Hello and welcome
I have always had a keen interest in wildlife and the great outdoors;
I was an Angler for over 30 years but gave it up a few years ago to
concentrate on photographing wildlife. I lived in Runcorn; Cheshire a
short distance from the M56 that gave me great access to the Wirral,
Northwales and Lancashire, with some great countryside on my doorstep
I didn't have to travel too far in search of wildlife and photographic
opportunities.
Some of my wildlife photographs range from as far afield as Cuba,
Antigua, Saint Martin, Saint Lucia, Dominican Republic, Tuscany ,
Corfu, Turkey, Spain, Portugal.
I now live in the Charente area of western France.
Cuckoo
Cuckoo’s were seen and heard on my morning walks around the hamlet although they were difficult to get close too, as they always are.
Three shrikes and you're out
Red backed strikes wouldn’t play ball with me I struggled to get any good shots of them, they always kept their distance.
Last year I didn’t notice any Red backed shrikes around the hamlet but this year they seem to be all over the place.
I counted six different pairs all within walking distance from the house.
Hoopoe
Hoopoe
On my morning walks I regularly heard the sound of Hoopoe but locating them in the heavy wooded woods is difficult.
I spent many hours trying to locate them. I asked my neighbours if they had seen any,
some had seen them several times and others had not. One evening as I was sat in the garden drinking a beer one flew past me.
It had been feeding at the bottom of my garden and I didn’t notice it.
This one was photographed in my garden two years ago
In the end I decided to visit a friend’s house a few miles away to photograph them. He has them around his house most years.
When I arrived at his place I quickly spotted my first Hoopoe on the roof opposite an old barn.
As I watched I realised they had a nest in the stone wall and were feeding chicks.
Using my car as a hide I positioned it on the other side of the road and took some shots, I couldn’t photograph the Hoopoe in the positions I wanted it in, so I didn’t take many, just a few record shots.
Night Herons
Night Herons
I visited the Brenne again to try and get some better photographs of the Night Herons, they are better than last year but again the weather was against me. Still not the shots I wanted.
Hunting Fox
Hunting Fox
I can across this hunting Fox on my short walk around the hamlet and a few Roe deer.
Morning walks
Morning walks
Most morning I went for a stroll with my camera doing a loop around the small hamlet, on one occasion I encountered a Pine Martin crossing the road and running along the hedge-row but missed the shot they are around and seen regularly but are difficult to photograph.
You can hear Golden Orioles singing, but it was weeks before I eventually saw one but didn’t manage a photograph of them either. I eventually managed to find a site that they seem to prefer.
Roe deer were a regular feature on my morning walks but again I never managed the clear shots I wanted. I did want shots of them in the rain so one morning as the rain came down I ventured out.
Crested Tit
Crested Tits
I was told that Crested Tits were around and to look out for them. I found two within a short walking distance from my house.
I will try to encourage them into my garden in future
Bee-fly
Bee- fly (Bombylius major)
Often mistaken for a bee this harmless fly is easily recognised long proboscis
Back on the Web
Back on the Web
When I first decided to go to my house in France early on in the year my expectations were very high. This trip would last ten weeks, enough time to get the photographs I wanted and indeed expected.
However things often conspire to bring you back down to earth and it’s usually the things you can’t control. Weather is its’ own master. Sometimes you can chase the good weather, but when most of France is under water there’s not much point.
When I did get the good weather I had work to do on the house (Still that’s life).
All was not lost as I did manage to get a few shots that I was after, some in good weather, some in bad. So some are ok others are not.
One of the photographs I wanted was a Western whip snake.
Western whip snake Hierophis viridflavus
Back to France
It’s time to return to my house in France after a few months away. I will be there for ten weeks, my wife and brother will be joining me for a few weeks during my stay.
I can catch up with the garden jobs that need doing, cutting grass and hedges and sowing this season’s wildflower bed. Putting up bird boxes and laying down some sheets of roofing felt for snakes and slow worms in my woods.
I still have work to finish off on the roof and sort out some external pipe work and a few bits and bobs however I will still have time in-between jobs to get my camera out for some macro work. I am also hoping to visit the Brenne with my French photographer friend and photograph Night Herons. It will be good to catch up with some of the local wildlife in the garden, Black Redstarts, Little Owl, Cuckoo, Lizards and Fire Salamanders, Barn Owl across the road in the barn, Deer down the lanes and Coypu on the lake, it’s a different world.
