Poland’s Sea Eagles.

Whilst I tend to bang on a fair amount about working locally and getting to know your subjects well it is always exciting to work overseas. The thrill of travel and the expectation, though you should never expect but hope when working in a new area with a stunning species all adds to the excitement.

Oddly I ended up travelling to Poland twice in a very short period of time recently to try my hand at sea eagles. Initially I intended to go with a couple of friends but as circumstances turned out I also ended up leading the Natures Images trip a few days after I returned to the UK.

Both trips were brilliant, the first had more snow but both trips produced some really dramatic photography. White-tailed eagles, or sea eagles as we sometimes refer to them are a very large, long winged eagle that are generally doing really well across much of Europe including the UK. However, opportunities, and perhaps its best this way, here are few as there is still a massive degree of sensitivity surrounding them. In Poland, amongst a number of central European countries the chances of getting to grips with this stunning bird are far higher. In today’s new world of wildlife photography there are now many people running hides and baiting stations for a great many species. With a fistful of dollars it is now really easy to produce an amazing portfolio of cracking images of a wide range of blue-chip species. The possibilities today are vast and this site is just one of many that offer a unique opportunity.

On my first trip we had a good covering of snow and temperatures were well below zero, cold in the hides but also nice and cold for the eagles too. Feeding was at times frenetic and spats and hand bag fights between eagles were common. On the second trip the weather had warmed a tadge above freezing so the snow was making a slow retreat. The eagles were still superb but the action a little less as they didn’t have quite the same desire to stock up on meat before nightfall.

The days in the hides are long but on both trips the company was excellent so when you’re not hammering the shutter button the banter allowed the hours to fly by. I can’t wait to return in another year!