Monthly Meeting – Wednesday 26 September

What an evening we had! Ninety people squeezed into the Catholic Church Hall to hear Dennis Bright, the highly acclaimed wildlife photographer, present “A Calendar of British Wildlife”.

As well as bright red poppies in a field of barley, he showed us pictures he’d captured of the shiest of wildlife – kingfishers, longtailed tits in a nest, goldcrest, water vole, wild foxes, badgers, mice, even a fieldmouse in its nest – and many more natives of our Hampshire countryside.

These images would have been enough in themselves but Dennis brought with him his extensive knowledge of the species he was filming and his humorous stories about them. Just before each slide came up, he had us guessing what it might be coming next, given what he’d just told us. And by inviting the audience to join in, by asking questions of us, the evening came fully to life. Even the most composed and experienced of us were ‘Ooh-ing’ and ‘Aah-ing’ with each irresistible picture and his engaging narrative. He showed us, amongst others, not only wonderful images of owls – barn, tawny, and little – but also the contents of one of their pellets, containing the bones and fur of the mice it’d eaten. He had an extraordinary picture of the skeletons all laid out and displayed artistically for the camera. He explained how to soak the pellet, tease out the contents with two pairs of tweezers, and immerse the tiny bones in Sterodent overnight to bleach them!

What was so staggering was not only the exquisite quality of the images, but also Dennis’s patience and perseverance. He is so committed to getting the picture he wants – a direct look at the camera from shy owl, or a wild fox cub, for example, or capturing a bird in flight, so that each wing feather is seen spread to its very tip – that he will wait for hours, standing up if necessary in his Boy Scouts toilet tent (a convenient upright hide!) or his cramped square canvas hide, to get the series of shots he wants. Or return to a site, day after day, even week after week, getting the animal or bird used to his being there so that it behaves confidently and naturally, and doesn’t disappear in the blink of eye or the flash of a camera. That’s how he captured the wonderful shots of a family of wild foxes, enticing them out into the open with delicious tuna fish or, when that became too expensive, a well-known brand of dog food! Or putting pieces of apples down to attract the mouse his neighbour had seen in his garden. The mouse was so quick that each piece disappeared before he had the chance to take the picture (and given what we saw him achieve, that must have been fast!). But by ingeniously putting a nail through the apple core into the ground, the mouse had to stay out in the open to nibble it, and hey presto! a wonderful image!

He stressed the ethical way in which he sets up his shots – with one amusing exception! He was asked by a magazine if he had a picture of a buzzard on a rabbit kill. He said he hadn’t but that he could get one to them the next day. And he did. He showed us the slide that he sent them: a magnificent buzzard atop a dead rabbit against a glorious background of flowering heather. And then confessed (to us, not the magazine!) that he had gone to a butchers shop for the rabbit and had a friend with a tame buzzard. They’d laid out the rabbit and put the buzzard on it, but the bird, unused to dead rabbits, hopped off. And kept hopping off every time it was put back on. Eventually it had to be tethered briefly by its jesses (the straps fastened to its leg) and Dennis had a split second to get the shot before it hopped off the other side!

The climax of the evening was the way he told us and showed us the story of a male robin which lived in his garden for four years. The robin became very tame, so tame that Dennis could easily take close ups of it. So tame indeed that he could step over it. So tame that the robin introduced his mate and his family to Dennis, to the point that Dennis could lie down and have the male sitting on one hand, the female on the other, a baby on each knee and one on his ankle! Each stage punctuated by a picture showing just that! He told us of wondering just how trusting and tame the robin really was and how he decided the test it. The final shot of the evening was of Dennis with a, presumably wriggling, mealworm between his lips and the robin taking it from him! Exquisite and greeted by warm applause! It was a fantastic privilege to be there and to share such beauty, enthusiasm, professionalism, and wonder.