Billy Shiel’s Boat Trip

We went away at the beginning of August 2026 to Northumberland and stayed in a little village called Newton-by-the-Sea. I took a boat trip out to the Farne Islands with Billy Shiel Boat Trips sailing out o Seahouses harbour.

The trip I took was the 1030am Grey Seal with Seabirds, 1.5 hours sailing out and around the Farne Islands. The weather was a bit rainy earlier in the morning so the sea was a bit rougher, which made for challenging photography. This was my first time using the camera on a boat!

I had my Nikon Z8 and 180-600mm lens and used this on 600mm most of the time. The boat did get fairly close to the islands but can’t get so close as to endagour the boat. So a good long focal length is required for close up shots.

I shot on around 1/2000, ISO640 and used 5fps to get as many shots as possible. The boat was moving a lot so this would have been better with a higher shutter speed if I was to go again.

Quick Overview

📍 Location: Seahouses
🌿 Habitat Type: Coastal
🎯 Target Species: Grey Seals (and seabirds)
📅 Best Season: All year for seals (varies for the seabirds)
🕒 Best Time of Day: Any
💰 Cost: £23.32 adult / £18.02 children
📅 Booking Required: Yes (see website)
🔗 Website: https://www.farne-islands.com/

Who Is This Best For?

✔ Beginners
✔ Advanced wildlife photographers
✔ Behaviour shooters
✖ Portrait shooters
✔ People wanting flight photography
✔ Landscape photographers

The main species were the Grey Seals, however there were still some Puffins around as well as Gannets, Guilemots, Shags, Blacked-backed Gulls, Kittywake and an Oyster Catcher on the islands.

There were a few Grey Seals about waiting for the tide to come back in.

The photos I managed to get aren’t the sharpest, but I’m happy with them for a first boat photography trip and with at least 3ft swells.

I would definatley recommend the Billy Shiel Boat Trip if you are in the area or want to travel up for this. They do several different trips during the day and even a sunset trip. So if you have good sea legs you could spend all day out there and even on the Farne Island landing trip.

13/08/2026 0

Swinton Bird of Prey – Photography Day

I went on a Photography Experience Day with my Father at Swinton Estate Bird of Prey in Ripon North Yorkshire on the 28th June 2026.

Quick Overview 📍 Location: Swinton Estate, Ripon
🌿 Habitat Type: Garden estate grounds, woodland, moorland, barns
🎯 Target Species: Birds of Prey
📅 Best Season: All year round
🕒 Best Time of Day: 10-4pm
💰 Cost: £120 each
📅 Booking Required: Yes, see website for dates

The experience includes a day (10am-4pm) photographing the Birds of Prey that live in the avairy at the Swinton Estate Hotel. The day is run by Jed Wee of Essence of Light Photography. Jed has been running the photography side of this experience for a while now and is very knowledable on the birds and the best way to compose your shots.

On this day we got the opportunity to photgraphy 10 owls.

Apex – Eurasian Eagle owl (Juvenile)
Button – Tawny Owl
Anthony – Little Owl
Gary – Barn Owl
Albert – Barn Owl
Nymeria – Snowy Owl
Maisie – Long Eared Owl
Aziraphale – Great Horned Owl (Juvenile)
Sahara – Abyssinian Owl
Willow – Great Grey Owl

The photography day included a light lunch at the Bivouac Cafe on the estate, this was excellent and plenty of tea & coffee to go around.

The day I went was very warm, I regreted not wearing a hat! Note to any follically challenged like myself – wear a hat in the summer if you go.

We started off in the morning around 10am with a group of 8 people. Apex the juvenile Eurasian Eagle Owl was first up, we did static shots of him as he is still learning the job.
We then had Button the Tawny Owl and took some shots in the wild flower garden which was in bloom and looked amazing. Lots of colours to create a nice background for the owl shots. We then drove with Jed and Mandy to the lunch site.

Following lunch, we headed to some abandoned barns on the estate and took Anthony the Little Owl and Gary the Barn Owl with us. These again were static shots within the barn to get some natural looking photos.

We then headed back to the estate and did some flight shots with Albert the Barn Owl, Nymeria the Snowy Owl and Maisie the Long Eared Owl. Before moving Maisie to the trees for some more static shots. We then had some time with Aziraphale the Great Horned Owl juvenile who has been raised with Apex as they’re a hatch day apart. He did a small amount of flying and then some static shots.

The day ended with some static shots of Sahara the Abyssinian Owl and Willow the Great Grey Owl.

All in all a great day out and I came away with over 4500 photographs to look through and I edited about 90 of these. I would defintley go back and do this at another time of the year to get some different type of shots with different weather.

Who Is This Best For?

✔ Beginners
✔ Advanced wildlife photographers
✔ Behaviour shooters
✖ Landscape photographers
✖ Portrait shooters

Camera Settings & Gear I Used

Body: Nikon Z8
Lens: Nikon Nikkor 180-600mm
Support (tripod/beanbag): Non
Typical Settings I use:

Shutter speed: Varies depending on static or flight shots
Aperture: F6.3
ISO setting: ISO640
Focal length: 180 to 600mm with the lens I used. Up to 400mm is ok.

05/07/2026 0

Leeds Wildlife Photography Hide

I spent the day at Leeds Wildlife Photography Hide in Methley, West Yorkshire. This is the second trip so far this year, and I have another visit booked in for April with my father.

I’ve also been six times over the last two years. The hide is run by Ian, and he is very helpful and knowledgeable about the birds that visit the site. The prices are very reasonable as well.

