Each trip is limited to just four guests and therefore the intial dates we have set out will likely sell out quickly. For more information visit the seal and tern photography workshop page.

I’ve made a few changes to the area and it is now possible to change the perch so you can get creative with your photography and choose anything from mossy branches to bulrushes.

As a bonus, a family of otters have been frequenting the river on a regular basis so if you are really really lucky you may just get to see them too!

I’ve already booked up most of the dates but have just added a few more kingfisher photography course dates in April, you can view them at the kingfisher page.

Winter has arrived in full force and Norfolk is receiving a fair amount of snow. I’m making the most of this opportunity to get out there and capture as much wildlife as I can with beautiful snowy backdrops. The woodland birds hide is a hive of activity during these tough and cold days and it’s one of the best times to photograph the wild inhabitants of the wood as they get braver the more hungry they get.

There are a few spaces left on the woodland birds photography course over the next few months, visit the woodland bird page for more information.

One of the perks of being a wildlife photographer is that I get to see nature up close. However, sometimes wildlife just gets too close! I’m currently working on wide angle flight shots of my wild barn owl but it seems to want to take control of the other side of the camera!!!! Thought I’d share this photograph with you all, it made me laugh on an otherwise fairly bleak morning!

For more information about barn owl workshops please visit the barn owl photography workshop page.

My wild barn owl photography workshops are now up and running. Winter offers one of the best chances to photograph these beautiful birds, food is very scarce and these owls hunt in broad daylight to maximise their hunting time. Set on a private nature reserve, my barn owl workshop provides fantastic opportunities to photograph a barn owl hunting and on rustic perches which have been purposely placed to get great photographs.

These are by far one of the most iconic and graceful birds in Britain and to photograph them up close is a real privilege.

For more information about workshops please visit the barn owl photography workshop page.

If you have any questions then let me know.

I was really pleased to find out today that one of my puffin photographs was given a silver award in the well respected International Loupe Awards this year.

One of my deer shots missed out on a silver award by just one point but still received the bronze award which I am also pleased with.

Next year I’m going for gold!!!

Here’s a couple of testimonials from clients who visited the hide:

“Wow! What a fantastic experience! To be so close to such a fantastic bird in the wild was a truly amazing and to come away with such stunning pictures was the icing on the cake. I can’t wait to come back. Thank you for all your help and advice.” Andrew Ducat.

“The experience of sitting in the hide was extremely peaceful, and the male kingfisher kept showing up through the morning, providing great views and posing for the camera. It was the best view of a kingfisher I’ve ever had, and I’ve been searching for this for over 2 years! I’m already trying to book to go back! Thanks again.” Alastair Marsh

To find out more visit my kingfisher photography course page.

This year the courses sold out very quickly so book early to avoid disappointment. You can book by using the BUY NOW button at the bottom of the page, of course if you have any questions then email me at jon@norfolk-wildlife-photography.co.uk

I am currently discussing a regular column with them covering how to get close and photograph a variety of species, keep checking back for updates!

For the last eight months I’ve been slowly but surely making progress on a badger photography project in the local private woods I spend much of my time in. Badgers are very difficult creatures to photograph for several reasons; first they are very conservative and do not like any changes to their environment, if they sense something is different or strange they will make a bolt for it, secondly they have an amazing sense of smell (some sources say 800 times that of humans!), third they mainly come out in the dark making photography more tricky and finally – after thousands of years of hunting – they do not like us humans one bit in the least and want to be as far away from us as possible!

I decided that in order to build a long term photography project with this family I would need to move very slowly with the aim of building trust so I could eventually get near to them to photograph and them observe them going about their daily natural activities. It would be a case of slowly slowly catchy badger…!

In order to build a good level of trust I’ve divided my project into several distinct stages. The first was to build a wooden hide nearby, this would be the basis of where I photograph and watch the badgers and where my customers could do so with me at a later date. It is a place away from their sett which they can feel relaxed with and comfortable while knowing that if they want to they can leave easily. Once the hide was built I then needed to get the badgers visiting on a regular basis. As with all animals, free food is always appreciated and I started leaving small but regular bait down at the same spot each day. My aim here was to give them a small amount of supplementary food, not to replace their whole diet. This means that they come down, tuck into some food and then disappear off into the woods after to continue their foraging and natural behaviour. Over the months I experimented with all sorts of foods and finally found one which is irresistable to them. Slowly but surely they got used to visiting the spot and hide, being such conservative creatures, once this daily visit gets set into their routine they continued to visit on a regular basis. The next stage was to get them used to human smells so I have been moving around the area lots, leaving out t-shirts i’ve worn and sitting watching them when the visit. This slowly got them used to my smell so that they associated the food with it rather than fear it.

This long and drawn out process has been very productive and they are now visiting every night within around 30 minutes of me placing the food out. I am now at the point where I can sit a few metres away from them and watch them foraging and relaxing in the area. I am gradually getting them used to the strange clicks and flashes of my camera and have started to get some reasonable shots.

Assuming all continues to go well I will be running badger photography sessions from around October so if you’re interested please get in touch and we can arrange a date. This is a really special opportunity to get close to an animal which people very rarely see, there’s nothing quite like sitting in the dark hearing the cracking of branches (they’re not the stealthiest of creatures) all around only to see that very familiar black and white head poking out from the dark!