I have had my first session in the hide now, and what a session it was!

For the past few weeks we have been working around the weather (will it ever stop raining?) and have been able to make some good progress with the hide, to the point where it is now actually useable as a hide.

The only time photography ever gets me down is when I can’t do photography. And that’s exactly what has been happening over the past couple of months.

The feeders have only recently just started to get busy, which is a result of the drop in temperature and the birds natural food becoming scarcer. The species that you can always rely on were about in good numbers – blue tits and great tits.

You can make a wildlife set-up pretty much anywhere and one of the best places to start is in your own garden.

Early sunrise during Summer for me means early starts in the reserve. And there is absolutely no doubt that the first couple of hours of the day is the best time to be in the reserve, especially after a clear night.

My Local Nature Reserve originally began its life as a Country Park managed by Wiltshire Council. But through the dedication, determination and the hard work of a group of volunteers that kept the park tidy, recorded the numerous species that called the park home, and generally kept an on eye on the place, it was granted Nature Reserve Status in 2021.

I was always reasonably confident that woodpeckers would eventually find the feeders as they were often in the trees calling and drumming when I was around, so it really wasn’t a surprise when one decided to come to the feeders.

I have been very fortunate in that I got to know someone who was kind enough to let me start exploring his land with the possibility of photographing the wildlife there.

I shoot with OM System (formerly Olympus) cameras and lenses. I chose OM System for two main reasons, the first being cost.