The Nature Blog

Esther Beaton is an Australia-based professional nature photographer with 25 years of experience and in The Nature Photography Cookbook the author aims to help those of us (including me) who are keen to take better wildlife photos to do just that.

This attractively produced ebook contains an impressive 153 pages of detailed yet easy-to-follow instructions to help you learn how to take pictures you can be proud of.

Whilst this ebook isn’t specifically designed for total newbies, anyone who has a little experience of taking wildlife photos (no matter how badly!) can benefit from Esther’s clear instructions.

Unlike the majority of nature photography books which focus primarily on technical aspects and contain almost too much information for the beginner to intermediate level of photographer, Esther has applied a “cookbook” style to this guide which really makes it very simple and clear to use, whilst being easy to dip into and use as a reference guide.

The Nature Photography Cookbook includes 60 “recipes” – or different suggestions for taking better wildlife photographs. Each one is presented in a very clear manner including information on subject or location, time of day or desirable weather and lastly the equipment you will need (nothing expensive is required).

Each recipe then includes detailed, step-by-step instruction on what to do in order to achieve the effect desired including advice on using your preview screen if you are using a digital camera and making minor adjustments to get the perfect photo. It should be mentioned though that these techniques are not confined to digital photographers and most if not all will work just as well for good old-fashioned film cameras.

Each recipe ends with a sample photograph showing the effect you are trying to capture together with an analysis of why the particular example works and I found it interesting to not only admire Esthers photographs but this small summary at the end of each chapter was also very useful for “getting my eye in” and developing a deeper understanding of what the technique discussed is trying to accomplish.

Esther has carefully arranged each of the 60 odd recipes in order of difficulty so that each technique builds on what you learned in the last. This greatly cuts down on the learning curve, allows one to follow a natural progression through the tuition and, for me at least, made the learning experience far easier and more enjoyable.

Any technical terms used in the book that the beginner may not be familiar with are carefully explained in detail in the glossary at the end of the book and indeed individual words are linked to the glossary throughout the book so you need only click the word and you will be taken straight to the exact definition before you continue reading which makes this a very accessible and user-friendly way to get started on improving your nature photography.

With all the details contained in the 150+ pages of the book it’s only fair that I end this Nature Photography Cookbook review with a complete rundown of the various chapter titles to “tickle your tastebuds” and give you a better idea of the topics you can look forward to discovering from it or you can click here to visit Esther’s site and find out more about the ebook…

1) Change Your Viewpoint – Look Down
2) The Effect Of Fog
3) Flower Close Up
4) Make A Diagonal Composition
5) Using Midday Sun
6) Shoot Close Up To Tell A Story
7) Good Exposure With Flash
Using Fog For Easy Atmosphere
9) Making Captive Birds Look Wild
10) Making Captive Mammals Look Wild
11) Waiting For The Action
12) Eliminating Busy Backgrounds
13) Can’t Get Close? Use Composition
14) Balancing The Composition
15) At The Porpoise Pool
16) Adding Foreground Interest
17) Using Elements Of A Scene
18) How To Create Silhouettes
19) Simple Backlighting
20) Seascapes At Dawn
21) Silky Water
22) Composing Reflections
23) Harmonious Colors
24) Wildflowers In Meadow Close Up
25) Wildflowers In Meadow Landscape
26) Composing With Clouds
27) Perennially Good Subjects
28) Change Your Viewpoint – Look Up
29) Forest Landscape Vertical Composition
30) Forest Landscape Horizontal Composition
31) Vanishing Hills
32) Complementary Colors
33) Backlit Macro Shot
34) Wide Angle To Create Vanishing Point
35) Radiating Lines To Overcome Lack Of Color
36) Deliberate Over-Exposure
37) Fill-Flash And Macro – Motionless Subject
38) Fill-Flash And Macro – Moving Subject
39) Moving The Subject
40) Stalking Animals In The Wild
41) Panning Over Water With Reflections
42) Basic Fill Flash For Portraits
43) Pre-Set Controls To Shoot Fast
44) Trompe L’oeil – Trick Of The Eye
45) Long Exposure After Sunset
46) Background Halo To Vignette Subject
47) Integrating A Surprise Element
48) Incorporating Shadows As Patterns
49) Using White Balance To Add Missing Color
50) Using Wide Angle Lens To Add Full Depth Of Field
51) Using Fisheye To Create Pattern
52) Using Graduated Filter In Dull Light
53) Depth Of Field With A Telephoto Lens
54) Wide Angle Lens Classic Composition
55) Candid Portrait Daring Composition
56) Framing With Silhouetted Branches
57) Posed Three-Quarter Portrait
58) Posed Head-And-Shoulders Portrait
59) Using Sun To Create Hotspot Vignette
60) Experiment And Have Fun!

