Hides and squeaks

Just back from a truly amazing weekend in Southern Scotland photographing Tawny Owl, Sparrowhawk, Pine Marten and Kingfisher, courtesy of Paul Fowlie Photography and Scottish Photographing Hides.

It started on Friday night where I met up with the rest of the team and we were escorted to the first hide of the weekend by the excellent and very knowledgeable Alan McFadyen of Scottish Photography Hides. We settled into the comfortable chairs in the hide while Alan baited a couple of moss covered posts in front of the hides with some dead mice. Alan then set up some lights to the front of the posts, gave us a quick brief on what to expect and then some crucial advice on camera settings before leaving us to enjoy the show.

Shortly after Alan left us, and just as it was getting dark I looked up into the trees to my right and saw my first Tawny Owl of the evening. The owl was surveying the scene in front of us, and as promised it flew straight down onto one of the posts and started feeding on the dead mice with the sound of continuous camera shutters filling the night air.

What followed was a stunning show by 2 or 3 tawny owls, they looked magnificent lit up by the lights, and with a black background made for some stunning images. Some 971 shots, and about a dozen dead mice later, the owls retreated back up into the trees. Like some of the others I was quick to check my images on the screen of my camera and was totally blown away by the quality.

Saturday morning we met up again and returned to the same hide from the night before. Alan baited the same 2 posts with dead mice, gave us a brief on the Sparrowhawk, then left us to our own devices. A Sparrowhawk made an early appearance in the trees to our right but never came onto the posts. We had to wait until late in the afternoon for it to make a full appearance, but we had been kept entertained by some very photogenic Nuthatches, Finches and Tits .

The Sparrowhawk, just appeared from nowhere, sending the smaller birds scattering in all directions. It landed on one of the posts and started feeding on the dead mice. It stayed for about 15 minutes giving us plenty of chance to play with our camera settings to ensure we had the sharpest images possible, and again I was very happy with the results.

After the Sparrowhawk there was just enough time for a quick bite to eat before Alan took 3 of us a few miles up the road to the very discreet Pine Marten hide. A moss covered wall was baited with one egg, some honey drizzled on the wall top and a few nuts scattered around. We had another briefing from Alan as to what to expect, and about an hour later we got our first sighting of this elusive creature. It appeared without any warning, stealthy as anything with no noise at all, and quickly went for the egg which it carried off somewhere to devour. As promised it returned a short time later to lick the honey off the wall, it grabbed a few nuts before disappearing off into the night, but not before stopping and looking at us directly for a few seconds. Such a fantastic encounter with one of the UK’s rarest mammals, and the highlight to an already first class weekend.

Sunday morning was a visit to the Kingfisher hide, located next to stunning little stretch of river with crystal clear waters, and again it wasn’t long before a female Kingfisher came to visit. She hung around just long enough for us all to grab a few images before flying off up river. I stayed for a while and could hear then calling but no further sightings for me, but I am reliably informed that it did show for the others after I had gone.

In all a first class weekend with 4 species promised, and true to his word Alan delivered all 4. The hides are first class and a lot of thought has gone into the props, highly recommended to anyone with an interest in wildlife photography. I’m already looking forward to a return in February to try out some of the other hides.