Hungary for Birds - Day 1 and 2:  The Red Foots of Hortobágy

The waiting was finally over and having been booked for over 6 months, the day had at last arrived for my journey to eastern Hungary.  This was to be a slightly different trip to my previous overseas bird photography adventures in that the whole week would be based on using the network of hides that had been specifically developed for photographers in and around the Hortobágy National Park. The design of the hides was based on those developed by the globally famous Hungarian wildlife photographer Bence Mate and incorporate a one-way glass that allows close encounters with some of the spectacular birds that inhabit this region.

A trip to Hungary had been in my thoughts for a long time. Even during the hours of sleep images of colourful birds such as Bee-eaters and European Rollers had swept across my dreamscapes.  Birds that I had only admired in the pages of well thumbed books would hopefully now appear before the camera.

The journey to Budapest with my companion for the trip, Gerhard, was surprising uneventful given the traumas that can be associated with getting bird photography equipment through airports. We touched down mid-afternoon and were quickly standing outside arrivals to meet a driver who would transport us on a 2.5 hour journey across Hungary to our final destination of Balmazujvaros. 

We encountered our first Hungarian birds in the airport car park as Crested Larks hopped around across the  warm tarmac picking off unwary insects. I must confess I do not know a great deal about Hungary as a country and our journey across it in a slightly rattling old minibus gave plenty of time to take in the scene. We travelled through large areas of agricultural land which are farmed with a much less intensive approach than in the UK leaving beneficial large areas of uncultivated land around and through the fields. Natural buffer zones around reed filled drainage channels, that meandered across the farmland, providing important corridors of connectivity between the varied habitats. It was obvious how the birds would benefit from such a landscape. We spotted a good number of bird species on our journey including numerous Red-backed Shrike perched up on low bushes and fence posts, a species which has been unfortunately lost as a breeding bird in the UK.

We arrived at the Hotel Balmaz in the early evening and met our contact, Janos, who suggested that we should start early the next day at the Red-footed Falcon hide. So there was little left to do that day except to rest from a long journey, have a meal, unpack and ready the camera kit for the following day's action. I had a fairly restless night in anticipation of the next day especially as I never seem to sleep well when an early alarm is set.

An irritating beeping of the alarm work me from my sleep at a very unreasonable hour. Having grabbed a couple of quick coffees to reduce the stumbling around of being half asleep and collected our large packed breakfast and lunch provided by the hotel, we headed out in to the early dawn to be taken to the hide. It was about a 30 minute drive, half of which was off-road along deeply rutted farm tracks across a large plain of low grassland dotted with occasional white farm buildings and barns. A tree line in the distance marked our destination with the low sun glinting of one of the mirrored glass sides of the tower hide.

The hide itself was constructed on the top of four telegraph poles set in the ground at an angle and had two mirror glass sides to allow for photography throughout the day as the sun moved round. Access was up a steep staircase and through a trap door in the floor. As we approached the hide the dark shapes of the male falcons could be seen elegantly scything through the air around the hide. Next to the hide and along the tree line where it is sited there are numerous nest boxes for the Red-footed Falcons and Kestrel, six of which have perches mounted above for photographing the birds.

As a quick introduction to the Red-footed Falcon, a male bird on one of the perches.

A female bird in some bushes next to the hide.

I was surprised how small these birds were when compared alongside the Common Kestrel and I would have estimated them to be about 2/3 the size. My impression is that they mainly feed on large insects like a Hobby but also catch some small rodents as well.

We quickly found at the sun arced skyward that the hide turned in to a mini sauna and got very hot inside. It took Gerhard and myself  a short while to get accustomed to photographing through the glass which not only leads to loss of around 2 stops of light but also requires the camera to be set as square to the glass as possible for best results. This obviously makes flight photographs difficult but I did manage a couple of the male. You will notice in this photograph that he is clutching what appears to be a large cricket, which he is nosily bringing back to the female as a 'gift' as a prelude to mating.

We only saw the birds mate on three occasions during the whole day as the birds were already starting to lay eggs. I missed the first two matings with the camera as I did not read the behaviour signals that it was going to happen but with lesson learnt I managed to get the full sequence on the last occasion with this being one of the photos.

