Hungary, May 2017.

Bee eaters

This is the second time I have run the Hungarian trip. I loved the first time there because the novelty factor was very high. A second visit however, is often more profitable as it builds on the experience of the first and allows fine tuning of many images, hindsight is indeed an incredible thing!

Black stork

Many of the hides were the same as on my first visit but a number were either new or ones I didn’t get the opportunity to use previously. The most noticeable additions to my image stock were the herons (Grey, Spoonbill, GW egret, and black stork) from the pool hide and red-backed shrike from a simple hide set up along a hedge.

Great spotted woodpecker

Running a group here is relatively simple in many ways, I don’t have to find any of the birds, the chaps on the ground have done all the hard legwork but there are logistics that need careful consideration so that all the guests get to work on the species that they specifically want, and they often don’t want to all photograph the same birds. In this respect I didn’t work with the red-footed falcons or rollers but spent an extended time in the woodland hide.

Green woodpecker

This, on my first visit left me underwhelmed but even though nothing had really changed I found it far better. I can only put this down to a subtle change in my photographic approach. In years past I would have hated the woodpecker shots from here, taken in dappled, and often contrasty light under a full canopy. Yet this is the very place the birds live and I revelled in the challenge to produce images that reflect the real peckers world, not the sanitised light that used to dominate most of the bird photography of the last few decades.  

Grey Heron

Excellent weather and a lovely group made this another delightful trip to run, it was great to see old faces again and meet new folk, I hope they all enjoyed it as much as I did.   

Jay bathing

Red-backed shrike

Song thrush

Spoonbill

Starling bathing

Great white egret