We kicked off the day with tea, coffee and biscuits followed by Nigel Downer and Richard Walpole providing us with information about the hundreds of cacti and other garden flowers and how best to photograph them.
After a couple of hours of trying to capture the many amazing plants we stopped for a fantastic lunch provided by Jane, Richard’s wife - it really was a splendid spread finished off with giant slices of delicious walnut carrot cake.
We then made our way to the Fen Falconry, just a few minutes walk away where we were introduced to an amazing variety of birds of prey and owls including Peregrine and Lanner Falcons, Harris Hawk, American Kestrel, European Kestrel and owls including Barn Owl and Ural Owl.
We started with static birds and moved on to birds in flight which we soon discovered were a whole lot trickier than static birds (or cacti!). Unfortunately, the light shower predicted turned into a bit of a downpour so we didn’t get to experience trying to shoot the Peregrine Falcon as, apparently, they don’t enjoy the rain. Nevertheless, we did see the Lanner Falcons flying and swooping in to the lure - what a sight, amazing speed and agility.
It was definitely a day of extreme contrasts both photographically and weather wise but it didn’t put us off and the day was finished with yet more tea, coffee and biscuits.
Some of our images can be seen below:
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| Ural Owl Coming in to Land by Jack Mitchell |
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| Clematis in Macro by Gella Ladner |
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| Barn Owl in Flight by Mick Ladner |
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Red Flowering Cactus by Vanessa Robertson
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| Harris Hawk Landing by Andy Caws |
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| Cactus Abstract by Sue Baldwin |
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| African Spotted Eagle Owl Chick by Diana Graham |
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Cactus Macro by Diana Daniels
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| Steppe Eagle Portrait by Mick Ladner |
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| Cactus Flower by Diana Graham |
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| Lanner Falcon in Flight by Di Jackson |
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| Clematis seen from below by Di Jackson |
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| You Missed It! by Jack Mitchell |
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| Ural Owl by Diana Daniels |
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| Yellow Flowering Cactus by Vanessa Robertson |
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| Barn Owl by Gella Ladner |
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| Team Cactus by Andy Caws |
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