Want Biodiversity? Check out your local patch!

Most wildlife photographers have a place that they refer to as their local patch, that place near home where they have spent time and effort getting to know and where they're pretty certain that they'll get at least a few images every time they go there. In my case, I'm really lucky and moved in February from Carlisle to a small Island in Cumbria that contains not one but two nature reserves: North Walney Nature Reserve and South Walney Nature Reserve. Due to lockdown restrictions being put in place just after I moved here, I spent the bulk of my spare time at North walney, due to it being within easy walking distance.

The great thing about having a patch like this is that, especially when you are working on a project about wildlife in Cumbria, there is always something to see. So it was on my last visit a couple of days ago when, in the space of 2 hours, I managed to see at least 40 rabbits, 20 or 30 goldfinches, some willow warblers, white throats, blackbirds, starlings, crows, lapwings, lesser black back gulls, herring gulls, black headed gulls, chaffinches, 2 swans, 6 grey lag geese with a total of 11 goslings, a pair of canada geese, multiple stonechats, 4 magpies, loads of oystercatchers, lots of toadlets, redshanks, a kestrel (see image below), pigeons (yes, they count too!) and a pair of linnets, a species I'd never encountered before. That's 23 species. And, if that wasn't enough, as we were on our way home, we had a quick look at a place where we'd previously seen a fox a few times and i've long suspected could be harbouring a cub or 2. Just as we were leaving, we suddenly saw 3 fox cubs running out of a bush, crazily play fighting each other, while mum sat watching nearby with another cub not too far away! Sadly the light was too poor and they were too far away to get any decent photographs but it was an experience i won't forget in a hurry. I do occasionally come away empty handed but, as i've got to know the area, I've got better at predicting where certain species tend to hang out. I've now stumbled (literally) upon a vixen on numerous occasions, found fields where hares hang out and have a few clues at to where there may be some badger setts (no, I'm not sharing!).

The point of all this is that, sometimes, people talk about the lack of biodiversity in the UK and go all over the country trying to photograph species. Sometimes, if you get to know your local patch well enough, you can find a multitude of photographic subjects literally on your doorstep, even when you're not particularly trying. Yes, I'm extremely lucky to have not one but 2 reserves within 15 minutes or so from where I live but we all have a patch somewhere nearby, be it a small park, a river or some woods. Don't take my word for it, explore your local patch, you never know what you'll find!