A night in a hide…
After visiting “The Mouse Nest” in Glentham, Lincolnshire for a Harvest Mouse workshop, Lee Smith the owner showed me his wildlife photography hide and explained the packages available - I was immediately drawn! Lee has spent a couple of years building up this amazing place which is just in his back garden! He offers (dependant on time of the year) daytime photography options such as Kestrels, Buzzards, Harvest Mice as well as night time options for Owls, Badgers and Foxes.
The hide itself from the outside is a garden shed but once inside it is a photographers dream! The hide is an “L” shape with the side that you enter through facing out over the garden which has a reflection pool with various perches around it - This is the area where Owls come to on a night, and Woodpeckers amongst others during the day. Around the corner it looks out onto a farmers field with a few main perches including the public footpath sign post - This is the main action area which attracts most of the Owls and Foxes.
The windows are one way glass so you can see the wildlife but crucially the wildlife can’t see you! There are plenty of port holes for camera lenses and Gimbal head stands are supplied for you to mount your camera or lens onto. A heater is supplied along with a chemical toilet and tea/coffee facilities. The big bonus however is the TV screen with cameras facing out over the perches. It also records so Lee spent some time looking back over the previous nights encounters showing what wildlife came in and around what times. The idea being during the night in darkness you will keep an eye on the screen and you will see if an animal has arrived and where it is - then you know where you are shooting!
There is a flash system already set up on the hide and Lee gives you a remote trigger to attach to your camera and advises what settings to dial in - He has a great photography knowledge as well as wildlife knowledge! He explained that at night with flash 1/200 of a second shutter speed was similar to 1/2000 of a second during daylight which is enough to freeze time. I dialled in my settings - F5.6 aperture, 1/200 shutter speed and ISO 2500. The only setting i would need to alter is the ISO depending on how light or dark i wanted the images to be. All set up Lee then went out and baited the perches - he tethered the mice to the perches to encourage the Owls to stay to feed rather than swoop in and fly off with them. He also put some chicken around the outside of the hide to encourage the Foxes in.
Now it was time for me to settle down and wait! It wasn’t long however until the first visitor arrived in the form of a Little Owl - This guy was in and out all night, on various different perches and gave me ample opportunity to try capture some different images once i had the obligatory portrait shots. I was watching their behaviours to try work out when they were about to take off - they give a slight head bob before launching. I was trying to capture the Owl taking off from the Public Footpath signpost but kept missing! I was either too slow or the Owl went the wrong way or its wing was covering its face etc….Eventually though…BOOM! Nailed it! I was sat there on my own, in the dark, in silence, rubbing my legs like Vic Reeves! (image at top of the blog post)
After the Little Owl I had my first visit from a fox - one of 4 that Lee has coming regularly. He puts out food for all these animals every night so they all know where they can get a meal and encourages them to come back again and again every night. It took a couple of years to build up to this stage of regular visitors however and the feed bill is substantial!
Foxes were in and out all throughout the night. A Tawny Owl was next, staying on the scythe perch to feed before flying off. It was quite a windy night which Lee advised would put the Tawny’s off somewhat so I only had the one visit from this bird but the TV recording showed the night before, like the others they usually come in and out all night. The Tawny is the most common Owl species in the UK and is the Owl that makes that typical “Twit Twoo” call that every one associates with Owls
I managed to capture the Tawny’s third eyelid - Owls have the usual two upper and lower eyelids as well as a third which cleans and protects the surface of those big eyes. It gives the Owl a strange evil look! Next up was that old favourite, and indeed my favourite bird - The Barn Owl. Stunning silent hunters and yet again, visited a few times throughout the night.
The key to getting these shots is patience but also not being trigger happy. The flash going off constantly would disturb the animals, and they can hear you moving about. The Foxes particularly can hear you moving your lens so you have to move slowly and minimally. Allow the animal to feed and monitor their behaviour. If they are not comfortable you can tell and you back off - Its the same during the day approaching wildlife - If their behaviour changes then you stop and allow them to become comfortable again. When an animal came I didn’t take a shot straight away and and waited for the right moments to shoot - less is more and quality over quantity also rings true.
The wind picked up and between the hours of 02:00 and 05:00 I had little visiting. I was keeping an eye out but also waiting for sunrise as Lee had told me that at dawn the Kestrels would start arriving looking for anything that the Owls didn’t finish. and sure enough, just before first light a Kestrel arrived. These are day time birds so it wasn’t sure about the flash, so only a couple of shots in darkness and then wait until the sun comes up and you can turn the flash off.
And that was it! 18 hours after arriving I was heading home. In the first couple of hours I was slightly worried about how long the night would be but honestly, it just flew! I was comfortable and entertained by wildlife pretty constantly all night apart from that one spell of quiet due to the wind. I was already asking about other options for next time. In the spring/summer there is an all night Badger hide as well as a day time Kestrel. I am hoping to get back for a day with Buzzards/Sparrowhawk's but the fairly mild winter so far has meant the Buzzards are still not needing to come for food as much as there is plenty around in the wild. So hopefully another trip back to the Mouse Nest soon! I can’t recommend the place enough! Lee is a great host, very knowledgeable and has a wealth of experience. Look out for my blog post about the Harvest Mouse workshop and checkout “The Mouse Nest” on facebook!
All images copyright to Graham Perkin