Element of surprise adds excitement to wildlife photography
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THE unexpected, along with the mysterious, always add excitement to photographing wildlife.
I experienced both these in a very brief period last weekend, but first it might be worthwhile looking at the background to wildlife photography – or at least the way I go about it.
The driving force behind this enjoyable pastime is the need to illustrate the various articles I write.
This means I need at least 10 photographs a month, so I always have to have the camera and accessories to hand.
A lot depends on the weather of course, which is outside my control.
It’s possible to photograph wildlife almost anywhere, from the middle of a city to the hills and from domestic gardens to the coast.
Using hides helps to prevent disturbance to the creatures being watched. In this case, purpose-built hides such those at Loch Ruthven, Loch Fleet or even Loch Garten spring to mind.
But houses serve the same purpose. Looking at blue tits feeding on peanuts hanging from a bird table from the window means the house is effectively being used as a hide. Another hide is the car we drive around in.
One principle to be followed always is that the wildlife comes first and the photograph, however good, comes second.
All too often people overstep the mark just to get an image, and this is unacceptable.
So let’s return to what happened last weekend. As usual I loaded all the gear into the car and it is worthwhile mentioning just what this involves.
The way the equipment is placed in the car means that if I stop it’s ready to hand to photograph whatever may be outside.
The camera is held firmly by one of the back seat safety belts but is within reach so I can lean over and take it out in seconds.
The speed is set at 800 ISO which should cope with most things. This can be hand held as the camera/lens has a built in stabiliser. Other lenses include a special close up lens, while a 1.4 converter is in one camera bag behind the back seat and again easy to get at quickly.
One other piece of invaluable equipment is a short length of pipe lagging – firm foam, two inches diameter. It is slit along one side and slips over the open car window as a comfortable rest for the camera and lens.
So all loaded up we set off and drove around 100 miles, but not a single photograph was taken.
Then the unexpected. In sunshine, 200 yards from the house, were two red deer hinds.
Instant action with the camera and the surprise was that in 27 years of living in the house we had never seen red deer that close before.
Inspection of the pictures on the computer revealed something odd. One was a hybrid red/sika hind, as the head did not look right.
A hundred miles and then success – which is what wildlife is all about!
RECORD OF THE WEEK
Red letter day for flowers
This has to go down to one of the latest issues of postage stamps from Royal Mail, as they feature some interesting wild flowers.
Royal Mail print a very wide range of designs on postage stamps and many of these are of wildlife.
In my lounge there is a large framed picture containing sets of the best wildlife stamps.
These include sets with the chequered skipper butterfly, emperor dragonfly and barn owl amongst many others.
In the past I collected Iceland stamps and the more obscure private issues for the Summer Isles off the west coast as they were some of the best.
However, Royal Mail has caught up with the standards other people set, largely because of the authors they brought in to illustrate the stamps.
The latest set I have in front of me is entitled British Flora II – Symbolic Flowers. The illustrations are by Julie Trickey with the design by Kate Stephens and they are up to a very high standard.
The stamps are on a date envelope, a first day cover, and the information about each of the illustrations is on a separate card inside.
I am not quite sure why these particular six subjects have been chosen as "symbolic" but they are forget-me-not, dog rose, heather, common poppy, spear thistle and cultivated flax.
Why not go online and look at them?
