My dream subjects in wildlife photography
Since starting wildlife photography, I have had many wonderful encounters with British wildlife and have come away with images that I am proud of taking and happily share with others. There are a few species, however, that I am yet to see and/or photograph, and hopefully in the not-too-distant future! It can be good practice to remind yourself of the dreams and aspirations you have in life. It can help you become more productive with planning and how to best approach making your visions and dreams become reality. Other factors can come into play that may or may not work in your favour, but I believe holding onto and revisiting your goals and dreams can help guide you, and maybe others, in the right direction.
Seeing wild orcas is at the top of my dream list of wildlife subjects. I can imagine that a lot of people are in awe of this powerful cetacean — recent reports have found that some orca populations actively hunt great white sharks! I first learned about killer whales from the motion picture film Free Willy, shortly followed by Blue Planet with Sir David Attenborough which showed the raw strength they have in taking down prey bigger than them, and the strong family bonds that these intelligent animals have. In recent years, I have heard about the West Coast Community, a small group of orca that live in the waters surrounding the UK but have more often been reported around the West Coast of Scotland. But now two bulls remain in the group, named Aquarius and John Coe — he is tattooed on my forearm with his distinctive cut at the base of his dorsal fin. This ultimately means that the only resident orca population in the UK is functionally extinct, with no calfs being reported over the last two decades. The two bulls still travel along the West Coast throughout the year, and one year when I was on the Isle of Mull they were sighted in the area on one of the days that I was out on a boat trip. Unfortunately, I had no luck that time around, but while I am still able to make annual trips to the island, I am hopeful that I get to at least catch of glimpse of the pair while they are still around (they are estimated to be around 60 years old, a significantly old age for wild orca). Alternatively, multiple pods of orca travel South from the Arctic Circle and Norway to feed off the coasts of the Shetland Islands. I am hoping that I can make a trip to the islands in the next year or two, to experience seeing the Shetland Islands for the first time and to hopefully find orca there too! When it comes to what image I hope to get, it would depend on where I am positioned (photographing killer whales at the top of a cliff would be different from photographing them from a boat). But ultimately I would love to capture the mammals coming up for air amidst the huge expanse of ocean or, if I am lucky enough to see them, displaying social behaviours like spy hopping or leaping out of the ocean.
While I have been very content with seeing badgers and foxes roaming across the countryside, I have still been unable to get a picture of these notable British mammals. There is a lot of commitment and patience when working with mammals such as foxes and badgers, as they are very wary around humans and can easily sniff you out before they see you. I have read stories from other photographers about the hours they put into scouting a location, finding a potential den, and spending hours waiting in the vicinity to see if they are active or not, so I am aware that photographing these mammals would not be done in a short period. I have had the help of some local naturalists and photographers with what signs to look out for, and I have researched the environments and potential locations where they are most likely to be found, along with when each species is most active throughout the year. The images I have had in mind for both mammals is a simple portrait, with a soft bokeh background and soft light reflecting in their eyes. But then again, a very distant shot of them or moving in the opposite direction from me would still mean that I have a photograph of them, so just getting ‘an image’ would be a win for me!
There is such a huge abundance of bird species across the British Isles, both migratory and resident, and my list of birds I want to see and photograph is very, very long! To name a few that I would love to photograph, the first one would be the cuckoo. While I was lucky to photograph my first cuckoo in flight at one of my local reserves back in the Spring of 2021, I would very much like to find one resting out in the open, on a fence post, or dead tree branch. They’re such an iconic bird of spring and summer and I would love to get a portrait shot of one sitting and calling. Another bird species I would like to photograph is the ruff, more specifically the ruff during the lekking season. During the lek, the males produce an impressive feathered collar that they parade around in an open meadow to attract females and fend off other males. I am hoping that this will occur in the next couple of weeks from writing this, which I am very excited about! The last bird species that I hope to get an image of would be the nightjar. I have heard their eerie churring calls and seen them in flight at dusk near the Norfolk coast, but as they are a nocturnal species they rest during the day and are either laying well camouflaged along the length of a tree branch or on the forest floor. While photographing nightjars hasn’t been at the forefront of my mind regarding my projects this year, I hope that at some point in the future, I can get an image of one resting during the daytime, as long as I mind where I step!
