Hello, lovely readers! I’m super excited to be participating in this “season” of the Philofaxy All Star Tour, and even more excited to share my first guest post from Katie! I think you all know by now that I’m a big fan of photography – I’ve shared a bit of my own work here and happen to be married to a photographer! Since Katie is studying Wildlife and Media, I thought a guest post from her would be a perfect fit! Let’s let her go ahead and introduce herself:
From a young age, I have always had an interest in nature. During my last years of high school, I got really interested in Photography, and now work with the two together. I’m currently studying Wildlife and Media at university, and I thought I would tell you one of my favourite experiences since starting!
Earlier this year, I decided to get up at 6 in the morning in the hopes of catching a sunrise and some creatures in the park opposite my university campus! Now in this park, they have plenty of birds, including woodpeckers, kestrals, a buzzard and a heron that occasionally appears! Running through the park is the River Eden, known for giving the public occasional sightings of otters and kingfishers!
On this morning, I very nearly stayed in bed, but I’m glad I pushed myself out of the door as this was a morning to remember! I caught a little bit of a sunrise, but it was quite cloudy so it wasn’t amazing. Here’s one of the views that I had:
I headed on around the park, making my way over to the bridge. I was stopped on the way by a cute dog and a lovely man asking me whether I had seen the woodpeckers or otters this morning. I hadn’t, but he did give me some good advice! Not long after leaving him, I got a glance of the heron but it disappeared as soon as I saw it. Unfortunately, I had done a double take after originally walking past it, so I sort of looked it in the eye as I turned which frightened it!
Walking across the bridge, I realised that something was moving near the edge of the water… an otter! Now this was a moment I will always remember – the first time I ever saw an otter in the wild! It was sat half in the water, chomping on a fish. Annoyingly, it was facing away from me as I sat watching and snapping photos. I managed to watch it for around 5 minutes before a young girl on a scooter went past on the metal bridge. The deafening sound (at 8 in the morning!) scared the otter and it disappeared into the water, never to be seen again… However, I had taken my ‘record’ shot, and I was super excited.
For me, photography is exciting and rewarding. I can be sat in one place for ages, but getting a sighting or a photograph of the animal makes it all worthwhile! If you’re interested in wildlife, you
have to be patient. Things don’t always go to plan, and weather can definitely get in the way!
And Ill leave you with one of the many butterflies that I photographed this summer!
Aren’t those photos beautiful? Katie has a wonderful photography blog as well, click here if you’d like to see more of her work!
Thank you so much, Katie, for the wonderful guest post!
Great photos. That would have been SO cool to see the otter – even if he never did look at you.