Willoughby Fields

 

It all started when my family and I moved into the area when I was just 5 years old.  I have grown up here. Having always loved animals I became obssed with the wildlife here and the adventures that await me.

 

 I started waiting by the gate to one of the fields, near to where a foxes' earth was. Lots of foxes were ( and still come) out in the day, playing, sleeping, grooming etc. So I spent almost everyday up there during the day to try and get these foxes use to me. Eventually it worked. They viewed me as part of the background and not  a threat. They were not tame…if I moved too much or made too much noise, they would run. But they would play and act naturally in front of me when I was very close; within touching distance. I began seeing them up close and started noticing more than just external beauty but internal, complex beauty that I had to seek to be privelged to see.

The behaviour made me obsessed with documenting it by photographing and filming it. I even began writing poetry out there and built various hides and spears and practically lived out there. I felt free. I never went to school, ever. I would eat blackberries and live to watch the adult kingfishers, little owl, tawny owls, , foxes, roe deer, rabbits and buzzards rearing their young through the spring and summer. The animals have become my friends.

I didn't know at the time that the close encounters I had and amazing experiences of gaining animals trust would make me who I am today. It gave me healthy respect but love for nature. I am extremely attatched to individual animals, that I have studied through the seasons. What impresses me is their on-going battle for survival. There people are, locked up indoors, completely oblivious to the drama and awe that the countryside can hold.

“Bold” , a fox, would come right up to one of his favourite spots ignoring the fact that I was there, and started leaning on the exact gate I was leaning on. His fur touched my trouser leg. It was amazing. Their eyes are firey orange hazel colour.

Then there was Romeo, the roe deer. I followed him from a distance and slowly over the weeks, got nearer. He excepted me and let me film him just 2 and a half meters from him.

The kingfishers: I would sit very still but very obvious and they would perch on a stick I had impaled into the bank.

I learnt a lot out there. I learnt that individual animals had certain things that make them tick. What I mean is  the techniques that I have to use so as to keep the animals calm and happy and acting natural but to allow me to get as close as I need.

Gaining the trust of animals is an out of this world experiance. I feel humbled by it.

By doing certain body language I could even get the inquisitive roe deer to come to me. It was amazing but took a lot of practise.

 

One time I even got to witness the very rare Roe deer rut ( usually only takes place at night, and not much is known about it.) It was at dusk and I saw Buck ( the main stag) and Romeo (the younger stag) fighting. I managed to get photos and film of it. Buck chased Romeo towards me and I had to hide, as this rut took place just 5 meters in front of me. I could hear there antlers smashing. Roe deer ruts aren’t so aggressive as other deer, but these two were going for it! I felt torn as I had grown attatched to both deer but it was obvious that Buck wasn't going to let the whipper snapper get his does. 

I then started taking an interest in the river. I began trekking through it, waist deep trying really hard to conquer my fear of what’s under water, for the sake of amazing wildlife. I wouldn’t leave until I had at least 8 sightings of the kingfishers. There electric blue and gold flashing past with a high pitched whistle, as “Halcyon” and “Minnow” ( the male and female's names) dashed past. I would spend summer days, the good old fashioned way…just idly watching the wildlife in the river, and investigating the fish.  It facinates me still and I am like a kid in a sweet shop, wide eyes staring at everything and studying it with great content.

As I travelled a mile or two up river I heard the cries of buzzards. I got up on the bank to see 4 buzzards screaming at each other. 2 Of them looked young. I then realized that I had found a family of buzzards fledging ( which can take up to 2 weeks). So every time I walked through the river  I saw buzzards who didn’t mind my presence at all. They weren’t use to humans so didn’t view me as a threat. I kept my distance though, not wanting to interfere. If there is one thing I have learnt about wildlife camera work it is this “ The animals always come first!”

P.P.P

= Persistence, Patience and Passion are the three main words that come to my mind when photographing.

 

One time a mink came playfully out in daylight up to a washed up pile of twigs right near me. I watched it for 10 minutes, taking lots of photos and movies after waiting 5 hours for this reward. That was that, for a few weeks, while the daylight lasted I would meet every time in the same spot and watch the mink play. I learnt he didn’t like dog food but loved tuna, and that there were two of them. They are very playful, inquisitive animals but being a mustelid ( related to badgers, otters, pine martins etc) their eye sight is quite poor so they never saw me on the bank.  They make up for their lack of good eye sight with their hearing and sense of smell.

 

I then found a mother little owl raising her chicks and spent 2 months watching them, as even when the chicks fledged, mum still hang around. She caught mice and moths. I had Been trying to track little owls down for ages, I knew the habitat was perfect and had studied my subject in books ( like every other animal). Although it is so much more beneficial to watch the wildlife first hand and see it for yourself, and then you can see truth and when someone has exaggerated about a certain behaviour. The fact is people don't like the unknown but the animal kingdom is full with mysteries. People round things up and generalise. Let's just except that some things in the animal kingdom are not meant to be understood, that is the beauty of it...there are always questions unanswered and mysteries yet to be solved. It makes me so excited just typing about it. 

 

I have been watching great spotted woodpeckers raise their broods for several years. The same couple. The chicks are incredibly noisy and don't stop calling until the night draws in. 

At night I talk to the tawny owls “Kiwicking” and get about 4 or so every time, responding and even coming over, only to see it is me, and then to regain their nightly duties of guarding their territory. I go badger watching and stargazing. I watched a sow ( female badger) come right up to the pile of peanuts 1 ft away from me, as I was hiding on the floor with a camouflage sheet. Her pretty stripes aglow in the full moon. Full moon is always great for badger watching. I would stay out for hours seeing glow worms, tawny owls, deer, foxes, rabbits, badgers and lots of woodmice.Seeing tawny owls catch rodents on the ground, foxes fighting…rodents scurrying over my feet, and a barn owl hunting. I am very passionate for wildlife because of the Willoughby’s, but especially nocturnal wildlife. At night everything comes alive even more!

 The Willoughby’s has diverse terrains which attracts many different species, and for some reason, maybe because of lack of people there, they seem to be ignorant of my presence. My diary of a normal day would be ‘ I went to the Willoughby’s on a sunny day, and saw the usual foxes ( Dodger sunbathing on the hedge again, and Bold drinking from the trough) Buck and his does , and I got really close to Romeo again, just watching him eat, while I had all the time in the world to adjust my camera to the settings, and then a kestrel was hunting over my head, and so I was torn over the two subjects to photograph. I walked to the river and saw the woodcock again. Flush out from under my feet. I got there and straight away went into stealth mode, and ducked down, to watch the kingfishers fighting. I then watched the mink, whom just ignored the kingfishers flying past. After a fun day out in the river splashing around, and watching the buzzard family raise their chicks. I feasted on blackberries, and settled down to stargaze. I saw a tawny owl when I called it over with my “Kiwick” calls. "

The pipistrelle bats are such fun to photograph but boy, is it hard. I caught a capture of a bat swooping an insect into it’s tail membrane and then passing it into it’s mouth, which I researched later and discovered that I am possibly the first person to have ever caught this action manually with no high tech expensive equipment and camera trap motion detectors. Just plain reaction and my bridge camera. How cool is that!