May 2010
Welcome to our news page. Scroll down for Warbling Love and Alba the Magnificent.

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Warbling Love and Alba the Magnificent

I put aside 3 days of photography this month for the magnificent wood warbler. From the beginning to the end of May this fantastic animal calls its little heart out for a mate. Conveniently it chooses a couple of trees, which it stays in for the entire month, for this highly energetic display.

The call resembles a spinning coin on a tabletop as it comes to rest. It is one of the easiest calls to distinguish out of all the wee brown birds you see and hear at this time of year, which is possibly why I love it so much. I had thought this superb behaviour (which means I know exactly where the animal is every day) goes on all month, I was wrong.

First day: fantastic, the bird would flit between different perches singing for all he is worth. Occasionally getting so carried away that it would continue in flight, mouth open and quivering its wings as it drifted down to another perch.

For one days work I was happy and excited by the prospect of being able to repeat the whole thing the next day. The standard of pictures would just get better and better the more I got a feel for its behaviour.

On the second day the morning started well and then the little devil went and found love…and all that superb calling and staying in one location promptly stopped. Instead, an almighty chase began, followed by feverishly looking for food and eating. They did stay roughly in the same area but the predictability and repetitiveness that made him such a good subject before had ended.

I am glad he is happy, but really could he not have waited just a few more days!

Meet Alba, (meaning Argyll and Scotland in Gaelic, pronounced Alaba though I had named him for 4 months till I realised this, poor confused dog). He is a working type English Setter and my new business partner.

Traditionally English Setters were bred to set wildlife. They would be sent out into the moors or woods to run around like crazy till they picked up the scent of a grouse or woodcock. When this scent was strong, instead of chasing, the dog is meant to freeze, pointing its leg and nose in the direction of the bird. By freezing and staring it would also freeze the bird, which would be relying on its camouflage not to be seen. The hunter would then come over and fling a net over both bird and dog to get his dinner.

I will not be hunting with Alba; I will be photographing over him. He will find the subjects and I will photograph whatever he points to. I will also be taking clients out with him so you get to see a working dog, get to be in some of the best landscapes in the country, see some fantastic wildlife and to top it all off get some fantastic photographs. Well, that is the plan anyway.

Alba is a rescue dog from Dorset Dog Rescue therefore when I got him at the age of a year and a half; he had virtually no recall. Now he does, thankfully, but only after many months of pain and lots of kind help from Christine Cass, a superb professional dog trainer. Next week is the first week I will be doing some working training with him and hopefully by the end of the year he will be ready to take his first clients out.

I will be taking Alba out with me when we run one-day experiences at the moment as part of his training, except when clients are allergic to dogs or do not like them. When not out with me he gets to go and play with my parents dog all day which he loves.

Progress reports on Alba will feature in future newsletters.

Happy snapping!

Guest Images from The One Day Loch Visions Experience
click here to see pictures from 11th March to 16th May 2010

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Philip's Escapades Adventure Race World Championship 2009

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