You don’t become a wildlife photographer to get rich or famous.  There are far easier ways to to do both than spending your days crawling through guano (which is outnumbered by, and far preferable to, the days you have to spend behind a desk).  No, the reason you become a wildlife photographer is to spend at least some of your days in the company of other species, preferably in their natural habitat.  It therefore goes without saying that the most important thing to any wildlife photographer worth their salt is not the image they’re about to take, it’s the welfare of the animal they are fortunate enough to be spending time with.

Needless to say, there are many occasions where people’s behaviour doesn’t come up to scratch.  I’ve witnessed it on many occasions. When I took this image of a grey heron I had crawled on my front for an hour across a muddy bank to position myself opposite the bird. I moved no further than about 50cm each time and if it showed any sign of distress I moved back, usually further than I had just come forward. I used a long lens, and kept ‘low and slow’ – the mantra you have to learn to be successful in this business.

So you can imagine my delight when a fellow snapper, seeing me laid some distance from the footpath, seemed to think that this was an indication that it’s open season on the bird and ok for him to wander, bolt upright onto the bank with his monopod at full extension and ‘have a go’ with the motor drive on high speed.  Not only was my effort wasted, but the poor heron which was happily sunning it’s wings and looking for the occasional snack in the water was hounded from it’s resting position and sent elsewhere.

It’s for this reason that the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 protects certain species in certain situations from disturbance by humans, and within the terms of the act, photography does count as disturbance.

It’s schedule 1 of the act that we’re primarily interested in as photographers.  This requires us to get a licence if we wish to photograph protected species of bird at or near the nest, and the protection extends to their young too..  In England, this means applying to Natural England and showing that you are fit to undertake this type of work.  If you’ve not held a licence within the last three years you’ll need to show, by supplying references, that you have the relevant knowledge and experience to work with the species while causing only the minimum necessary disturbance, and you’ll have to submit examples where you’ve worked with other species at the nest, which are not protected by the act, in a responsible and ethical manner.  The other thing you should be aware of is that licences are limited in number each year (a set quota for each species) so you have to apply early if you are to be successful (the quota runs from 1 January).

This might seem a bit unfair – after all you’re only photographing the birds, you’re not harming them.  As I’ve shown above with the heron, it really doesn’t take much to disturb a bird simply at rest on the side of a river, so you can imagine the distress and alarm this guy with his monopod would have caused to a bird of prey sitting on eggs or bringing up chicks.  If they feel threatened, many species will either flee the nest leaving the eggs unincubated, not breed at all, or stay at the nest to protect when they really should be looking for food.  You need to ensure that your actions are not attracting additional attention to the site by other people or predators, and on occasion a photographer in a hide will need a ‘putter-in’ and a ‘getter-out’ – that means another person accompanies the photographer to the hide, then goes away again causing the bird to believe that the hide is empty, then the reverse when they leave.  Yep, birds are clever enough to watch for people coming and going, but as the title of this piece notes, they can’t count!

Mammals and other species are also protected in law so you should check before working with any animal, particularly if you are going near it’s home.  However, protected or not I hope that you’ll give due consideration to the animal you’re working with and be sure that your actions are not causing it undue stress or concern.  If you remember ‘low and slow’ and ‘the welfare of the subject is more important than the photograph’, then I will have achieved what I set out to do in this piece.

By the way, low often tends to be, photographically, the best place to be too. Best leave the monopod at home and take a beanbag!

NB: In Scotland and Wales, licenses are administered by the Scottish Executive and the National Assembly for Wales.

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