CAPTURING OUR WONDERFUL BIRDS on camera

Keen to snap a brilliant bird? Matthew Stadlen has practical tips and destination advice for your next tour

- Matthew Stadlen

WHEN YOU SEE a bird, do you really see it? I ask because it’s possible to go through life with an almost complete disregard for birdlife.

I’m not an expert – about either birds (although I’m beginning to hold my own) or photography. I’ve only recently worked out how to use the manual focus on my Nikon camera, but I do have a strong sense of what I think is beautiful and a passion for birds, rooted in my childhood.

What I lack in expertise, I make up for in enthusiasm, and here I hope to illustrate how to become a chronicler of the breathtaking beauty to be found on our doorsteps and beyond.

Countryside birds

It’s easy to take the British countryside for granted. So why not revel in its beauty and close proximity?

If you’re a Londoner like me, you don’t have to head for the Scottish Highlands to immerse yourself in stunning landscapes. The Welsh hills are three hours or so away.

Even closer still are the fields and hedgerows of Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. And where there is countryside, there are still birds, despite our farming practices.

One piece of advice? Remember to listen. For decades I ignored my ears and relied on my eyes to identify bird species. Recently, I have listened more intently to the sometimes nuanced, often very obvious differences between the birds I hope to photograph.

Frequently, I now hear a bird before I see it. And capturing a bird in song – a sedge warbler, say, in full voice on an Oxfordshire reserve – can infuse a photo with energy and personality.

Raptors and owls