Going to have a go at British wildlife

JohnN

JohnN

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Hi,

I thought I'd try my hand at wildlife just for fun (real stuff, not in in parks etc), so there are a few things I'm wondering about.

  • Where would you look?
  • What would you expect to find?
  • How would you deal with working in woods, where its always dark?
  • How do you keep your kit dry - none of my stuff is weather sealed :(

I read somewhere that you don't have to go for miles, just check hedgerows etc for fur and so forth, is that right or would I just end up trudging round field edges for the rest of my life?

Kit wise I'm planning on getting some bits and bobs:
  • Jack Pyke trousers and jacket - I know not the best there is but its the best I can afford - (now ordered/received) - went for plain green as I'm a wuss and wouldn't have set foot outside the house in camo!
  • Come sniper tape for the monopod/tripod - (now ordered/received)
  • A beanbag perhaps?? Recomenadtion on that would be great, but I'd also heard a frying pan is great for sliding along the floor - (now ordered/received)
  • A Wildlife Watching Supplied lens cover for the 400mm f5.6 - (now ordered/received)

Anyway I'm looking for some advice and tips, especially if any of you know some good sites or youtube vids.

Cheers
 
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No help to offer :(

I've gone ahead and ordered some of the bits, hope I got it right.
 
Hi John. My camera club recently had a competition on the theme of 'British wildlife' and I had sweet nothing on the topic, so decided to explore that genre. So far, very little. I'm sort of convinced there is a dearth of wildlife where I live. If there were any birds, they've emigrated. If you're going into this in a serious way, I guess you need to get properly kitted out. I'm a complete newbie to this sort of photography, so will be just playing at it I suppose. I bought some lightweight waterproof trs/jkt for my footie matches, and have an aquatech raincover and a camo one and a small tripod, so I guess I've got the basics.

I suppose now is a good time to crawl about looking for fungi. I'd try nature reserves. A couple of years ago I went someplace, found a super red toadstool, was lying on some plastic on the wet grass trying to take some pics. A passing couple stopped. The lady asked 'Is that a real toadstool'. I said 'I think so, its got a little door and windows'. The man laughed.
 
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Hi John

I will attempt to answer some of your questions

Where would you look? - nature reserves are a good start

What would you expect to find? - depends on the habitat, there is normally a species list for the reserve

How would you deal with working in woods, where its always dark? - flash and/or tripod, forget fast moving critters like birds and mammals

How do you keep your kit dry - none of my stuff is weather sealed - don't go out in the rain its normally too dark to photograph anyway

Other tips.

Flowers and toadstools are a good starting point, along with larger mammals like fox and deer. Then it gets tricky, birds and insects are a challenge (both tend to fly off before you are close enough). Smaller mammal are even tougher, they lurk in cover and won't hang around when you stomp up to them.

Get up and about early, really early, before the rest of humanity gets out and drives the wildlife away (you may develop an intense dislike to dog owners). If you can't find any wildlife you can always do some landscape photography.

Be prepared to see nothing, it is after all wildlife and they can see, hear and smell ten times better than we can.

Mainly wildlife photography is about finding and "knowing" your subject, the technical side is fairly straight forward.

And remember whether you get good photographs or not, just the process of trying is good exercise for both the body and mind.

Cheers
Aidan

http://www.surfbirds.com/blog/dd
 
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Thank you Aidan, that seem like great advice - oh and welcome (noticed the 1 post :))
 
Hi John, you seem to have the gear side sorted but the most important bit is knowledge of the subject. You can't expect to just go into the woods or mountains and find the wildlife waiting for you, it is better to chose a couple of subjects and learn all you can about their habits and life style. This will keep you busy for a while and when doing it you will learn and see much else over time. The other thing you will need is lots and lots of patience. A little bit of luck helps as well. ;)
 
First priority is understanding the animals you intend to shoot and thinking about your conduct around their home. Research their behaviour, watch them for yourself and you'll get better results and be less of a risk to them. Be prepared for a lot of time spent watching and waiting.

To be perfectly honest, "just for fun" is not a reason to be out shooting wildlife. If you have no intention of learning about these creatures, you are a threat to them. As such, you should find another area of interest. If you wouldn't be there without a camera, you shouldn't be there. Sorry to be so blunt, but our wildlife has enough problems with humans f***** things up for them. There's too many clueless idiots who think buying expensive toys and driving halfway across the country to get the same shot as 30 other people is "wildlife photography", without giving a second thought to the welfare of the animals or their habitat.

