A feral mink on the beach

A feral mink on the beach:

 

This fellow was rather curious when he/she saw the photographer.

A late 19th century photo of a Sicilian boy and his donkey

Until the middle of the 20th century donkeys - transporting heavy loads, powering millstones and dragging plows - were a common sight in the Sicilian countryside. During the heyday of sulphur mining in the 19th century the island was crossed by long lines of donkeys carrying the "yellow gold of Sicily".

Donkeys have of course also been - and still are - used for transporting people. The boy in this late 19th century picture earned his living by taking visitors on donkey rides:

The Rabbit and the Magpie

Today, when I tried to photograph a rabbit resting under a small tree, a magpie landed

in front of the rabbit. The magpie soon noticed the rabbit:

  

At this stage the magpie had not yet noticed the rabbit.

 

A moment later the rabbit aroused the bird's curiosity.



The magpie was did not seem to bother the least when the curious magpie closed in on it.



Here the two are gazing at each other at very close distance.

At one stage the magpie almost touched the rabbit, which stayed put.



It looked almost as if the magpie wanted to communicate something to the rabbit.
He did not appear aggressive, although I am aware of magpies attacking rabbits.

Then the magpie saw a crow approach, and decided to leave.

The crow landed and started walking, without showing any interest in the rabbit, which
continued its afternoon rest.

PS
After the magpie "incident" I had a chance to continue my original plan.
Below is a selection of the rabbit pictures I shot this afternoon:

 

 

 

 

 

Sheep personalities

Last night I was counting sheep. Maybe that's way I decided to "count" some real sheep this afternoon, too.

 

I spent a couple of the afternoon hours in the company of these wonderful animals, gracing in the immediate vicinity of the Sofiero palace. I left the sheep with the impression that at least some of them are real "personalities" ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the obvious music to this theme:

A portrait of a sheep

This afternoon I met this nice sheep close to the Sofiero castle park:

A herring gull flying over Øresund

This herring gull was flying high over Øresund a couple of days ago.

I am not very good at photographing birds, but I am trying to learn ....

Horses braving the cold weather at Kulla Gunnarstorp

Today I walked to the neighboring Kulla Gunnarstorp castle gardens in order to watch the riding horses. The horses did not seem to mind the icy wind too much, but still they looked quite happy when it was time to return to the stable for the night.

"5 métres 80" - a great animated short film by Nicolas Deveaux

Last night, the French-German television channel ARTE showed the short film "5 métres 80" by the young French writer and director of animation films Nicolas Deveaux. The film, showing a group of giraffes performing trapeze jumps at a large swimming pool, was at least for me one of the highlights of this television season. Deveax, who in this film combines his love for animals and animation in a seemingly absurd way, creates a world which is both hilarious, affectionate and moving. 

Below are a few images from the "5 métres 80", in order to give you an idea of what the film is all about:

You can watch "5 métres 80" here.

I found this brief introduction on the Premiere Heure website:
As a writer and director of animation films (3D and relief), Nicolas Deveaux has a very personal world around two passions : image and the animal world.

In 2003, fresh out of his degree in computer graphics, he directed 7Tonnes2, a short-film showing a realistic elephant trampoline champion. Its critical acclaim (Annecy Festival) gave him the opportunity to work on mny projects from documentaries (« Sea Rex » : Imax relief, « Le Paresseux Géant » : TV doc) to commercials (Kinder, Okay Lotus, Lipton, SuperCroix...) and even amusement park films (« Cité de la Mer » in Biarritz, « EANA » in Normandy).

Already confirmed in a strong realistic style, he develops a graphic  and poetic writing inspired by lithographic engravings and prints.

Here you can watch Deveaux's 2003 production "7Tonnes2", which has been quite a success also on the web:

Portraits of two Swedish horses

This afternoon these two nice horses posed for me at the local stable:

Millan (left) and Jim

And here are four individual portraits of the two friends: