It has been a very long time since I puposefully set out to photograph rabbits, but as mentioned in my previous post, working on our more common species has several advantages, not least their numbers. And, on the marshes of north Kent, there are certainly enough rabbits to choose from! Rabbits are not the hardest animals to get pictures of, unlike their cousin's, hares, which, if disturbed, have a rather annoying tendency to run away a considerable distance. With rabbits, you can either work from your car photographing them on the roadside or, like me, lay flat on the ground, 8-10 metres away from their burrows, with the wind blowing in your face and wait. Expect to work like this for at least an hour, since it often takes 30-45 minutes for the surrounding wildlife to settle down before making an appearance. I increased my chances further by donning head to toe camo including a face net. They knew there was something there but with your human form sufficiently disguised, they carried on with their business.
After 30 minutes, a pair of shelduck, well known in these parts for their shyness, flew and settled 20 metres away and gave me enough time to align the lens and get a few images.
Shortly afterwards, the rabbits appeared and for the next hour I obtained a number of behavioural pictures.
I plan to return on a semi-regular basis over the coming weeks with a number of images in my mind I'd really like to pull off. Whether I do or not is an entirely different matter!
