This morning's wander (8 pics)

Hello all. We had a small window of reasonable(ish) weather here this morning so I headed out for a bit of walk. Here are a handful of shots. All taken with the K-7 and the DA* 200 (which is my current favourite lens by a margin), except the first, which was with the 50-135.

First up, there was a decent layer of mist and this is the view from Richmond Hill out towards Ham (you can see Ham House, a splendid Tudor place) on the river bend (left of pic):




The rut is on in Richmond Park, more or less, so the deer are a little flighty. Here is a stag against the morning sun:




and here's a Deer finishing off her Breakfast:




Autumn is now upon us and the leaves are dropping, among other things:




A Stag relaxes in the grass:




whilst another somewhat more hormonally charged chases off a rival:




Lots of spider webs covered in dew but I didn't get any as good as Kris's from his earlier post I don't think; although I did get this relaxing spider:




Finally, I can never go round the park without dropping in on the ducks, and here's a friendly Mallard, also looking very autumnal:




Hope you like them. There are more on flickr if anyone is interested. Any C&C welcomed as ever.

Regards

Mat - wonderful series. You obviously manage to get to Richmond a lot earlier than me. By the time I get dog and kids in the car and across south London, these kind of views are long gone sadly.....

Fantastic collection

The early bird.

A good set of images, well worth the effort. No. 2 for me.

Great stuff.

Regards

That's a seriously good set of pictures Mat.

2 and 7 for me although 3 would have nudged it had you got the feet in as well.

Superb autumn colours. The 200mm does look very good.

The two stags and the spider web are my pick of a whole series that is really good Mat. Bewdy!

Thanks for the kind comments everyone. I think being an early bird is seriously helpful! I rather like being in Richmond Park and (almost) getting the feeling I am the only one there...(still see lots of dog walkers and cyclists) I head up there to do a lap or two on my own bike, with my camera on my back... the only drawback in Winter is that i tend to get there before it's light! at this time of year though there can be some magical light and views early on with low sun and early mist.

The Deer are free to roam in the park but I think by now they are pretty used to people. They're not exactly tame, and scarper if people get too close, but mostly they are pretty tolerant. I got about as close as I dared for the feeding deer, but the stags at the moment are a bit scarier. The dominant males are pumped up and chasing off all the other males who might try to purloin their harem, so it's best not to get too close to them as they are big, fast and have giant antlers The place also stinks of deer pheremone!

The 200mm lens is really fantastic. The more I use it the more impressed I am. I know Pentax have made some awesome 200mm lenses in the past and the DA*200 must share some of their DNA. I have been using it a lot where I might normally have used the 300mm because it gives a slightly wider view, which can be helpful, and if I crop down to the 300mm field of view, the image is still good quality because the lens is so sharp.

Finally, I know what you mean, Mike, about the deer's feet in number 3. Either I or the deer must have shifted a bit when I was taking the pics. Here's one with her all in...




Thanks again everyone

Regards

From the look of it you shifted upwards when she did .. natural reaction I suspect. This one is nice but the other would have been excellent.

Must try my DA* 200mm more but I must admit I like taking the Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 for the convenience

Excellent series and a superb spider's web.

K.

Looks like a good morning was had.

I thought that I particularly liked numbers 1, 5 and 8 but the more I look at them the more I like all of them

I just showed the girlfriend these pics and told her what lens was used, she was seriously impressed until we got to the price bit

Unfortunately she does not seem to be willing to buy me one for Christmas

It gets worse, when I suggested that I buy myself one she wanted a present of nearly the same value - looks like I will stick with my current leses to avoid heading towards emptywalletness.

Thanks again everyone. Mike, I reckon you are right that I probably followed the deer upwards and chopped the feet off (oops). Stuey, you are right the DA* 200 is pricier than some, indeed quite a significant purchase, but I haven't regretted saving up and splashing out on it. That said I tend to keep quiet about prices with my good lady just in case...

Regards