To show how productive the area is, at one point over a small area of the grassland there were 5 Red-footed Falcons and 2 kestrel hovering for prey. It was a glorious view from the hide across the grassland plains and we spotted Brown hare and Roe deer together with passing Purple Heron and Marsh Harrier.

The falcons spent a good deal of time perched allowing for plenty of photo opportunities and swapping duty sitting in the nest box.

The birds also seemed to spend a lot of time preening and keeping those feathers in prime condition. They create some beautiful shapes in the process particularly when cleaning tail feathers.

I could obviously show many more images taken during the day but have decided that is enough for this post. On my next blog post as I take you on the journey of this Hungarian bird photography adventure I will show two other species we encountered from the tower hide. All I will say for now is the day got a good deal more colourful and included watching and photographing a sight that is not often seen.

More Bempton Flyers

Apologies for the delay in updating the blog but I was away in eastern Hungary last week photographing birds. It was a good trip with lots of exciting bird species and I will take you on my journey there in future blog posts.

This post is a follow on from my last about my visit to Bempton Cliffs. Apart from the Gannets the cliff faces support a wide range of other sea birds and there is plenty of opportunity for taking flight photos of these birds as they pass-by. One of my favourite UK sea birds is the Fulmar and I was hoping to take some more photos than just this single image. It may be I was just stood in the wrong place at the wrong time as usually good numbers of photographs of these birds can be photographed at Bempton. You have to admire the Fulmar as it effortlessly glides with stiff wings on the up-draft coming up the cliff face.

A very common species at Bempton are the Kittiwake, so named after their characteristic call, which to me only slight sounds like their name. These proved quite difficult to photograph on the day due to the strong wind and their twisting and turning noisy flights along the cliff.

Puffins are present at Bempton but generally too far down the cliff to get decent photographs and so I concentrated my efforts on the other two auk species the Guillemots, and a particular favourite the Razorbill.

The Guillemots are less elegant in the air than other sea bird and their wings always seem slightly small in relation to their body which is superbly adapted for swimming.

The birds are a challenge to photograph in flight as they are small and very fast. I noticed at the point where I was stood on the cliff top path, where it ran very close to the cliff edge, that there were a number of Razorbills coming in to land at close range. However, the time window for getting photos was going to be very short as you needed to spot a bird coming into this area, lock on with the camera and take the photos before it disappeared behind the grass at the cliff top. This was further complicated by the fact that capturing birds that are flying towards you is probably the most difficult for the camera autofocus system to deal with. The unusual coloured background on these following photos is the sea below the cliff.

I just managed to catch this one before it disappeared behind the grass.

As I was effectively shooting downwards to the birds coming up the cliff face to land it gave the appearance that I was level with them.

So if you happen to find yourself in north-east Yorkshire I would strongly recommend a visit to Bempton, which can provide some great sea bird photography. One real benefit of Bempton is that there is no uncertainty whether the boat will be cancelled, as is often the case if you visit one of the sea bird colonies on the offshore islands around the UK.

Bempton Gannets

It had been too long, in fact far too long since my last visit to Bempton Cliffs back in 2007. So I was now keen to return with some better camera kit to see what could be achieved at the UK's only mainland Gannet colony. A visit to Bempton is a great day out for the bird photographer and always an assault on all the senses in terms of sights, sounds and like all sea bird sites, smell.

The main photography at Bempton is for birds in flight but some portrait images are possible of birds precariously perched on the edges of the high vertical cliffs. Gannets are not the only species present as a whole range of sea birds use the site in large numbers including Fulmar, Kittwake, Guillemot, Razorbill and Puffins. All of these, except perhaps for the puffins, offer great photographic opportunities. However, for this blog post I will just restrict myself to some images of the majestic gannet. I must admit I have a great fondness for Gannets as they are such beautiful birds. 

Given that the cliff face is north-east facing then the best opportunities for flight photography come during the afternoons when there is a good westerly wind blowing. Under these conditions, the Gannets tend to 'hang' in the wind along the cliff edge. During the late afternoon we found a spot where a constant stream of Gannets were coming into land keeping the shutter finger very well exercised.

