happily wear it 😊 Hélène: A mountain landscape of the Dolomites on a summer day with a brown cow resting on green grass with tiny flowers on the right in the foreground, a rocky path zigzaging up to a wooden refuge on the left, sharp rocky mountains with reddish tones above the refuge and a cloudy sky starting to clear up with patches of blue sky appearing above the peaks. From me: Excellent Alt text description! I was drawn to this image by the composition with those wonderful zigzagging leading lines taking the eye all the way from the cow in the right bottom corner, up to the refuge which is a brown log cabin sitting almost centrally to the image and on a diagonal from top left to lower right of the green hillside and trees that is contrasted by the almost barren rocky peaks of the Dolomites above. The clouds in the top right soften the sharp jagged rocks and frames the edge well.
August 12, 2025 at 8:01 PM
sarahlonges.bsky.social
Jumping For Joy #FoxOfTheDay

I'm as excited as Star the #foxcub to be judging the wonderful #ShareMondays2025 images this week 😊 As always, I'll be led by my heart! Good luck everyone 🍀 @rbgkew.bsky.social @ldnwildlifetrust.bsky.social @chrisgpackham.bsky.social #nature #wildlife
A young fox cub is jumping up from the green grass with his front paws raised up and his head thrown up in the air as he has just tossed a stick upwards and is waiting to catch it on it's way down again. This cub has a mottled rusty-orange and grey coat, with a grey chest and a white star shape in the centre. The two cubs get more playful every week. Their play is all practice for hunting of course. I think these two are going to be very successful and play an important role in their environment!
August 11, 2025 at 7:35 PM