Click here to visit the official Nature Photography Cookbook website for complete details on this impressive guide.

Continue Reading

The Sussex Wildlife Trust is based at Woods Mill Nature Trail which hosts not just the SWT offices but also a considerable amount of carefully-managed reserve. Whilst small in size, the reserve offers ample parking and a huge diversity of habitats including deciduous woodland, open pasture and aquatic and semi-aquatic environments thanks to the river running through the site and the man-made pools and ponds.

Apparently originally privately-owned, the site hosts a fascinating range of old masonry lying around close to the office buildings which give the site a strange, almost monastic feel, and at least for nerds like me provide a lot of added interest as you try to figure out what you’re looking at and what it was going to be used for.

I visited the Woods Mill Nature Trail in late April/early May but thanks for work commitments I have only now had the time to write up this little piece about the site. When I visited earlier on in the year there were signs of plants and animals everywhere.

A (private) deciduous wood on the site was simply dripping with wild flowers like Stitchwort and Bluebells and you could well imagine deer and foxes bounding around in the woods. Incidentally I was also lucky enough a few weeks ago to get a decent photo of some Bluebell seed pods now that the flowering season has come to an end and the seeds are ready to disperse.

The open pasture, with a stream running through it, was alive with a variety of grasses and wild flowers including Lady’s Smock which was attracting Orange Tip butterflies in droves. This area is also apparently excellent for swallows and swifts hunting insects and also for birds of prey flowing low looking for small mammals to catch.

Indeed, the Trust hosts several nest boxes specifically for birds of prey – kestrels and owls for example – which are used on a regular basis and so visitors have an excellent potential of getting great views of these animals going about their normal everyday lives.

Lastly in the evening a number of species of bat may be seen flying low over the pasture hunting for insects after the swallows have gone to roost for the evening.

Education is an integral element of the site and so school parties and professional training courses are invited in on a regular basis. One interesting element of this are the dipping pools and lake which allow children to find and identify a host of aquatic animals. On the day I visited the pools were literally alive with newts and every few seconds another would swim elegantly to the top for a breath of air before disappearing beneath the surface to continue with their mating.

All these various habitats also encourage a wide range of plants and personally I was particularly taken by the sweetly-scented Yellow Archangel with it’s crown of buttery-yellow flowers which the bees couldn’t stay away from. The simple yet elegant Garlic Mustard was also growing strongly in the shade of the trees near the dipping pond attracting numerous hover flies.

Yellow Archangel

Garlic Mustard

Lastly, as a self-confessed bug fanatic, I happily spent quite some time watching a number of wolf spiders hunting amongst the nettles near the entrance to the site and these nettle-beds themselves provide food and homes for a range of our British butterfly species such as Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshell.

In many ways Woods Mill is a perfect day out. Certainly the site is reasonably small but with excellent parking and toilets available, together with a huge variety of species there really is something here for every nature lover. Take the time to just sit yourself down on one of the many benches scattered around the site and just sit back and watch as the wildlife goes about it’s normal business.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Sussex Wildlife Trust for their hospitality during our visit and I would also strongly recommend that if you are based in or near Sussex that you seriously consider joining the SWT. They do some amazing work – about which I hope to bring you more information over the next few weeks – and are a passionate group working tirelessly to protect our native wildlife. More information on the Sussex Wildlife Trust is available from their website which can be found at http://www.sussexwt.org.uk

Continue Reading

photo credit: Cheloran ©

The common lizard is the UK’s most widely spread lizard and possibly the most commonly seen reptile of all in Britain. Like all lizards it needs the warmth of the sun in order to get going and so a walk early in the morning on a sunny day gives you a great chance to see them.

