It never seems to snow a great deal in England. January 2021 seemed to be an exception, however. We were halfway through the third lockdown and unlike the warm and sunny weather we experienced during the first lockdown, we had over a week of snowy and frosty weather.

I’d been waiting for a snow day for some time. Ever since focusing more on Wildlife photography, I couldn’t stop thinking about capturing a photo of a Robin perched on a branch with snowflakes falling through the frame. Every so often these bucket list shots appear in my head out of nowhere and drive me insane.. Until I finally capture it. 

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Waking up one morning to a heavy snowfall, I spared no time. This was my chance. I put on my warmest clothes, laced up my boots and headed straight to the local forest. Not knowing whether I’d get stranded in the car on the way back if the weather got too bad, I decided to make it there on foot. A two mile walk in the snow gave me enough time to pray to god that there would be some active wildlife at one of my regular spots. I couldn’t wait another year.

When I arrived, I noticed someone had left a large amount of bird seed on one of the rocks in the usual wildlife spot. It’s here where you can often find Nuthatches, Treecreepers, Chaffinches, a variety of Tits and my favourite, Robins! Thanks to this unsung hero, the wildlife was more active than I’d ever seen before.

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As I quickly set up my telephoto lens to start shooting before the snow stopped, the birds seemed to quickly get used to me being there. Either that or they were so hungry they didn’t even notice me.

Spirits were high, my gear was working great, I hadn’t forgotten my SD card, but there was a BIG problem. As I started taking photos, I quickly realised there weren’t any Robins. The place was full of Great Tits and other smaller birds. But the star of the show was no where to be seen.

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Much to my surprise, after half an hour of waiting, I was looking through the lens on the verge of losing faith, and a beautifully marked Robin landed on the rock. I was so excited I didn’t even take the photo!

I looked up and repositioned myself, realising there were several surrounding me in the trees and scavenging for food on the ground next to me. Faith was restored and I was once again reminded that patience is a virtue.

All that was left to do was line up my bucket list shot..

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