Gavin Vella

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Upon posting my Stonechat picture on social media last night, I had a response saying this 'do you find time to work?'. Though at first I thought it was a sarcastic comment, they went on to say that they generally don't get the time to interact with nature as much as it 'appears' I do. While I can agree that spending more time out in the field will inevitably get you more opportunities, in this instance, I'm spending far less time out in the field than ever! Just an hour here or their straight after work whenever I'm able. I went on to say that it really helps knowing your habitat. I for instance know where to find a Stonechat on every single mountain in my surrounding area and generally, they aren't that hard to find this time of year when they are breeding. This pair below was clearly attending to their young and while watching from a distance I could see that they were using the same perches for look outs. All I had to do was walk close enough to the perch without disturbing them and there was the shot. It can be as easy as that sometimes.. Some people think that I spent hours and hours in a hide for this shot but I didn't. There are species of bird however that you really do need a hide for but even then, you need to know your habitat. Any great photographer I know, knows exactly what habitat and animals are on their doorstep and that is how you will get better pictures and more diversity.