Wild Gardening for the Wildlife Photographer

Maintaining a beautiful garden while concentrating one's precious time on photographing does not have to be a contradiction in itself. Not to be confused with an abandoned unkempt piece of ground, a natural style wild garden with its wild plants and wildflowers will add photographic opportunities as it attracts wildlife.

Butterflies and bees along with other insects prefer chemical-free (weedkiller- and insecticide-free) gardens with wild plants to lay their eggs on. Songbirds and others follow suit and look after the biological balance. Your little nature reserve will also encourage small mammals such as hedgehogs, and their little families can reward you with lovely scenes to watch and photograph.

Water in a garden attracts even more forms of wildlife such as newts, toads, and frogs, as well as dragonflies which show a happy existence between marsh marigolds and water lilies.

For your existing traditional garden to become a labour-saving haven full of interesting wildlife in a beautiful natural setting, the first step would be to remove any items that make things look formal and sterile and replace them informally with rocks and wood, creating nooks and crannies for animals to hide in and for seeds to get caught in.

Then you can start planting self-seeding wildflowers among your borders and in other places where soil can still be seen. Climbers can be positioned next to trees and any tall features; and lawns can be adapted and naturalised by planting bulbs and patches of wildflowers in amongst the grass.

And from then on let nature do the rest. Apart from any absolute necessities, resist the urge of mowing and manicuring, - relax and let plants and animals thrive together and keep your camera ready to shoot!

Come early spring, and butterflies will wake up from hibernation, looking for nectar. A garden well furnished with flowers supplying pollen and nectar will also be well populated with bees and other insect life. For satisfying shots, a macro lens (or other close-up equipment) and a sturdy tripod are recommended. On close-up range, the depth of field is very limited, which means that focusing needs to be very precise. The relationship between aperture and timing will decide the exact depth of field, but light conditions and speedy movements of the insect will also influence the choice of settings.

In order to catch good images of birds, a densely grown environment is advantageous, but

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