Internationally renowned photographer David Tipling runs North Norfolk safaris, where he takes people out to photograph some of the rich wildlife to be found there. This is a man who has featured in many magazines and has published many books, and is a driving force in bird photography.
Always wanting to improve my photography I booked myself on one of his safaris, to learn from the best, and to better my follower's reading experience. Mr Tipling had just come back from a working trip in the Solomon Islands whilst my most recent experience was finding some birds at the local fishing pits, such is life. Anyway the trip was fairly successful and I got some good photographs, mainly of HARES, without quite getting all that I wanted.
The HARES are such dynamic animals.
We met in the Cley car park, as the dawn chorus faded on the marshes, around 6:30, in some beautiful early morning light. Signs were good, a BARN OWL, was hunting along the grassy road side curb along the marshes. However despite seeing five different BARN OWLS today, we were never got the chance to properly photograph one. This was the only disappointment of the day as one of the reasons we met so early was to photograph the owls. I think David was desperate to just find some birds but as the day wore on the chances of finding them grew slim. We went all over the area, checking the available habitat, the nest boxes, but the birds just didn't show, despite David's local knowledge.
The hinterland of North Norfolk is full of wildlife, with lots of BROWN HARES, with as many as ten seen in several large fields. Lots of RED LEGGED PARTRIDGE were about, always running away rather than flying. Also around were YELOWHAMMERS and singing SKYLARKS, typical farmland birds that are getting scarce nowadays.
RED LEGGED PARTRIDGE
Some unusual birds were seen along the way, a WOODCOCK was flushed whilst looking for some owls. I also saw a pair of GREY PARTRIDGE briefly flying off after we disturbed them in a horse grazed field. This bird used to be very common, but has now seemed to be supplanted by the introduced RED LEGGEDS.
The HARES were the main target and there were many about. David had a recording of someone blowing into a blade of grass, and playing it out loud over the fields had different effects on the hares. Some ran away, some did nothing, whilst a few ran towards us, one attempting a challenge.
When David played a recording this HARE came towards us in challenge.
We got a look at some "Mad March Hare" behaviour, and I was able to get a picture of two of them boxing each other. Even David admitted that getting such a close view is difficult and it looks great in the early morning light.
Two HARES boxing
There were lots of BIRD OF PREY about, MARSH HARRIERS, RED KITE and BUZZARD, twenty years ago all would have been a rare sight, one of the few examples of nature making a come back. However they were hard to photograph, to get a focus on a tiny speck in a field of blue.
A picture of something that is not a Hare - here is a ROOKERY.
In the end we went all over North Norfolk, although at times it meant we seemed to go around in circles, as certain landmarks became a bit familiar. That's one of the problems,and yet one of the delights in nature watching, nothing can be taken for granted. In the end we covered ground I had never been to before, drew some attention to places that aren't Cley and Titchwell, real places that aren't just managed for wildlife.
The morning came to an end and we finished the safari around midday. I said goodbye and retired to the visitors centre to drink a well earned coffee and planned what I was going to do for the rest of the day.
I would recommend one of the safaris if you want a chance get shots of difficult to photo animals. It was also nice to meet David and to just to meet one of the leading lights in birdwatching, there aren't that many.
I think I have now exhausted North Norfolk and I'm thinking about doing a photo safari in another area of the country, maybe the New Forest, maybe, its always good to dream. Anyway, peace out.
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