The birds were still busy collecting grass for nest building and it was a common sight to see a bird passing with beaks full of vegetation.

The is no question that Gannet are majestic and impressive birds with a wing span of around 2 metres. As graceful as they are in the air, they certainly are not always when coming in to land and can look quite comical at times as wings and feet spread in all directions to slow down their final approach. This is particularly the case for the younger less experienced birds.

At one location along the cliff where a number of gannets were landing it was nice to get some interactions between the birds including greeting each other and mating.

There is no privacy in the world of Gannets.

We finished off the day with a flurry of flight photos as the sun softened, the Gannets performing beautifully as they floated, twisted and turned in the wind blowing over the cliff top.

It was a very enjoyable session and a place I would wholly recommend for anyone wanting to photograph some sea birds. It is surprising how close the birds are on occasions and full frame images with a 300mm lens are perfectly possible if you chose the right place along the cliff top path. I hope to revisit the site soon and certainly will not be leaving it for half decade before my next visit!

Vole Patrol


I have been thinking about photographing water voles for a while. The main problem was where to start with numbers having suffered such a catastrophic decline. The key reasons for the decline, of this once common rodent, may be attributed to both habitat loss and fragmentation and the appearance of an 'alien' invader. The habitat requirements appear to be fairly straight forward being a slow flowing watercourse with a diverse abundance of aquatic and bank-side vegetation, banks that can be burrowed in to and minimal disturbance. However, the routine maintenance clearing of drainage channels to assist in the conveyance of flows and loss of river floodplains have all taken their toll on the vole. The other main factor has been the arrival and establishment of the American mink in the UK countryside through releases from fur farms. Some of these releases have been deliberately undertaken by anti-fur protesters concerned about animal rights. They obviously did not think about the rights of the native UK wildlife when they opened the cages to this highly efficient predators.

Fortunately there is a much greater awareness of water voles now which have been rightly afforded full protection status for both the animals and their habitat. A great deal of effort has gone into the encouraging the animals to return naturally through habitat management and assisted through re-introduction programmes together with the implementation of control measures on mink numbers.

Given the lack of local voles I decided to seek some help from a water vole expert, who kindly took me out to show me a couple of sites with a thriving population. She also helped me and hopefully my photography by providing a great deal of useful background information on their behaviour and how to look for signs of  their activity. Signs that previously I would not have seen such as small grazed patches of vegetation or plants stems cut with a characteristic 45 degree bite. So I would like to very much thank Kate for her invaluable help.

The site where I decided to concentrate my photography efforts is a short section of canal  where the usual concrete vole unfriendly banks have been replaced with a staked material. This allows the voles to chew hole in the material and access a buffer zone of abundant vegetation that separates the canal from the surrounding farmland.

From a photography perspective the site is slightly awkward as there are very few water level places for the voles to sit and only limited opening on the bank top where they have grazed down the vegetation on the opposite bank to which there is no access.

The photography of water voles is a waiting game and relying on them to appear at certain points where a clear view is possible. it appears to be characterised by brief flurries of activity between long periods of quiet. The start of the activity is often signalled by a rustling in the vegetation or a characteristic plop sound as one launches itself from the bank into the canal.

One bit of interesting behaviour I have already observed is how the voles fell small willows, like a mini beaver, to fall from the bank into the water so they can strip the stems free of leaves.

Of the various rodent species Water voles and Dormice are generally the species that have gain most popularity due to their threatened status but also they are visually very appealing animals. I also think that the cause of the water vole has no doubt been helped by fond memories of 'ratty' from the childhood stories of Wind in the Willows. They certainly have a charm went they are sat looking around and their popularity is also helped in that they often seem to be wearing a 'smile'. I have found that I much prefer to photograph the adults than the young which seem to have much more 'character'.

This is only the starting phase of this mini mission to photograph these delightful animals and I look forward to many more happy hours quietly sitting on the canal side watching the world go by and the place being lit up with the occasional appearance of a water vole.

The Joy of 'Groppers'

I seem to have a strange affinity with the Grasshopper Warbler which has allowed me over the last few years to build a good library of images. It strange as a bird photographer how you have great success with some species and seem to completely fail with others. Every bird photographer has a few 'bogey birds' for which they struggle to get images. For example, Dottrel that are relatively easy to photograph due to their very confiding nature I have never managed yet to put in front of the lens.