However lizards are wary and quick-moving so you need to tread carefully if you want to get a better view than simply a brown tail disappearing into the undergrowth! But take your time and get a close look and you will find that the common lizard is really a tremendously pretty creature.

Appearance

The viviparous lizard (Lacerta vivipara) is not a large lizard by any stretch of the imagination and including the tail may only grow to around 12-15cm though many species seen are a lot smaller. As the name suggests these lizards typically give birth to live young rather than laying eggs so one may see portly female in the summer and soon afterwards tiny baby lizards.

The common lizard is a basic brown colour with a reasonably blunt head though some specimens may be seen with a variety of darker mottling and speckling on them. If you see a lizard in the wild in Britain it is *almost* certain to be the common lizard.

Habitat

Common lizards were once widespread and I remember seeing them as a child simply running around people’s gardens in the height of summer. As with all other creatures though habitat loss and the building of roads has reduced the places in which you may see these creatures.

Common lizards may be found in grassland and meadows, basking on walls in summer, on sand dunes but the most likely place to see them in my experience is on heathland. Find your local heath with it’s unique habitat and walk slowly and quietly on a summers day for the best possible chance of seeing this amazing creature.

Food

The common lizard like most other lizards is carnivorous and will eat virtually anything it can get in it’s mouth. Due to the small size of this lizard this typically means invertebrates of which grasshoppers are possibly the most common given the habitat and time of year that common lizards are at their most active.

Continue Reading

photo credit: jurvetson

One of the real pleasures of being out in the garden is the profusion of wild creatures one can see closeup. From hoverflies to hedgehogs, bats to beetles, gardens are an important habitat for many species of wildlife.

For the best results, however, why not take some time to make your garden just a little bit more “wildlife friendly” by turning at least a small patch into a “nature garden”. It needn’t be as hard as you may think, so in this article I’d like to discuss just a few simple ways you can turn your plot into a nature garden.

1) Water

Water is essential for many animals either to drink or to breed in and so providing water in your garden will go a long way to attractive wildlife. Frogs, newts and toads will breed in ponds, as will a waide variety of invertebrates. Bats may hunt over ponds and some birds may drink from them or bathe in them.

Obviously the bigger the pond is, the better but really anything is better than nothing. Pond liners are cheap to buy and easy to fit and it can be tremendously exciting to watch your pond flourish.

A couple of points worth making on the subject of ponds. Firstly, try to avoid putting fish into your pond which may well eat smaller creatures and also try to ensure that there is easy access in and out of the pond. Young frogs, for example, will need to be able to climb out and hedgehogs have been known to drown in ponds where there wasn’t an easy exit route. Lastly planting dense foliage around your pond will provide cover making wildlife feel more at home.

But it’s not just ponds that are beneficial for wildlife. In addition, consider adding a bird bath to your garden to give garden birds somewhere above ground to drink and bathe where they will feel far safer.

2) Nectar Plants

When you consider the food chain, insects are important not only to pollinate plants but also as a source of food for a wide range of other creatures. Planting flowering plants such as red valerian, nicotiana and buddleia will help to attract butterflies, moths and a host of other invertebrates into your garden.

3) Larval Food Plants

Just as important as nectar plants are larval food plants. Many British wild plant species such as wild violet, native grasses and nettles are used by a range of different butterflies and moths as a food plant. So why not leave a little area to “go wild” and so provide food for caterpillars in your nature garden?

4) Varied Species

It’s as true in your garden as it is in nature; the more plant species you have the wider the range of animals that your garden can support. So don’t just have a “monoculture” of grass but add a range of different flowering plants, shrubs and trees to attract as many different species as possible.

5) Hiding Places

Wildlife is constantly on the look out for predators and so any way you can provide them a haven will be welcomed. We’ve mentioned planting trees and shrubs but also planting a hedgerow of native plants around your garden helps to provide places for wildlife to hide.

Old piles of logs or dead leaves are also excellent habitats and require minimal effort yet can provide homes for breeding grass snakes, hedgehogs, small mammals like wood mice and more.

6) Nest Boxes

Lastly consider adding some nest boxes to your garden. As habitat loss continues to increase there are fewer and fewer nesting sites (and roosting sites) for British wildlife. Of course you’ve seen standard nest boxes for small song birds like blue tits but don’t also forget artificial nests for swallow and house martins, bat boxes and even the boxes now available to attract bumble bees, ladybirds and the like.

