A trip to Monkey Forrest

[James G]

I've known about Monkey Forrest for a good while, but never had the opportunity to visit. It's a wildlife park about 30 miles from home, set up some 20 years ago, to preserve & breed Barbary Macaques. Like a lot of species they are now under threat in the wild. It is not a large or 'extravagant place, but there are 140+ monkeys that are free to roam unfettered.

#1 Grooming....


#2 Grooming done and best of friends


#3 It's just an apple!


#4 Twins.... Usually Macaques have one baby, twins are rare, and it is even rarer for both to survive. These two are thriving!


#5 King of the Castle


#6 And lord of all he surveys...


#7 Female Macaque


#8 Yearling



C&C welcome

[IzzieK]

OK...you asked for it...

I cannot critique much on how you processed all these because I was looking at their faces more than anything else...they are all well exposed to my eyes. I like #5 and #6 for the humour you injected with your shots here. Makes me laugh...my kind of shots.

The yearling is a cute little one...almost like a teenager look. No 4 is beautifully done with the rare twins but the log behind the mommy's head is most distracting...

[Shadowman]

Nice series, the first two have a few hot spots in the white fur.

[Brownbear]

Thanks for sharing. What a special place, and a treat to view your images. My favourite is the 1st image for the moment and perfect capture, and #8. I also love #4 but do find the branch a little distracting/wee bit of clipping in the highlights but still extraordinarily special.

[James G]

All, I'm pleased you found them interesting.. Thanks

the log behind the mommy's head is most distracting...

Izzie, Christina, I take your point about the branch behind the female's head. It is distracting, but, although these animals are technically 'captive' they are free to roam but I as the 'visitor' was not, which made for a very limited angle on the shot.
The macaques were very aware of us, and I was surprised that this female chose to let us see the babies, they usually hide them.
I suppose this is where some ferocious debates can develop about 'presentation' of the iamge , but I personally dislike making 'serious alterations' to an image. I would usually try background blurring rather than cloning out, to reduce the impact of the branch. However in this instance I decided to leave it as shot. (I'm not convinced I could have done a good enough job of it anyway )

the first two have a few hot spots in the white fur.

John, I've checked back on my master image... there are a couple of hot spots. I managed to 'introduce' them in pp when I moved them from ACR.. my bad!

[Mike Buckley]

The magic for me of this series is that you had various types of light and you used each type to your advantage. Well done!

Is the apple picked from a tree or the ground in the natural habitat or is it provided by the park employees?

[James G]

Thanks Mike,
The monkeys forage around across the sanctuary, they are quite adept at finding roots shoots insects and UK fruits and berries in season. but their diet is supplemented. (In the wild they forage over a much larger area than the sanctuary.

The apple is part of a daily scattering through the grounds. They have to 'work' at it finding all the goodies. This one was literally checking that a more senior adult had not clocked he'd found the apple

#9 Old Man dozing


You might just like the image above... its the oldest male, 29 yrs of age, about 100 in our years. He was dozing and ignoring everything around him, till he saw a younger male with something to eat... If I move that fast when I'm his age....

[IzzieK]

The last is a very calm image...I like it...

[mknittle]

Looks loke some of my ex coworkers.

Nice shots James.

[Rebel]

Awesome shots James, is this the one in Stafford area?

I was going to call in one that sounds like this when I was staying in Stoke a few months back.

[bnnrcn]

Very nice series

[Barbara Ponder]

A great series and I really enjoyed them all! Thanks for sharing.

[dje]

You've got some great expressions on their faces James, nice work. The shot of the mother and twins is quite special. Great light in these shots too.

Dave

[James G]

Hi Matt, yes it's just off the A34 (Trentham Estate)

[Dave Humphries]

Hi James,

Have you also been in to Trentham Gardens itself?

There is a Heron rookery on one of the islands in the lake and you can get closer shots from the boat trip (small extra charges apply). Also, with so many Heron about, there are opportunities for HIF shots if you keep your eyes open or have someone else on 'watch duty'.

In spring (March, April, May), there are plenty of nesting birds about too, everything from tits to woodpeckers, especially in the woods - I'd recommend you walk the entire path around the lake slowly early in morning to get best before the great british public with their noisy kids scare 'em all in to hiding.

I haven't been this year (yet), but when I do go, I usually take the boat 2 or 3 times in a day - when it is quiet (first tripof day or on overcast days), the crew are interesting to chat to.

I have some shots from Monkey Forest (I never processed) from a couple of years ago.

Good series; I can't decide on 'the best' - but the cutest would be #8 - or perhaps #4.

Cheers, Dave

[James G]

Hi Dave, I have been to Trentham gardens a good few years back before I retired. Unfortunately it was not a photoshoot day.

Since then I've not really considered going back because of how busy it was.

Janet, my wife has a thing about heron's, despite me pointing out they are not that good to eat

She's already seen your post and is asking why haven't we been. Seriously though, thanks for the heads up. I've also been trying to improve my insect/macro captures this spring,so Trentham would be an interesting location to check out....
Insects and Birds on the same shoot....should keep me busy!