The brown rat (rattus norvegicus), scarcely reckons high on any scale of cuteness, but these remarkably resiliant creatures are fascinating to watch when they are in their natural habitat.

These sequences were taken over several days at Falmer Pond in East Sussex. They feature an adult and younger rats. The first few shots show the rats swimming, in what appeared to be either playful or learning mode. They were simply circling around and then going back to the bank. The other sequences show the rats scurrying around picking fallen seeds (or in a few shots, bird seed left for water fowl by visitors to the pond)

All shots were taken hand-held with a Canon EOS 7D and EF 400mm f/5.6L USM lens.