A Nice Surprise-BBC Discover Wildlife

A selection of my photographs have been chosen to form part of the online gallery of the highly prestigious and respected BBC Wildlife magazine; Discover Wildlife.  Showing a few of my favourite images taken in the wild, capturing private and personal moments with my camera.  I contacted the editor many months ago and was informed that there was a long waiting list and thought know more of it after submitting my images. Then a welcome email this week confirming that they are up was a lovely surprise.  So a big thank you to Sophie, the editor and her team who were very helpful.

During the last few days alongside my own work, I visited the county of Norfolk for the predicted spring tide, with an early drive to meet clients at 4am. We then head out onto the beach in readiness for this amazing event.

There was good activity earlier on out on the mudflats, with good numbers of Dunlin and Knot all congregating together.  Still having the remains of their summer plumage visible which gave a splash of colour within this mudflat environment.  Alongside these waders were the Oystercatchers, whose number grow as the weeks pass.  The weather was kind in parts but the lack of light at times quashed our shutter speeds during the morning.  The weather picked up during the rest of the day in Norfolk.

Once the sea has consumed the land the birds fly around in an almost panic state before settling into the pools or pits as they are better known, in front of the hides located there, which are provided by the RSPB. Upon settling down and looking out of our chosen hide we were greeted by hundreds of Waders, Dunlin and Knot all gathered on shingle banks, moving one way then the next, with more birds coming in all the time from the mudflats.

These offer them a safe place to roost in, rest and relax until the spring tide starts to retreat, exposing the vast areas of mudflats, where the sea has replenished the whole area with food brought in by the incoming tides. I wanted to try and convey all the movement, shapes and sights of these waders, so I focused right into the heart of the action using a tele-convertor along with my long lens.

Its then you get to see their numbers and sheer power, feeling the force as they take off from these pools.  The noise is amazing and the sheer power of one of natures most amazing spectacles has to be seen to be believed. It’s always great to witness when clients haven’t seen this amazing spectacle, people are amazed as they witness this event in nature and all the drama it brings to these Norfolk shores a couple of times a month.

We all had a great day and the weather was really kind which is something I always wish for clients to have on their day. I have been running these great days now for sometime, where each month there are a few dates when this amazing event happens, so if you wish to make an enquiry or book, then send me an email here and I will get back to you with dates, spaces etc.

These One To Ones can be run on an individual basis or as a two to one as in Ian and Marie-Laure’s case.  Big thank you to you both and I hope you enjoyed your day with me having learned more about wildlife photography.