The best wildlife experience in England?
I've previously written about some of my favourite spots to photograph wildlife in London and the South East of England, but the experience I had last week tops them all. I'm talking about my visit to Horn Mill Trout farm to photograph Osprey fishing mere meters from the hide. This hide isn't in the South East; it's up in the Midlands, but believe me, it is well worth the journey.
It's the second time that I've visited this hide, I previously wrote about my experience photographing Ospreys near Rutland Water on this blog.
This visit was quite different, we had only one Osprey visit and dive (successfully) for a fish. I was using high speed plus frame rate which captured just over one hundred images from the moment the Osprey took off from its perch until it was splashing in the water. Sadly that filled the buffer so I didn’t capture any shots of it emerging with the fish this time. Still, I’m happy with this shot showing the focus that the Osprey has on its target.
I don't know what makes this such a great wildlife experience; it could be the anticipation that builds while you sit waiting in the hide or that most people have never seen an osprey, so they feel a bit exotic. Or it might be how close these birds grab fish to where you're sitting, their sheer size, or even the early start. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't make it any easier to get out of bed when the alarm goes, but it does feel like you're putting in a lot more effort, and sometimes when you put more in, you feel like you get more out.