Continue Reading

photo credit: Minette Layne

Most authorities agree there are six species of amphibian in the UK at present, though tiny populations of some other amphibians have been found over the years (such as the Marsh Frog). Some discussion still exists as to whether these are rare natives or introduced animals which have been released by exotic pet keepers.

The general list of British amphibians is:

- Common Frog (Rana temporaria)
- The Common Toad (Bufo bufo)
- The Natterjack Toad (Bufo calamita) – very scarce and so rarely seen
- The Common (or Smooth) Newt (Triturus vulgaris)
- The Palmate Newt (Triturus helveticus)
- The Great Crested Newt (Triturus cristatus)

Continue Reading

photo credit: raneko

Like many animals, common frogs exist in a range of different colour forms. Typically green or brown in colour, one also may see bright yellow/green versions and also some orange/red specimens.

Nobody seems totally sure whether this is due to genetic variations or differences in habitat or diet but I think the picture above illustrates the point well where a red female can be seen mating with a more standard coloured male.

Note that according to Froglife, the conservation charity, red frogs are not too unusual and some females reportedly *turn* red during the breeding season for whatever reason.

Red Common Frog Seen In Scotland Recently

Continue Reading

photo credit: law_keven

If you’re a wildlife fanatic and spend some of your time in the great outdoors enjoying all the plants and animals it has to offer, were you aware that your activities could be put to excellent use by a range of scientists? Many biologists rely on the observations of people like you and me to help them understand the conservation of Britains nature.

The following list, while not exhaustive, lists a huge number of wildlife surveys you can get involved with if you have the interest. Please feel free to add any that we have omitted in the comments section at the end. Lastly, as always I have tried to link to the specific page that relates to the survey rather than the homepage of the various organizations to try and make your research just that little bit more speedy.

• Beewatch
• Big Garden Birdwatch
• Breeding Bird Survey
• British Waterways (Newt And Bat Monitoring)
• Butterfly Monitoring Scheme
• Dragonfly Recording Network
• Golden Great Nut Hunt (Dormice)
• Goose And Swan Monitoring
• Harlequin Ladybird Survey
• Hogwatch
• Living With Mammals
• Mammals On Roads
• National Amphibian And Reptile Recording Scheme
• National Bat Monitoring Program
• National Otter Survey
• Natures Calendar
• Nest Record Scheme
• Orchard Survey
• Scarlet Malachite Beetle Survey
• UK Glowworm Survey
• Wetland Bird Survey

Continue Reading

photo credit: law_keven

While some British wildlife species can be seen in urban environments such as our parks and gardens there is definitely something to be said for actually getting out in the countryside with a pair of binoculars and simply enjoying being surrounded by beautiful scenery and wild animals.

But the question is where do you find places you can visit in order to see the abundance of wildlife found in the UK?

Fortunately there are a wide range of charities and non-profit organizations who take care of many of Britain’s most beautiful areas and a little bit of research can dig up an astonishing number of places worth visiting.

For example a visit to your local library or tourist information office will often turn up maps and guides to all sorts of nature walks one can take in your local area.

But this simply scratches the surface. Try the following links which will allow you to search for nature reserves, bridle paths, woodlands and more all around the British Isles. I think you’ll be surprised at just how many wild spaces there are on your doorstep once you know where to look.

Bridleways – This site does require you to register, though this is free. Intended mainly for horse enthusiasts, this should also provide you with some interesting countryside walks.

Forestry Commission – Find woodlands you can visit. You can even search these listings by species if there is a certain animal you would like to see.

National Trust- A hige variety of wild areas. To speed up your search you can click here for listings of countryside locations and here for listings of coastal locations.

Natural England- Information on National Nature Reserves (NNRs), SSSIs and a variety of other protected areas.

RSPB Reserves – Not just for bird lovers, these reserves boast a wide variety of wildlife though many reserves do charge an entry fee.

Wildlife Trusts – Over 2,000 reserves are maintained by the Wildlife Trusts so make the most of this fantastic opportunity.

Woodland Trust – Another fine selection of woodland to visit. Includes information on the facilities you may find at these sites.

WWT – Wetland habitats around Britain.

Continue Reading