That's Wildlife Photography!

Months of research and planning, early rising, dark walk to the hide, hours of sitting still, waiting, pins and needles, getting cold, needing the loo, fed up, seeing nothing - ok just a bit longer something might just put in an appearance...

And so it goes on.

There are those who aren't photographers who seem to think that those stunning wildlife shots are easy. Thankfully, with the current trend of leaving the last few minutes of the fantastic TV wildlife programmes to show how it was done, more are starting to realise it isn't so easy after all. Sure, we have all been lucky to have chance encounters where we may have managed to grab a shot that we then show off to our friends but on the whole, most of the stunning pictures are gained as a result of following the formula above.

You may recall, I have been watching a fallow deer herd and this morning I was back at my hide location to try to get an update on them. Today though, I was accompanied by my eldest off-spring, also keen to capture some worthy images. We lugged our gear to the spot and quickly settled down and waited for something to put in an appearance. As the light levels rose, so did the volume of birdsong and we contented ourselves with being entertained by this wonderful performance, made more cheerful by a welcome punctuation from a recently arrived chiff-chaff.

And so we waited.

A couple of rabbits hopped around the far edge of the field. A muntjac ambled alongside the far hedge. A fox hopped and skipped down the tramlines far over the other end of the field. Then, seven fallow deer ambled into... the far corner of the field. Far was to be the closest we would get to our subject this morning and with no frames being fired, thoughts of a lovely steaming mug of tea started to become much more appealing. We sat it out for a while in the hope they might just wander our way, instead they just disappeared into a clump of trees. There would be no chance of that stunning shot this morning and with other plans for the day, we packed up and left, happy we had enjoyed the birdsong but the mug of tea was now our goal. It may 'only' be the local deer herd I am photographing but the chances for stunning shots are rare and I will continue to follow the formula.

On the drive home, early morning mist had settled into the hollows and we stopped to snatch a shot or two to justify our trip. I had barely got out of the car when "Mum! Hare!" A wonderful silhouetted form bounced over the verge and legged it across the lane presenting me with just enough time to fire off one frame.

I now present to you a lucky chance encounter where I managed to grab a shot, that I am now showing off to you. (lol!)

That's the ups and downs of wildlife photography!