The last roar of the rut

I woke up at 4am and could not get back to sleep. Last night I was messaging a photography friend - two friends, actually - requesting advice about what lenses would be best for my trip to SA when we have a few nights on safari. So when I went to bed I was still thinking of lenses and what to pack in my camera bag so I had a very restless night's sleep with my mind racing.

Eventually at 6am I decided I might as well go to Bushy Park to see the stags as it would be my last chance for this season's rut. I also wanted to try out my lenses and decide which would be best to take on my trip. The rut is just about over - the stags were half heartedly giving a tiny bellow every now and then and did not seem to have the energy they had a few weeks ago. In fact I thought they looked thin and exhausted.

It was very busy this morning, even long before sunrise there were many photographers in the park, dog walkers, even a man walking his parrot....as you do! I took a few photos of the stags and then I watched the birds. I practiced photographing the sea gulls diving in the water and got some rather good shots, one even with a fish in it's mouth. I liked the cormorant sunning itself on the stump in the water - see extra.

When I got home I had breakfast and then we took Xena for a long walk. Then after lunch Gavin and I went to play 6 holes of golf again. Its probably the last time we will play there this season as it is getting very muddy - it's not like a private golf course that has proper drainage, so the fairways can get a bit muddy.  Gavin would prefer to play at his golf course although I am not so keen as it's a course with a very high standard of players. I enjoyed my golf, although I had more practice in one bunker than I needed (!) and there may have been a teeny bit of swearing when my ball stopped an inch short of being putted in the hole when I was scoring well on that hole. But it was very good practice.