As well as photography, one of my biggest passions is for fishing.
Now, I could write at length about fishing, and sometimes think I ought to, but for now I will just say that I have yet to find anything, even photography, that helps me step away from the stresses of the real-world as completely as fishing.
Imagine how much of a trial it has been then, as for the last two years my work has kept me away from home except at weekends and so for all of that time, I haven’t been fishing once (you try being away all week and then telling your wife you’re going out fishing all weekend…).
After a little re-arrangement of my employers I am now back at home full time and was able to get out with a rod to the river Trent and fish a spot that I have been coming back to for years.
What a place for birdlife! At the local nature reserve there are hides and blinds and all sorts of places where countless photographers wait for even a glimpse of a kingfisher and yet here was I, sat quietly fishing, with a kingfisher darting back and forth along the back opposite me! For hours! Joining the little fish-hunter was also a common heron AND a little egret, all within about 20 meters of each other.
I am certainly going to return with the camera. The lesson here? Just because there’s a bird hide there, doesn’t mean there will be birds
