50 16 May 2020 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I subscribe 0330 333 1113
in summer, as if lying in the
bath. I made my pool 6in
deep but with a deeper area in the
centre so it would retain water and
attract pond life. Once the pool
was filled it soon started to attract
visitors. I left a camera trap to
record and discovered common
buzzards, roe deer and a host of
small birds coming to drink.
It was time to invest in a
professional-looking hide. If you
have ever taken pictures through
your kitchen window you will know
that any old glass is not going to
be good enough. Some of my
early experiences using hides with
glass in mainland Europe were
disappointing. Some hide sessions
resulted in soft pictures, clearly
not every hide had the highest-
quality glass fitted. So when I
began to look for a glass supplier
I contacted some Spanish friends
of mine who run Photo Logistics
and have built more than 80 hides
across Spain.
The gold standard brand for
one-way glass is Stopsol. Roger
Sanmartí from Photo Logistics
who lives in Barcelona personally
inspects each piece of glass he
buys, ensuring it is clear of any
imperfections. I knew by dealing
with Roger my glass would be of
the highest quality. In April 2016
I drove down to Barcelona, spent
a week photographing with Roger
and drove back to Norfolk with a
car full of Stopsol glass.Once my hide was built by a
local shed maker and the glass
fitted I was in business. For the
first 18 months opportunities
were slow: birds visited but
sporadically and sparrowhawks
tantalisingly flew past but never
landed. By spring 2018
vegetation had started to grow up
around the pool and the increased
cover gave birds added
confidence to drink and bathe.
During the winter I put out
roadkill to lure buzzards in. Then
one day a photographer who had
rented the hide for the day
showed me a picture of a male
sparrowhawk sat on top of a dead
partridge we had put out. That
same male sparrowhawk thencontinued to visit during the
summer, to bathe in the pool.
Sat in the corner of my office is
a large freezer and throughout
the year if I see any birds dead by
the roadside I stop to pick them
up. Before long I had accumulated
a good number of wood pigeons
and these have proved to be the
perfect lure to bring the hawks in.
I put out food every three to four
days which keeps them keen and
ensures they are not reliant on
my feeding.
In summer when they come to
bathe these visits are often the
best photographic opportunities,
as they are generally very relaxed
and can linger for more than an
hour. Opportunities to photographSummer bathing presents excellent photographic opportunities
Olympus OM-D E-M1X, Olympus M.Zuiko 40-150mm F2.8 PRO, 1/2000sec at f/4, ISO 400
An immature male Eurasian sparrowhawk photographed in winter
Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II, Olympus M.Zuiko ED 300mm F4 IS PRO with MC-20, 1/500sec at f/8, ISO 400
A female Eurasian sparrowhawk
bathing in the woodland pool
during summer Olympus OM-D E-M1
Mark II, Olympus M.Zuiko 40-150mm F2.8
PRO with MC-14, 1/80sec at f/4, ISO 400