If you are seriously interested, then go to nature reserves or deer park as a starting point. You'll get the opportunity to shoot the more common species, and they tend to be more used to/tolerant of humans. It's a good time of year to start - no worries about disturbing schedule 1 birds and breaking the law and Red / Fallow deer will be rutting in a few weeks.
 
Thank you Chris and thank you for being blunt - while I don;t have the memory to fully research and recall all details, I can assure you I would never intentionally disturb an animal (or anything for that matter) or its environment - for example when I was young, I was the kid that always very carefully put the rock back in rock pools checking I wouldn't crush anything!

I hope that puts your mind at ease.
 
I apologise for the rather inflammatory tone of that post John, I do tend to get on me ol' soapbox about these things :D
 
hehe, no worries - its a serious matter and I'm glad you feel that way
 
Now that Winter is coming I would advise that you set up a feeding station in a wood somewhere.It doesnt have to be elaborate with loads of expensive feeders just some seed and nuts scattered on a log will be a good start.With regular baiting you will soon get a wide variety of Birds coming back and forth.I would place the food within range of say a fallen tree that you can use for cover combined with a camo net or even get one of these pop up hides.I was lucky enough to get permission to have mine set up on a Nature Reserve so was able to set up a permanent hide.Perhaps you have a local farmer/landowner that you could ask?
Within a short space of time you will have loads of birds visiting along with Squirrels,Wood Mice and Voles etc cleaning up the spillage on the ground.Just remeber to keep it regularly stocked up to keep the Wildlife coming back ;).
 
Search for your local Wildlife trust, they will have details of your local Nature Reserves. Lots of birds on migration at the moment, so check any ponds, and flashes in fields. Find a local patch to watch, over time you will build a picture of whats around and what can be seen. Still dragonfly's and some butterfly's around for a while. Fungi is definitely a good subject at the moment.

And its not that far to Norfolk, a nature photographers paradise.

regards brian.
 
Get used to moving stealthily and keeping your eyes open for what's happening about you. Avoid using plastic sheets etc. as the rustle they make can scare things off. I wouldn't even take the camera with you the first few times you go out, just get used to the environment.
 
As stated your local wildlife reserves but another place to look is your local churchyard and Parks all sorts of animals normally frequent them birds, fox, rabbit, hedgehog, mice, rats, Squirrels. local commons are another there is wildlife all around you it's just a case of stopping to look put a feeder up in your back garden on a branch screwed to the fence and you will soon have birds visiting Mixed seed, Fats balls in the right feeder remove the mesh for safety, Peanuts and Niger seed. though if you do this you will need to carry on feeding them.
Try this thread

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=283390

If you like it you could always add a comment and maybe you will be helping others in the same position as yourself :thumbs:

Regards

Richard
 
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Thanks again all,

I have a feeder in the back yard and it brings the local birds, which has been great practice.

I hadn't thought of churchyards, although sort of obvious if I think about some of the images I'd seen.

I'll be checking out some of the local reserves, but today its a forage into the local wood for the day as I spotted a looking fungus while out with the dog yesterday picking blackberries.

Mike, I've been testing outs some nice Jack Pike wear (too much of a wuss to buy the camo version though as I'd not set foot outside of the house in fear of suddenly developing an interest in tank tracks or Russian boot prints ;)) and its very quiet and no doubt I'll find out today how it fares with wind and water! I plan to review these on my blog later when I've eventually settled on a look, its only a very rough with no content but hopefully if I ever get good it will chronicle my efforts for others.

Bit of a mixed bag going out with me today, the Giottos 9351B, a flash, a reflector, the 100mm macro and the 400mm (in case I'm lucky enough to spot a raptor as I know there are some near the wood I'm off to).

Now lets see how I fare in the wild(ish), usually I have my family along to stop me getting bored/frustrated!
 
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I really wouldn't get too hung up on camo initially.

There are plenty of places where animals will tolerate people at safe distances. If you respect an animals safety zone, and also learn that they need safe places where you don't follow, you'll be pleasantly surprised at the rewards.

As mentioned though you will grow to dislike the vast majority of dog owners who quite frankly couldn't give a s*** about the countryside and even less the wildlife that tries to live there. Luckily these people are also too lazy to get up that early so can be avoided.

Walk slowly, and quietly and you'll be surprised at just how much you normally miss.
 
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