An Eye For The Birds

Want to take your best ever shots of our feathered friends? All you need is a little camera know-how and a lot of enthusiasm, as top twitcher and avian photographer Matthew Stadlen sets out to prove…

When you see a bird, do you really see it? I ask because it’s perfectly possible to go through life with an almost total disregard for birds. Some people positively dislike them – something about their beaks perhaps, or their feathers? Most are just indifferent. But many of us do show at least some interest in the avian world and – thanks to social media – there seems to be a growing number of bird photographers opening our eyes to these treasures. In fact, the chance to share my images easily and to learn from others on Instagram and elsewhere has rekindled in me an interest in birds that waned during my 20s and early 30s. Without the buzz of uploading the results, I would probably not have made the effort and, as a result, not have rediscovered the joy of birdwatching.

I’m not an expert – either in birds (although I’m beginning to hold my own with those who are) or photography. I’ve only recently worked out how to use the manual focus on my Nikon camera, but I do have a strong sense of what I think is beautiful and a passion for birds that has its roots in childhood. What I lack in expertise, I make up for in enthusiasm, and here I hope to explain and illustrate how to become a chronicler of the breathtaking beauty on our doorstep and beyond. If I can do it, so perhaps can you. At a time of ecological crisis, it is essential to remind each other of the preciousness of the natural world, and photography can offer us the key.

Trial and error