Rutland Bird Fair

Focus4nature had a double stand at the Rutland British Birdwatching Fair and Dobry and myself had a busy time talking to people right through the three days. Indeed I started to lose my voice by Friday lunchtime, whereas I normally last until Sunday.

We got more enquiries about our self drive trip to Namibia than all the other trips put together. I always felt a self drive safari would be popular. Dobry has almost finalised the details and it should to on the focus4nature web site shortly.

Gambia was always a popular destination for wildlife photographers some 20 years ago, but not so often visited today. Our tour guide Ashley Grove did two lectures on the Gambia at Rutland and generated enough interest that our trip there will be running, although there are still places.

We also made some more contacts to help us develop more trips to new destinations.

Falconry Photo Shoot

Focus4nature is running its first falconry photography shoot in Wales. We expect to get other U.K. workshops organised soon. Nick Martin is running the day, but I went with him on the recce trip. They have a large range of British raptors  available including ones not usually done at such events, such as hobby and merlin. The day is Saturday October the 15th. See http://www.focus4nature.co.uk/en/falconry-shoot-day-workshop.html for full details.

Grey herons

We have been photographing herons on the same lake as kingfishers last year. It means a daily visit to feed them and of the five birds visiting only one performs well for the camera. We have submerged a long plank under the water and the heron stands on this giving full reflections in the green water. If we can keep them coming into the autumn we will get even better colours.

We use cheap and readily available sprats from the fish market mostly, but for the photography sessions try and get better looking fish or even eels. #gallery-284-1 { margin: auto; } #gallery-284-1 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-284-1 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-284-1 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */