My intentions for 2024 in wildlife photography
As I continue to have a better understanding of the cycle of the natural world, and the wildlife events that occur throughout each passing year, I have a better idea of the best time to go and search for certain species to film and photograph, depending on when they are most active or, in my case, what time of year they arrive on British shores. While I might not be able to fit all of my desired projects in the space of twelve months —having a full-time job reduces my time spent outside with the camera — I can still plan out what to find and when, and space it out where appropriate.
Mammals:
Living in the Fens means that there are plenty of open landscapes and very big skies, where a large variety of birds thrive in these parts. As lovely as it is to see so many different birds over my county’s skies, it has been difficult to find the larger mammal species that live in the same area too. They are most definitely around but they can be harder to locate, considering the almost infinite span of horizon that they can roam across. Nevertheless, I am hoping to go in search of a few species that I have had very few opportunities to photograph, or I have only seen when driving along the road where I was unable to stop safely. One of the mammals I have only ever seen at a distance is the roe deer. Roe deer spend the winter in larger herds for a better chance to find food, so capturing them in a frosty landscape would be a great start to the new year! I am also hoping to go in search of the local badgers. I had a few opportunities to see badgers a few months ago, but I have been unsuccessful in getting a photo of them so I’m hoping for better chances next year. I would love to travel to see the red squirrels again, as my first ever encounter only occurred in the last couple of months and it would be nice to see them in a different season. I also plan to return to the Isle of Mull later in the year and my main focus, if I can go there, is to search for the bull orcas John Coe and Aquarius. It is still a lifelong dream for me to see orcas in the wild and to see them off the British Isles would be incredible!
Birds:
In terms of bird species, this is a much longer list than the mammal one and I can’t possibly go into every single one! But if I go with what immediately comes to mind, these are my main species for 2024. There is currently a small influx of waxwings over here in the UK and they typically stay until March time. I have never seen them before so I have been keeping a close eye on nearby sightings, and I hope I can find them on a clear, sunny day too. Another bird species that has been visiting the UK in larger numbers very recently is the short-eared owl. This increase in numbers are coming over from Scandinavia, and have primarily been seen in multiple numbers hunting along the East Coast. I have only ever had two separate encounters with them so being able to see multiple of these owls would be amazing! I would also love to see my first bittern, and given it’ll be a challenge as they are so well camouflaged against the reeds, I am aware of a few locations where I will have a good chance of at least hearing their deep booming calls. I have been considering revisiting the North East coast to photograph the gannet colony, as it has been a while since I last saw them during the breeding season. I went through a few images that I took of them back in 2019 (you can watch this on my YouTube channel!), and I believe that I know more now in terms of getting the camera settings right, so I can achieve better images of the striking birds in flight and resting on the cliff face without the risk of losing details on their bright, white feathers.
While I have these key bird and mammal species in mind, I also want to take images of the more common species I encounter almost every day, so it’ll just be the case of seeing what I find and expecting the unexpected! I would love to record these possible encounters as well for my YouTube channel, as I enjoy sharing my wildlife stories in video form as well as still images.
I am unlikely to post any blogs from now until the new year, so I hope that everyone has a lovely end to this year and a good start to 2024, if you have your own photography plans, or any personal plans for that matter, I wish you all the best in achieving your goals!