Quick Overview

📍 Location: Leeds West Yorkshire
🌿 Habitat Type: Woodland
🎯 Target Species: Birds
📅 Best Season: All year round
🕒 Best Time of Day: All day
💰 Cost: £60 – £135
📅 Booking Required: Yes
👥 Max Photographers: 3

🔗 Website: https://www.leedswildlife.co.uk/

What Makes This Hide Unique?

The hide at Leeds is well set up, comfortable and has a wide selection of wildlife that visit all year around. The hide has one way glass so the birds can’t see the photographers.

The hide can seat 3 people with plenty of room for your gear and lunch bags. Gimbal heads and bases are provided for all three spaces. The seats are very comfortable and adjustable.

The hide is located in Methley Leeds which is not far from the M62 and M1. Access is really good and gravelled.

Setup & Shooting Conditions

Distance to Subjects

Minimum focal length: 200mm
Ideal focal length: 400mm (600mm for closeups)
Are birds predictable or erratic? The birds are predictable due to the food setup that Ian has perfected over the years.

Background Quality

Clean / natural / busy? As you can see from my shots, the background creates a good Bokeh affect throughout the year. Colour changes as the background foliage changes with the seasons.
Artificial perches? The perches are made from branches and look realistic in the shots.

Species You Can Expect

Regular Sightings

Sparrowhawk
Kestrel
Jay
Plenty of the usual British song birds all year round

Seasonal Highlights

Goldcrest, Cuckoo during spring

My Experience

What surprised you?
The amount of species that the hide attracts through the year.
What frustrated you?
There isn’t much that has frustrated me on my various visits.
Did the activity match expectations? Yes there is plenty of activity with the smaller birds all day long throughout the year. Even in poor weather there are plenty of visits. The raptors still make an appearance, but as with ay hide, wildlife is unpredictable. Even on this visit (07/03/2026) I still got 2 visits each from the Sparrowhawk and Kestrel and they stayed a good length of time.
Was it worth the price?
Yes well worth the price. I paid £65 for the full day (0730-1530).

Camera Settings & Gear I Used

Body: Nikon Z8
Lens: Nikon Nikkor 180-600mm
Support (tripod/beanbag): Gimbal head & base provided

Typical Settings I use:

Shutter speed: Varies depending on static or flight shots
Aperture: F8
ISO range: 1250

Who Is This Hide Best For?

✔ Beginners
✔ Advanced wildlife photographers
✔ Behaviour shooters
✔People wanting flight photography
✖ Landscape photographers
✖ Portrait shooters

Tips If You’re Visiting

Arrive 10-15 minutes early to get yourself setup while Ian does the feed up.
Bring camera & lenses, spare batteries, warm clothes for winter, food and drinks.
Avoid being too loud, leaving when the raptors are in the hide.
Check start times on the email you receive the day before arrival.

Final Verdict – Would I Return?

Is it worth the money?
Yes well worth the money Ian charges. See website for more information on prices.
Is it worth travelling for?
Yes, I am local as this is only a short 40 minute car ride away from me. However there are plenty of hotels around.
Would you recommend it?
Yes, and I have several times.

08/03/2026 0

Godox Ring72 and Ernest!

I have a fairly cool cat (or if you ask the wife ‘bat shit crazy cat’, or the daughter ‘a bumhole cat!’) named Ernest. He is almost 3 years old now and took on the traits of our old Border Terrier, Rohan (who sadly is no longer with us) so he acts more dog than cat!!

I wanted to try some photos of Ernest close up to get his face and tongue and maybe a paw reaching for his chicken flavour Webbox Lick-e-Lix, this is in the style of @furryfritz Nils Jacobi who I follow on Instagram and some of his fantastic work with cats. I’m a long way from his following this first practice effort!

So I tried, with the daughters help (@kittyredreads) putting some chicken flavour lick-e-lix onto my new Godox Ring72 macro ring light in the hope he would come towards the camera and try to lick the paste off.

Then I tried the hole in a box hoping he would stick his head and arm through to get the lick-e-lix. However his brain cell was occupied this afternoon and it didn’t really work!!

Godox Ring72

The Godox RING72 Macro Ring Light is a compact, versatile, and lens-mountable LED Macro Ring Light designed to meet the needs of photographers and videographers specializing in close-up work. With 8 watts of power and a daylight-balanced color temperature of 5600K, the RING72 delivers soft, glowing, on-axis lighting, eliminating harsh shadows and ensuring every detail is illuminated with precision.

Ideal for photographing small subjects such as jewelry, insects, and flowers, the RING72 is also well-suited for professionals in medical or forensic fields, such as dentists or pathologists, who require accurate and well-lit close-up images.

The Godox Ring72 light has worked well with my Nikon Z8, I have some more practice to with it and the cat photos. It will also be good to use with my lightbox and some macro focus stacking pictures when the summer flowers are in bloom.

From this little photo shoot I can tell already the things I need to improve on.
– Use one of my photo backgrounds as this will help pick the cat out more with the Godox Ring72 light and there is a lot of cclutter in the kitchen.
– Decide which lens will be better for the cat shoots. My Tamron 90mm was too long sat at my kitchen table, my Viltrox 35mm wasn’t fast enough focus, so I switched to my Nikon 24-50mm which was fast enough focus (I went up to 10fps) and it was close enough on my table.
– Play with more back light to see if this improves the shot.
– Get the cat to cooperate more, which is probably the hard part! Although with more practice and Lick-e-Lix he might improve.

Here are some of the best shots that I’ve done with some light editing to in Lightroom.

28/02/2026 0