while(Alive()) { Learn(); Create(); }: Hamerton Zoo Park in the rain

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Hamerton Zoo Park in the rain

Rain is annoying. I'd woken up to a grey sky with few clouds, but after I'd washed up, the sky was fully overcast. Stepping outside, I was hit by a shower. Not good. Perhaps I'd get some Cleland magic, and get the weather to clear up? :)

Half way on the train, the sky did indeed clear up :) Woo! Upon arrival at the Huntingdon train station, the sky was blue, and the cab driver said I was pretty lucky to get the skies clear :)

Waiting for the rain

This time round, I didn't do the "tour the zoo first before shooting" - well I did kinda, but I quickly had my kit out before the first few corners. One thing about this place is the size - it's pretty big. Not london zoo big, but many of the enclosures themselves are pretty big by my standards. For most of the day, the 300/4 AF-S and 1.4x teleconverter were welded to my D300.

I want hugs! (Boa Constrictor)

Just about an hour into the shoot, the skies turned grey again and the rain started to pelt. GAH! It only let up for a few minutes at a time, else it was a constant pitter patter. This time round, I was wiser and had the rain sleeve on for the day.

Mongoose

The number of species there is frankly quite surprising. Either that or I'm just not visiting enough zoos. There were two species of wallaby on hand (Parma and Bennett's), casowarries and I am pretty sure, a pair of cape barren geese. Oz, anyone? :) All they need are dingoes and I'll be there every fortnight or so. Other interesting furballs include porcupine, cheetahs (!!!), corsac foxes (reason I was there), wattled cranes, griffon vultures and loads of monkies.

Favourite shot of the day! Yet another fox in wind!

I was told there were 8 (!!!) Corsac foxes about. I spent at least 2 hours waiting at their enclosure (in the rain) and saw at most, maybe 3. And out of the two hours I only saw them for at most 5 minutes. Probably due to the rain, they all were hanging around inside their wooden houses. Due to their distance, even my longest combo wasn't long enough for me :( Oh well.

I like wet.

Cheetahs were just side by side with the foxes, so I would pop over occasionally to see what the fuzballs were doing. I think they had shelter, but didn't want to use it, preferring to relish in the wet. The cheetah enclosure is pretty big, and the zoo seems to be setting up several such enclosures for a breeding program.