How much would you pay to photograph red kites?

Nope there is better locations and a damn lot cheeper ones too than Gigrin which IMHO is a joke and just a money making rip off, Just have a google about Red Kite feeding stations and your find much better options, or go out searching for them in the wild yourself...
 
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Joeturner11 said:
Nope there is better locations and a damn lot cheeper ones too than Gigrin which IMHO is a joke and just a money making rip off, Just have a google about Red Kite feeding stations and your find much better options, or go out searching for them in the wild yourself...
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I was shocked at the price to be honest. Bwlch Nant-yr-arian is about 5 miles away from here as the kite flies so I may be going there instead! Still FoC, I think.

But isn't it just an example of what (some) photographers WILL pay and what providers will get away with. Are we that gullible?
 
jerry12953 said:
I was shocked at the price to be honest. Bwlch Nant-yr-arian is about 5 miles away from here as the kite flies so I may be going there instead! Still FoC, I think.

But isn't it just an example of what (some) photographers WILL pay and what providers will get away with. Are we that gullible?
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Bwlch Nant-yr-arian is better, you only have to pay the parking there & you will get closer to the birds, so save your money. I don't understand why anyone would pay Gigrin farms mad prices to be honest. I personally like shooting the red kites from the car park there when there flying towards the centre as you have a vast landscape view which providers nice shooting opportunities and some other rare birds I found near by there also
 
chinnor hill or aston rowant - both in the chilterns , loads of the things - one landed on my tripod once

mind you before we condem gigrin as a money making rip off its worth remembering that a) he was feeding them , and doing nest protection, when they were really endangered , and b) he has facilities to maintain, and due to defra red tape he can only feed them human consumption standard meat which costs a fair bit , so its not all profit.

Yes £22 quid is a fair bit - but you could pay that to get into a lot of nature reserves, historic houses etc , and easily spaff that much or more on a night out on the beer and a curry afterwards
 
Joeturner11 said:
What you find it like for photography there? I been thinking about having a day out there soon as I like the backdrop it offers and Kites perching in the trees, I also heard a few buzzards also come, not sure how true that maybe...
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Yes, Plenty of buzzards too.

Plenty of opportunity for photos, although when I went there the fence in the background had been draped with Camo netting which made for a distracting background for the low shots.

Admittedly I was using a 70-200 f4 l with 1.4 extender so could only get down to f5.6
With a good, wide tele you would be able to blur most of that out.
 
big soft moose said:
chinnor hill or aston rowant - both in the chilterns , loads of the things - one landed on my tripod once

mind you before we condem gigrin as a money making rip off its worth remembering that a) he was feeding them , and doing nest protection, when they were really endangered , and b) he has facilities to maintain, and due to defra red tape he can only feed them human consumption standard meat which costs a fair bit , so its not all profit.

Yes £22 quid is a fair bit - but you could pay that to get into a lot of nature reserves, historic houses etc , and easily spaff that much or more on a night out on the beer and a curry afterwards
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The place I posted also feeds fresh chicken daily, but only charge £3 per person.
 
big soft moose said:
Yes £22 quid is a fair bit - but you could pay that to get into a lot of nature reserves, historic houses etc , and easily spaff that much or more on a night out on the beer and a curry afterwards
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£22 is silly money! Can't think of any nature reserves that would cost that much to get in. Not even the National Trust would think of charging that much.

I suppose you've got a TV prog to finish and you're on a BBC expense account, £22 isn't that much, though.

I was wondering if a discrete walk up one of the hillsides around Gigrin might be worth a try....


Joeturner11 said:
Bwlch Nant-yr-arian is better, you only have to pay the parking there & you will get closer to the birds, so save your money. I don't understand why anyone would pay Gigrin farms mad prices to be honest. I personally like shooting the red kites from the car park there when there flying towards the centre as you have a vast landscape view which providers nice shooting opportunities and some other rare birds I found near by there also
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Joe, if you're ever at Bwlch Nant-yr-Arian, or thinking of visiting, give me a call! I'm only a few miles away.......
 
ecoleman said:
Yes, Plenty of buzzards too.

Plenty of opportunity for photos, although when I went there the fence in the background had been draped with Camo netting which made for a distracting background for the low shots.

Admittedly I was using a 70-200 f4 l with 1.4 extender so could only get down to f5.6
With a good, wide tele you would be able to blur most of that out.
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Thanks for the info :) mite pop over there for the bustards some time soon then, my 400mm should do the trick then with the distracting background
 
jerry12953 said:
Joe, if you're ever at Bwlch Nant-yr-Arian, or thinking of visiting, give me a call! I'm only a few miles away.......
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Are keep that in mind mate :), should be going up in the next month or so that way so will have to pop in and graph the kites and give you a call, 99.9% of the time I go is a Sunday afternoon, are give you a PM in advance :thumbs:
 
big soft moose said:
chinnor hill or aston rowant - both in the chilterns , loads of the things - one landed on my tripod once

mind you before we condem gigrin as a money making rip off its worth remembering that a) he was feeding them , and doing nest protection, when they were really endangered , and b) he has facilities to maintain, and due to defra red tape he can only feed them human consumption standard meat which costs a fair bit , so its not all profit.

