A Trip to Tatton Park

Having a young child in the family means that we're always on the look out for new places to visit - especially those that are family and push-chair friendly - and around this time last year we made the trip to Tatton Park, just off junction 19 of the M6.

For those that have never been it's a massive park, with an old Tudor Hall, a neo-classical mansion, 50 acres of landscaped gardens and about 100-acres of parkland. Plenty of photographic opportunity whatever your taste.

Top on my list when we visited was the opportunity to take some shots of the deer. The park has herds of both Fallow Deer and Red Deer and offers a great chance to get close to these spectacular animals.

With the parkland being so vast it can still take while to track down the herds, but once you find them then there really is no trouble with getting in close. A serious word of caution though - if you do visit please do give the animals some respect and maintain some sensible separation. Whilst we were there there were some idiots who saw fit wander directly through the herd with a loose dog. Mindless at its best to say the least.

Our first encounter was of a few scattered animals rather than the main herd and we were able to maintain a reasonable distance whilst still getting close enough for some decent shots. I'll freely admit to being no expert wildlife photographer and regularly suffer from lens envy in situation such as these, but I was still able to get some pleasing shots as the animals grazed in the slightly misty conditions.

After stopping a short while for a picnic in the grass the main Red Deer herd made an appearance - running in from stage right through some scattered trees. Luck was on our side and the herd paused directly between us and the main hall, allowing me to get the shot below. Some extra focal length would have been nice, but I was still pleased to get a shot of the stag with the hall in the background. Exposure was also tricky here - I wanted  enough depth of field to provide some focus to both the hall and the stag, but still needed to maintain enough shutter speed to shoot hand-held at 300mm. I ended up settling on ISO400, f/7.1, 1/400s which provided a nice overall compromise.

With our young daughter now more interested in getting to the play area it was time to wander back through the park, pausing occasionally to watch the deer and also to spot the fungi growing alongside the path.

A successful day out and highly recommended if you've never been - especially at this time of year. I'm sure we'll be back again in the not too distant future.

A Visit to Martin Mere WWT

We spent today at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Centre at Martin Mere near Southport in Lancashire - a centre that combines waterfowl gardens with plenty of habitat and hides to keep serious birders happy.

Ideal for families as well, with push-chair friendly paths and plenty of activities through-out the year. We've been members since last spring, and are likely to re-join next year. 

It's a great place to visit if you're into photography, even if wildlife photography isn't your main interest. The waterfowl gardens let you get up nice and close to species that you'd otherwise struggle to see, whilst the hides offer fantastic views out over the marshes, meres and reedbeds.

The snow from the last few weeks began a major thaw today, but much of the water was still frozen, this Wood Duck finding something interesting at the edge of the ice.

The waterfowl gardens contain a large array of species, split into various continents, and range from Flamingos to less well known species such as the Cape Barren Goose below. For some reason this particular bird always seems to charge me when we visit, and is rather aggressively territorial. Still a good chance to test the auto focus and your panning skills.

The winter weather provided plenty of other opportunities as well, these frozen footprints being one example.

In winter the reserve itself becomes home for vast numbers of migrating Pink-footed Geese and Whooper Swans. Today there were reportedly around 1900 Whooper Swan, although this pales into insignificance with the 36,000 Pink Footed Geese that were using the reserve back in Autumn. The views out of the hides with this number of birds is fantastic, and provides a visual feast - for both seasoned birders and those new to the whole experience.

There's something quite majestic about watching the swans fly over. Once airborne they seem to move with such ease and grace, and sometimes it's nicer to simply watch than follow with the camera.

Overall a fantastic day, and a place I wholeheartedly recommend a visit to if you're in the area - although it eventually became too much our young daughter.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all,

Andrew.