Aims of this website

Whilst one of the aims of this website is undeniably to sell photographs I hope also to make this much more than another online photo shop.   As this site develops I wish to share with you notes about the habitats and wildlife to be found on and around our Norfolk smallholding and show some of the measures we have taken to benefit and increase the variety of plants and animals which share this small part of east Norfolk with myself and my family. I will also try to give an insight into some of the techniques used to capture my subjects on camera.

About The Farm

The farm extends to approximately 19ha situated about half way between Norwich and Gt. Yarmouth in east Norfolk.   When I moved here back in 1990 it was devoted solely to arable production, cereals and sugar beet being the main crops.   Except for a small area of Christmas trees the land has now all been laid to grass to provide grazing and hay for horses.   This change in cropping has greatly increased the diversity of wildlife seen on the farm.   Some of the benefits we have seen in recent years are.

Bee orchids

In 2002 I spotted a Bee Orchid growing in one of the horse paddocks, a thorough search of the field revealed one more plant about 50 metres away.   I erected temporary fences around these plants to protect them from being grazed by the horses.   Once the orchids had shed their seeds the fence was removed so the horses could graze the area again thereby preventing the grass from smothering the orchids. We how have in excess of 500 plants spread over 3 areas of the farm.

Common spotted orchid

In 2004 I found one common spotted orchid in another of the horse paddocks, this produced seed in 2005 so I'm hopeful that we will see numbers increase over the coming years.

Barn owls

A pair of Barn Owls appeared in early spring 2005 quartering the hay fields in search of their favorite food, short tailed voles.   They nested close to the farm and used the hay fields as one of their main hunting grounds.   We have a pair hunting here at the moment (March 2006) so I hope they will nest again this year.

About the photographs

A large proportion of the photos you will see on this site are taken on the farm, many of them within 100 metres of my bungalow.   I will also be adding photos from the surrounding area as and when I find time to get out and about!   They are all taken with a digital SLR camera and assortment of lenses reflectors tripods and remote control etc. Virtually everything is shot in natural light, flash being used as a last resort only.