Yes £22 quid is a fair bit - but you could pay that to get into a lot of nature reserves, historic houses etc , and easily spaff that much or more on a night out on the beer and a curry afterwards
Click to expand...

Big soft moose is right, gigrin farm is a victim of its own success. Years ago it was one of a handful of sites where red kites were making a come back. Red kites have done so well that they are seen across the country in high numbers so many photographers don't need gigrin any more as there are plenty of places across the country that are closer and cheaper.

Has the cost been compared to other photography hide hire? A quick google brings up prices of £60-125 even up to £150. It is worth noting there is another tower hide at £17 and a ground level hide for £12. Perhaps gigrin needs to adapt to give photographers some thing different.

If gigrin farm closed and stopped feeding hundreds of red kites what would happen to them? Are they all now too dependant on the daily feeds?
 
daugirdas said:
£22 is still a far cry from £200 for a f*****g eagle hide. I have no intention of paying either to be honest.
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So what do you get for the £200?

I'm quite interested in building up a picture of all these "opportunities" and how much they cost.

There was an article in Outdoor Photography recently about just this sort of thing. One of the originators of stake-out wildlife photography was in print saying it was now "a bad thing". I'm simplifying massively of course. Apparently there are plans afoot to build a completely artificial concrete pool with hides and suitable backgrounds, somewhere Speyside way, stock it with fish, and just wait for the ospreys to turn up. How much a day would that be, I wonder?

There's big money in wildlife, I tell you.
 
jerry12953 said:
So what do you get for the £200?

I'm quite interested in building up a picture of all these "opportunities" and how much they cost.

There was an article in Outdoor Photography recently about just this sort of thing. One of the originators of stake-out wildlife photography was in print saying it was now "a bad thing". I'm simplifying massively of course. Apparently there are plans afoot to build a completely artificial concrete pool with hides and suitable backgrounds, somewhere Speyside way, stock it with fish, and just wait for the ospreys to turn up. How much a day would that be, I wonder?

There's big money in wildlife, I tell you.
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For the money you get close, setup shots, I personally don't like these type of places as everyone will just get the same images, abit like the Aviemore Ospreys have been done to death, This website we give you a ruff overview of what they do and prices for hide days... http://www.naturephotographyhides.co.uk They average around £120 per day...
 
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rob-nikon said:
Big soft moose is right, gigrin farm is a victim of its own success. Years ago it was one of a handful of sites where red kites were making a come back. Red kites have done so well that they are seen across the country in high numbers so many photographers don't need gigrin any more as there are plenty of places across the country that are closer and cheaper.

Has the cost been compared to other photography hide hire? A quick google brings up prices of £60-125 even up to £150. It is worth noting there is another tower hide at £17 and a ground level hide for £12. Perhaps gigrin needs to adapt to give photographers some thing different.

If gigrin farm closed and stopped feeding hundreds of red kites what would happen to them? Are they all now too dependant on the daily feeds?
Click to expand...


Some good points there. It was one of the first RK feeding centres (possibly THE first?) although there were several other small scale ones round here that I knew of. They say that for the kites these feeding centres are more of a social event. The quantity of food put out for them is totally inadequate for the number of birds that gather there and most winters there's plenty of natural food for them in the countryside round about. RK's are very social creatures and they get to meet potential mates in these big winter congregations. So apparently there's no risk of them becoming dependent.

Access for normal folks is £5. Even that seems a bit steep. I thought the photography hides were £10 but as you say they are £17 (1st floor) and £22.
 
jerry12953 said:
So what do you get for the £200?

I'm quite interested in building up a picture of all these "opportunities" and how much they cost.

There was an article in Outdoor Photography recently about just this sort of thing. One of the originators of stake-out wildlife photography was in print saying it was now "a bad thing". I'm simplifying massively of course. Apparently there are plans afoot to build a completely artificial concrete pool with hides and suitable backgrounds, somewhere Speyside way, stock it with fish, and just wait for the ospreys to turn up. How much a day would that be, I wonder?

There's big money in wildlife, I tell you.
Click to expand...

The problem is the digital age has allowed amateurs/hobbyists access to what was a professional domain. Knock on effect was stock image prices dwindled as amateurs give away the images for free, making a living by taking photos very difficult. Amateurs want great wildlife images without the hours of prep time spent to get them, pros noticed this opportunity and took it. Now many pros take images to get these large numbers of amateurs/hobbyists to use their hides which they run to make a living. Selling hide hire is now a bigger earner than the images they sell. Give a few years and things will adapt/change/reinvent again.

