🐿 Close Encounters🦆

I had some close encounters with nature the other day while walking around taking photos. I know that some London wild life, especially in the parks, are so used to humans now that you can get really close to them. Squirrels and geese are particularly familiar with us now, especially because people feed them when they shouldn't.

These animals are protected in the UK but are food in some other parts of the world. Geese and squirrels are, in fact, delicacies in some parts. I've never eaten either, that I know of, but I have had duck and rabbit, so that's pretty close. In those parts of the world, the animals do know that their lives are in danger around human beings, so they are appropriately fearful of us. Here in the UK, their lives are also in danger, if not directly of being eaten by us, but being poisoned by unnatural foods fed to them.

I was using a pretty wide lens, 20mm focal length, for these photos so that gives you a an idea of how close I was able to get to these animals without them running away. The goose stood absolutely still on one leg, apart from occasionally pecking at herself, while I took the photo. I was also using manual focus, so it took longer than just pressing a button. The squirrel was a little more mobile, dashing back and forth but was still stable enough for me to grab a few shots using manual focus.

Peace & Love,

Adé