Graceful Grebes

When I was in my teens, I was hugely interested in the natural world and spent many hours watching wildlife documentaries. As a result, I would often wander about in British countryside, hoping to spot some creatures or birds of some kind. This is how my original interest in photography began all those years ago, but obviously had no idea what it would take to get fantastic animal pictures. The necessary equipment then would have been well beyond my financial grasp.

Years later, when I found a new passion for photography, I started to get re-excited about the idea of getting great wildlife pictures. Having owned a DSLR's now for over 2 years makes me realise though how difficult and expensive those shots are. Before I got my D90 in 2010, I bought a Panasonic FZ38 which although was a point and shoot camera, had a ridiculously large zoom on it that went to 500mm. To afford such a luxury on DSLR (and the noticeable difference in quality that would give) would at it's very basic set you back £1000 and standardly many times that. I still have the passion for wildlife photography but know that there has to be hard work in other areas of photography before the day I can get the really close shots I desire.

The birds you see in this picture are Great Crested Grebes, which I pictured within the grounds of Hever Castle. They are famous for having an elaborate and graceful courtship display prior to mating and this is what this couple were doing. This isn't the pinnacle of the display, which involves them presenting 'gifts' to each other but I think I kind of scared them off while standing there taking pictures. Oh well, when I have that huge zoom range, I won't need to bother them again!