This is a highly skulking bird that loves to keep deep within low vegetation and a species which many have only heard but not seen. I think the key to my numerous prolonged encounters with these birds has been mainly due to timing. The window for photography is a narrow one and only seems to last two or three weeks from when the birds first arrive back from Africa and  until they have secured a mate for the breeding season. During this brief time the birds, that will have taken up residence in low clumps of brambles and scrub will frequently move up to the highest perch in the early morning to burst into their unusual insect like song allowing great opportunities for the photographer.

As insect grasshoppers are not usually singing at the time when these warblers are, if you hear the characteristic fast clicking sound in the mid-spring its a good chance it is one of these birds.

Homing in on the birds' locations can sometimes be difficult as during the song they rotate their heard to broadcast the sound giving it ventriloquist properties with it seemingly coming from somewhere else. It can be heard from a surprising long distance, as long as you and not too old to have had your high frequency hearing dulled. I think the song has some sort of hypnotic influence on me, as despite telling myself to concentrated on photographing other species, each time I hear it I find myself drawn in towards the bird. One thing I do know that is a hour or so in early morning light at close quarters to a 'Gropper', as they are known locally, is an unforgettable wildlife encounter.

Once a singing Grasshopper Warbler is located their photography is relatively straight forward as they are fairly unconcerned by your presence (as long as you do not move) and it is quite predictable where they are going to sing from. As with many warblers they have preferred song perches. Its really just a question of having some patience and waiting for the bird to occasionally pop up from the brambles on to one of its perches and start its 'reeling' song.

Given that I have so many Grasshopper Warbler images now, I have told myself that in future years I will do my best to ignore them and look for other species. Whether I will be able to stick to this remains to be seen and no doubt in future years on hearing the song I will be drawn back in gripped by 'Gropper' fever once again.

Tiny Wonders

You are more likely to hear the characteristic call of a Chiffchaff before you see one. These tiny leaf warblers, which are one of the first warbler migrants to arrive in the UK and for me herald in the start of spring, are normally spotted energetically flitting high through the leafless trees. The only time they stop moving is to go in to their characteristic two note song.

These birds certainly are not the most visually exciting bird being a rather drab brownish green with a feint yellowish eye stripe and streaking on the breast and very similar in appearance to a willow warbler. The colour does seem to vary slightly between individuals put the muted colour palette remains the same. Therefore from a photography point of view this is a bird may not be high on many people lists of target species. However, what they lack in colour they certainly make up for with a certain endearing nature to their 'character' and irrepressible energy and inquisitiveness which always makes the time in close proximity to one of these birds a pleasurable encounter.

Personally bird photography is not always about taking photos of the spectacular species, as I have always loved being in close proximity to a bird that many only see from a distance and being treated a brief insight in to their daily lives and habits. I believe such experiences make you a better wildlife photographer because by understanding behaviour, future close encounters become so much easier. In my opinion the greatest skill of  being a bird photographer is being able to get very close to your subject whilst it carries on with its normal behaviour.

I was recently told that the dark matted feathers that are often see above the beak when they first arrive and slightly evident in the photo above, results from the Chiffchaff feeding in Mediterranean olive groves on their migration up from Africa. I am not sure how true that is but it is certainly impressive that such a tiny bird that only weighs a few grams undertakes such long migrations.

One feature of their behaviour that certainly helps them on their journey is that their skills in catching aerial insects is on par with the best of the flycatchers. Their aerial manoeuvres in making sudden mid-air turns to snap up a fly with their flattened beak appears on occasions to defy the laws of physics.

The main challenge in terms of their photography is trying to find a bird that is a bit atypical and not too high up in a tree and using low bush or trees to forage and sing from. Like many warblers once they have established their territory they will often use the same set of song perches to sing from to attract a mate. Like the bird's appearance, the song is not the most exciting and sounds exactly like their name. However, it conveys the apparent unstoppable energy of the birds and often is sung relentlessly for very prolonged periods.

No doubt this will not be my last close encounter with Chiffchaff and I know the next will be a pleasurable and fascinating as the first.