Zoo Trip #43: Marwell Wildlife (Monday 9 February)

This is my first visit back to Marwell Wildlife since I became a member last August. I was particularly keen to see the Amur leopard cub, Kanika, born last June, as she had chosen to stay in her den on the previous visit, and so I made it my priority. She was sunbathing on her viewing platform when I arrived and I soon had lots of shots, all quite similar but I couldn't stop taking them. I knew some would fail as I was shooting handheld at 620 mm equivalent, using the 1.4 times extender on my 55-300 mm zoom.

I had only got half way round the zoo when a keeper reminded me they would be closing in twenty minutes so as I hurried towards the exit I only had a few minutes to see the snow leopards, but I saw one of the cubs and both parents. During my three hour visit I'd also spent time with the giraffes and the Amur tigers, who got the lions' share of my time, as it were. I broke my journey back to sample the caffeinated delights of the Andover Waitrose.

I'd chosen this date to visit as it would mark my 1,500th entry since joining Blipfoto (I don't count the 250 backdated blips that I uploaded on the understanding that they were "archived" entries, some dating back to the 1960's, long before Blipfoto existed, even though Blip itself has lost its way to the extent that it has now added all these to bloat our totals, while ignoring our true anniversaries).

L.
18.2.2015 (1733 hr)

Blip #1500 (#1750 including archived blips)
Consecutive Blip #062
Day #1783
LOTD #735 (#855 including archived blips)

Marwell Wildlife, 9 February 2015 (Flickr album)

Marwell Wildlife series
Leopard series
Zoo Trip series

Lenses: Pentax 17-70 mm, Pentax 55-300 mm x1.4 rear converter (Blip)

Lozarhythm Of The Day:
Samantha Crain - Kid Face (2013)

One Year Ago: Smokey 1435 hr