British Wildlife Centre

On a Thursday back in May I attended photography workshop to concentrate on captive British wildlife. The workshop was arranged by David Lloyd at the British Wildlife Centre. David is a New Zealand born wildlife photographer known for his fine art style and recently had a photo grace the cover of the Wildlife Photographer Of The Year book. The BWC is based in Surrey and gives visitors the opportunity to get up close with and learn about native British Wildlife. They also take part in captive breeding programmes and reintroductions back into the wild.

The day started with a short briefing about what we were aiming to photograph and suitable setting for the occasion. It was a damp day but the rain managed to stay away. 

We started the day in the red squirrel enclosure. There are a number of red squirrels at the centre some of which had kittens hidden away. A member of staff was on hand with some titbits for the squirrels to tempt them over. The Centre is involved in a release programme onto Tresco in the Scilly Islands. Reds are not native to the Scilly Islands but they are free of grey squirrels which carry the squirrel pox which has ravaged the red population. 

We next moved into the fox enclosure photographing a gorgeous fox called Frodo. Said to be the most photographed fox in the world! Frodo was very well behaved but many of my photos were of him hidden behind tall grass. As with the other animals we were inside the enclosures laid down on the grass to get some intimate low level photographs.

Next was the otter enclosure to view two adults and their pup. The otters came close for food but were very skittish and would very quickly move back to the safety of the water where they were more comfortable. Some standard portraiture photos were taken then we were positioned ahead of the keeper and the food source so that we could get some running shots.

We then had a wander round the centre on our own so that we could get some shots of the stoats, weasels, badgers, mink and water voles.

The Scottish Wildcat were great to watch and photograph. The three siblings were about a year old. I had also managed to see them last year when they were very small and taking their first steps in their enclosure. These cats had kept their wild nature and lived up to their billing as being one of the most ferocious cats pound for pound!

 

Next came out a harvest mouse. Much smaller than I expected! I would have been much better equipped with a macro lens for this animal.

We finished off with another session in the fox enclosure. This time Flo made an appearance along with Frodo.

A very well organised day that made the opportunity of photographing British wildlife much easier than in the wild. Not a substitute for wild animals but very enjoyable. I would still love to see and photograph a wild otter - a chance I hope to get as I sit here typing in Scotland!