Wildlife Photography at Center Parcs
This year, my Mum is turning 60, and we are having a family break at Center Parcs Elveden, in Thetford, Norfolk. Having been to a few before with Tim’s family, this time I thought I would bring all my camera gear with me, so I can get out and photograph the wildlife that also calls these forests home. (Also, this will give me something to do in the mornings when everyone else is still sleeping…).
We all convened just after lunch on the Monday and once we were all fed (we are a hangry bunch) we had ourselves a little walk around the site. It is absolutely stunning, I love all the lodges in amongst the woods and the smells and sounds are amazing. There are plenty of birds around, but it is the Muntjac deer that stole the show for me.
I have yet to see a deer locally to me in any variety, but the Muntjac are definitely one I rarely see anywhere. Introduced into the UK at the start of the 20th century, the Muntjac deer is originally from Southeast Asia, and is the smallest deer spices in the UK.
Like most deer, they are incredibly flighty animals, however here at Centre Parcs, a few of the more mature deer have lost a lot of that fear and walk right up to your open porch door! Thankfully we noticed in time and were on deer/squirrel/goose/duck watch over the next few days whenever an external door was open.
On my first morning, I was up just after 7am and out on my first photo walk before 8 o’clock. My plan was to just walk around with my camera and hopefully stumble upon some of the local wildlife as I made my way up to a bird hide here on site.
Straight out the door, there were animals aplenty, with my first ‘proper’ photos being taken by a nearby pond of a Canada Goose amongst, what I think are weeds, but they looked lovely.
On my way back to the road, I got a very brief encounter with a young male muntjac in the ferns and I am quite happy with how this shot came out. I would have loved it even more if I had a clearer shot with the ferns around him rather than in front, but we were off to a good start.
Shortly after this, I had another run in with a muntjac, this time a female in the woods, just off the path. Now I have to say that even though this image is shot at 12800 ISO, I absolutely love it! And with the thanks of lightrooms new enhanced noise reduction feature I am really happy with the edited result. After spending some time enjoying watching the deer, I carried on, on my walk to the bird hide.
This was absolutely massive! And there were many feeders out for all the birds, however, it wasn’t the best for images. With it being summer and the trees in full leaf, the light here was very challenging, and I chose to use a slower shutter speed here to keep my iso at a more reasonable level! I saw some muntjac right down the bottom of the site, way too far away for images, as well as squirrels fighting over the feeders. The bird front was actually quite quiet and the perches were not great for images. I did managed to get some nice ones of a Siskin, Great Tit and also a lovely Marsh Tit (a new one for me), but the highlight was a very brief encounter with a Nuthatch. The hole in the hide I was using had a large ledge here, so unfortunately my image of it on the branch isn’t the cleanest when compared to the great and marsh tits I captured earlier. It was then than someone else joined me in the hide and then nature just disappeared! So after waiting around for another 20 or so minuets, I headed off back to base.
On the way back I got some nice shots of a Grey Squirrel in a tree, which I am really happy with, and then had to pick my way through a gathering of geese with their young, right on the path to our lodge. Thankfully, the parents were happy with me walking past and I got a really nice shot of one of the goslings.
The following morning I was back out with my camera, it was a raining a fair bit first thing, so I headed out an hour later than the previous morning. My plan was to head up to the golf course, as I thought that would be a good location for the deer, however, they were already playing so my plan fell apart quite early on. I did run into a very friendly Moorhen, and managed to get a couple of shots, but I wouldn’t call them keepers.
I continued on and eventually found a lane and right smack in the middle of it was a female muntjac deer, just chilling. I got a few shots at a safe distance and then slowed made my way towards her, keeping nice and low. She was not interested in me at all and I got some really nice images of her. After a while, she started to walk towards me and I got one of my favourite images, I had the camera nice and there are some catch lights in her big, beautiful eyes.
I carried on down this lane and got some nice images of a squirrel and I also got quite close to a coot. I never knew that they had such funky footwear!
Back at the villa, whilst waiting for everyone to get ready, we had a visit from a female muntjac, she was just chilling in the garden and I managed to get a nice image of her from the patio doors before she moved off into the long grass behind the villa, where I captured another favourite image (I seem to have many favourite images).
It was now the last day, and it was an absolute belter of a morning! So nice and sunny, I set off early, just after 7 am to make the most of the day and get out before the crowds. I was treated early on to a sunbathing muntjac at the foot of a tree, again, I got nice and low so I could have the camera at eye level with her for a more engaging image. I toyed with moving behind some nettles to act as an out of focus frame, but I preferred the images without them.
After this I moved on and hardly saw anything! I am not sure why is was so quiet, but I managed to walk most of the site and was on my way back to the villa before I was able to take another image. Again, this was a muntjac but, the composition was not great as she was in a dense area of trees right on the road.
I carried on back to the villa and managed to get one last image on a grey squirrel, before calling time on my outing.
I had an absolutely fantastic time at Center Parcs, creating all my wildlife images and videos as well as the time spent with my family. I highly recommend taking your camera with you if you ever find yourself going to one of the sites as, if like me you are up before everyone else and want something to do, you can get out at take your images and be back in time for breakfast!
All the images made on my stay at Center Parcs, were with the Sony A7iv paired with my 70-200 f2.8 GM ii and 2X Teleconverter.