The real problem is it's now obvious to see where some images are taken, I see it on flickr all the time as it's always very similar images that are posted.
 
jerry12953 said:
Some good points there. It was one of the first RK feeding centres (possibly THE first?) although there were several other small scale ones round here that I knew of. They say that for the kites these feeding centres are more of a social event. The quantity of food put out for them is totally inadequate for the number of birds that gather there and most winters there's plenty of natural food for them in the countryside round about. RK's are very social creatures and they get to meet potential mates in these big winter congregations. So apparently there's no risk of them becoming dependent.

Access for normal folks is £5. Even that seems a bit steep. I thought the photography hides were £10 but as you say they are £17 (1st floor) and £22.
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It is interesting what effect wildlife photography is having on wildlife now it's open to the masses. I'm sure someone will do a study soon.

That's good news the quantity of food is not enough to sustain the number of red kites. If you have ever spoke to the locals in the chilterns many are not happy with the red kites being there, and even less with photographers feeding them.
 
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jerry12953 said:
So what do you get for the £200?

I'm quite interested in building up a picture of all these "opportunities" and how much they cost.
Click to expand...
eagle hide.

To be honest, they're offering something unique in the UK they can charge a premium.
 
big soft moose said:
chinnor hill or aston rowant - both in the chilterns , loads of the things - one landed on my tripod once

mind you before we condem gigrin as a money making rip off its worth remembering that a) he was feeding them , and doing nest protection, when they were really endangered , and b) he has facilities to maintain, and due to defra red tape he can only feed them human consumption standard meat which costs a fair bit , so its not all profit.

Yes £22 quid is a fair bit - but you could pay that to get into a lot of nature reserves, historic houses etc , and easily spaff that much or more on a night out on the beer and a curry afterwards
Click to expand...
 
rob-nikon said:
The problem is the digital age has allowed amateurs/hobbyists access to what was a professional domain. Knock on effect was stock image prices dwindled as amateurs give away the images for free, making a living by taking photos very difficult. Amateurs want great wildlife images without the hours of prep time spent to get them, pros noticed this opportunity and took it. Now many pros take images to get these large numbers of amateurs/hobbyists to use their hides which they run to make a living. Selling hide hire is now a bigger earner than the images they sell. Give a few years and things will adapt/change/reinvent again.

The real problem is it's now obvious to see where some images are taken, I see it on flickr all the time as it's always very similar images that are posted.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. Do you really think things will adapt/change/reinvent though?

And what about those damn reflecting pools?? ........bangs head on desk.........
 
jerry12953 said:
£22 is silly money! Can't think of any nature reserves that would cost that much to get in.
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Rothiemurcus osprey hide is 30 quid unguided , their red squirrel and crested tit hide is 60 quid . Aigas is well over a grand for a week

to be honest I doubt its making him rich -building that tower hide wouldn't have been cheap so he's got some fairly heavy depreciation to think about - I'm sure it pays more than sheep farming but tbh that wouldn't be difficult
 
rob-nikon said:
The problem is the digital age has allowed amateurs/hobbyists access to what was a professional domain. Knock on effect was stock image prices dwindled as amateurs give away the images for free, making a living by taking photos very difficult. Amateurs want great wildlife images without the hours of prep time spent to get them, pros noticed this opportunity and took it. Now many pros take images to get these large numbers of amateurs/hobbyists to use their hides which they run to make a living. Selling hide hire is now a bigger earner than the images they sell. Give a few years and things will adapt/change/reinvent again.

The real problem is it's now obvious to see where some images are taken, I see it on flickr all the time as it's always very similar images that are posted.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more with you (y)


rob-nikon said:
The real problem is it's now obvious to see where some images are taken, I see it on flickr all the time as it's always very similar images that are posted.
Click to expand...

Little Owl workshops are probably the best example of this, everyone posts the same boring images on a perch.
 
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big soft moose said:
Rothiemurcus osprey hide is 30 quid unguided , their red squirrel and crested tit hide is 60 quid . Aigas is well over a grand for a week

to be honest I doubt its making him rich -building that tower hide wouldn't have been cheap so he's got some fairly heavy depreciation to think about - I'm sure it pays more than sheep farming but tbh that wouldn't be difficult
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Have you seen those hides? They're not exactly luxurious or complicated. Not much more than a couple of sheds on top of each other! I suppose it IS diversification. I don't begrudge them that.
 
jerry12953 said:
My thoughts exactly. Do you really think things will adapt/change/reinvent though?

And what about those damn reflecting pools?? ........bangs head on desk.........
Click to expand...

It depends on when amateur photographers are going to move away from paying these prices and are sick of paying for the same images as everyone else. Pros will then reinvent/adapt to earn money.

There are some that are adapting like the trout farm near rutland who are trying to offer the same as rothiemurcus as the osprey take the farms trout so getting photographers in increased income from losing the fish.
 
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