Virtue is a grace.

Grace is a little girl

who would not wash her face..

From “Lady Daisy” by Dick King-Smith

When you start wildlife photography it is very easy to get disappointed. You see all these marvellous photos other people put up on social media and you are left wondering why your photos are not as good. Usually people put it down to not having the best gear – if only I had that 800mm F5.6 lens – maybe if they had better photographic technique or access to exotic animals in exotic locations the photos would be better. Photographic technique is easily learnt, you don’t need expensive equipment and nor do you need to travel to exotic locations. I think patience is very important and that is something we can all develop.

The other morning I was at Lake Leschenaultia. The previous day there had been the tail end of cyclone coming down the coast which brought rain and strong winds. The rain had passed, but, there was still quite a bit of wind about. As I got down to the lake I could see it was choppy and there were no waterfowl about and there was nothing much happening in the trees. I could have given up and gone home, but I know from experience that there are a few sheltered spots to be found as you walk round the lake so I set off for them. The first couple yielded nothing, the third was alive with the sound of Australian Reed Warblers, Splendid Fairy Wrens, Silvereyes and Inland Thornbills. They were feeding on the insects found amongst the reeds. There was no way I could quietly approach – the forest floor down to the lake was covered in dry leaves and bark. It is like walking over corn flakes – very crunchy and noisy. Even if I could get down there quietly suddenly appearing out of the tree cover would put everything to flight. Nevertheless I made my way into the dry portion of the reed bed and as expected everything cleared off. Now this is the point where it was tempting to think that’s it and move on. However, I knew that the food source won’t have moved and the birds were hungry. I also know that these particular birds are quite tolerant to people if you are quiet and don’t move around much so all I had to do was wait. I’ll admit it was hard – the mosquitoes were ferocious – but after 20 minutes or so the birds came back. In that time I positioned myself to ensure I had a good background and if the birds wanted to take off they would have to fly towards me. All these birds are incredibly quick, but the knack is observing how they move through the reeds and where they like to perch when having a breather. Pre-focus on one of those spots as it will give your cameras AF system a good chance of locking on to the bird. Then it was a case of being patient and waiting until they came close to me and taking the photo. Forty minutes later and it was all over. The birds had moved onto another spot which was too inaccessible for me to follow.