I have always been a big fan of the British styled bird hides with telescopic poles rather than the pop-up variety. I use pop-ups a lot, but my main portable hide is still a home made square type with upright poles. The advantage is it is easier to erect on a slope or rough ground as the poles can be adjusted and the height can be changed depending on what I am photographing. I am in the process of getting a batch made for sale and the first one is ready, others should follow

I have never been a nocturnal worker. I will spend all day in the field from dawn to dusk, but when it gets dark I have a strong desire to go home. Consequently I have never done that much with Tawny owls and Badgers. I have photographed them, but never extensively. This May I have been putting some effort in. To encourage myself I have put up a permanent wooden hide at a Badger sett. Now a hide is not necessary with Badgers, but it does give me extra comfort on windy or damp

I am now selling bag hides for wildlife photography and hopefully will have some pop up type hides online very soon. The bag hides are on my web site at http://www.wildlifephotographyshop.com and I have managed to edit my second video. See http://youtu.be/51q_IiUsnAI #wildlife #bag #bird #photography #cover #hide #nature #portable #blind

Video is new to me, but I have just done my first sequence and posted it on U tube. It is about the Beike BK45 Gimbal tripod head. #wildlife #flight #bk45 #head #bk45 #photography #birds #tripod #Beike

So far I have had 13 species down to my drinking pool in just a few weeks. Not bad for the winter months. Great tit, blue tit, coal tit, goldfinch, greenfinch, magpie, jackdaw, wren, collared dove, nuthatch, lesser redpoll, blackbird and pheasant. I am going to modify it so I can photograph birds on the two side edges, sideways on. Currently it is designed for the birds to land at the far end only, which means they are head on to me all of the time. Some days are better than

We use cars as mobile hides and we use hides. Now I have a hide for my car. The largest leaf scrim net I sell is 6 meters by 2.7 meters and I choose it expecting it would cover a typical car easily. It does. I have not actually made use of it yet, but it looks brilliant. Like sitting in a bush. If it is a windless day there is no need to strap it down. On a windy day the net can be trapped in the doors to hold it still. If cars are effective as hides, think what this could do

At one point they were forecasting snow during today, but now the forecast has put it back to overnight snow. All too often it snows during the night, which is a great pity. This was taken the last time it snowed heavily which was a wonderful day from the comfort of a wooden hide. Canon EOS 1Dx. 800mm lens. 1600 iso 1/500th at f9. #snow #wildlife #Lane #Mike #bird #UK #british

You wait 40 plus years for one to come along in front of your camera and two come at once and get in each others way! Jack snipe. 800mm lens plus 1.4 extender. 3200 iso.  1/400th at f8. It was almost dusk. I have photographed Jack snipe once before, but not as close as this. I needed better light, but hopefully will try again. #wildlife #Lane #Mike #dusk #photography #nature #jacksnipe

The kingfisher is back on the lake where I usually photograph them. It is about this time of year when we start to see them each year. They are not very reliable yet, but I took a few pictures yesterday and will try again in the morning. I have started off on a very thin, but attractive twig, which I usually prefer to a larger branch. The downside to using such a flimsy perch however, is that the bird is not so likely to return to it to eat a fish as it prefers a thicker bran

I was sitting in my car in the corner of a field watching the evening light fade away when a Tawny owl called behind me. I could only think of one old, hollow tree in the hedge it called from and 20 minutes later drove round and parked close to it.  After a few minutes the owl popped out and posed wonderfully for me, but I had no cameras set up. I have been back 7 evenings now and it has never posed quite so well. Mostly I just get head shots as it peers out of its hole. By g

There are two good times to photograph Great-spotted woodpecker at the nest. Firstly when the young have just hatched and both parents are going right inside the hole to feed them. As the parents come out they launch themselves from the hole into the air and there is the chance to do them in flight. I have done Lesser-spotted woodpecker like this and have since been looking for the opportunity to do Great-spotted the same. I must have found twenty GSW nests this year and the