Fine Art Animal Photography
Skipper.
She is a little pocket rocket hen who loves life! She was found wandering around the streets of St Albans last year and taken in to my vet surgery. When her home couldn’t be found. I very happily went to pick her up. She now lives in the country, surrounded by mountains and space at Lefty’s Place. She’s as cheeky as she looks, but she’s a loner. She has no real friends, but tolerates others.
Bed and Broccoli is a bed and breakfast, but it is also a wildlife shelter set on a majestic 60 acres of Australian bushland with it’s own thriving mob of kangaroos living free within it. Nikki and Scott Medwell took in two orphaned joeys early in 2016 and I have had the joy of documenting them grow up along the way. It’s been a pleasure watching them and learning about kangaroos in the process. My favourite part though has been watching the bond between Nikki and the two little kangaroos who she has brought up with such love and determination.
They are such gentle creatures who just want to live in peace with their beloved families.
_________________________________________________________________
*On the 25th of March, 2017, Prudence left this world for the next. This is my tribute to her:
Yesterday she left this world, younger than she should have left, but she left surrounded by so much love…so much love.
She was always wary of anyone new and would shake in their presence until Nikki was there to comfort her and tell her it was ok (which she always did, every single time). Her bond with Nikki was unbreakable. Nikki was her comfort and safety.
When you take an animal in to your heart and look after them and look out for them with all of your soul, losing them is always in the back of your mind, just sitting there quietly right at the back of it niggling away, but you often push it aside, it’s not something you ever know how to deal with. For my beautiful and dear friends at Bed and Broccoli, this is a heartbreak that is real and deep and painful and all the love i have I send to them and that little man, Boo, who will always miss his sister, but he will also learn to be a mighty kangaroo with her spirit in his heart.
___________________________________________________________________
Please enjoy the slideshow below of these two beautiful joeys.
Red Robin was rescued from the abattoir in October, 2016. She was completely emaciated, featherless and terrified. She and her thousands of shed mates had been crammed in to the transport crates so tightly that there were dead hens everywhere.
She came to Lefty’s with two of her featherless friends from the same crate, Thumbelina and Cruskit.
The three of them huddled in a corner of the coop for a week until Red Robin found her wings and fly up to the perches. She then stayed up there for another week whilst she figured out her new home.
These days Red is a confident, fully feathered hen who is not afraid to go anywhere. She has turned in to one fierce little lady who knows what and who she likes. Her nickname is “Tony Danza” derived from “Tiny Dancer”. She is not afraid to walk up to even the largest of hens and chest bump them. She now has the world at her feet with her freedom in her hands and she is happy being able to do everything chickens dream to do when they are stuck in egg farms.
These three lovely Muscoy ducks were rescued from a disgusting backyard breeder in October, 2016. These three girls were so bonded from the start that none could be left behind. All three are the best of friends. They chat together all day long. Miss Patty is a chronic brooder and Babette is completely in love with Templeton. Mrs Kim prefers her independence and would rather Templeton leave her alone thanks very much.
They enjoy their days splashing around at Lefty’s Place and they take such comfort and safety in the friendship and love they feel for each other.
Rescued from the crates full of hens awaiting slaughter the next morning, Cruskit was pulled out of her crate emaciated and completely featherless. Her tiny little body quivered in fear and cold as she sat in the car waiting for her next chapter in life. She was so tiny. Such a small, little featherless life devoid of joy and full of terror.
Cruskit made her way to Lefty’s Place with two other tiny, featherless hens who looked not unlike chicken aliens. All three were suffering shock from their lives in that cage egg farm and shock from the events that saw them jammed in to crates waiting for their death at the abattoir.
The three of them spent their first few weeks hiding together in the coop. Then one day, Cruskit was very brave and *ventured out the front door and in to a whole new chicken world. Her timid friend, Thumbelina, joined her and they explored the chicken yards together. Cruskit and Thumbelina became the best of friends, they went everywhere together. They found strength in each other and found out how to be chickens with each other.
These days Cruskit and Thumbelina are still best friends, but they are confident best friends. They are no happy and comfortable with who they are and where they are in life. Cruskit is a very headstrong hen and will bite me if I ever need to medicate her or check her over. She doesn’t bite lightly either, she really tries to take my finger off!
