Young Birders

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Going back to h THE NEXT GENERATION At the age of 24, photographer Luke Massey has accomplished a lot, but a trip to France took BY LUKE MASSEY him BEING A WILDLIFE photographer and cameraman is awesome. In my opinion, it is the best job in the world. Every time I meet up with old schoolmates or meet new people, they tell me how cool and amazing my job is. Apart from carrying a camera, and filming and taking photos of animals, there’s no difference between me and any other bird/nature watcher, yet a lot of the same people who tell me how cool my job is, will probably laugh at and ridicule regular birdwatchers. I recently spent a week in the south of France in a small town called Capestang. It sits on the edge of a vast expanse of reedbeds and pools. These pools seem to be magnets for birds. I saw White Storks, Bitterns, Great White Egrets, Shelducks, Marsh Harriers, Snipe, Penduline Tits and countless other feathered beings, as well as a few Wild Boar and Coypu to correct the mammalian balance. That week transported me back 10 years. The reason being, although those pools were fantastic, I struggled to photograph much. Surrounded by reedbeds, it was hard to approach them without flushing every living thing in sight. With more time, I’d have set up a few hides and hopefully That week in France reconnected me with what started it all off for me. Yes, when I take photos and film I still avidly watch animal behaviour and spot as many species as possible, but when forced to forget the camera, I took everything for what it is Great Crested Grebe Luke Massey reaped the rewards, but in the end I just enjoyed exploring and seeing what I could find. Alongside that, I was carless, with just a bicycle for transport. Before I even picked up a camera back home I’d spend most of my spare time on my bike, cycling to the local wildlife hotspots with my binoculars to see what I could find. No photos would be taken, but I am sure if my mates had known, I would have had the ‘geek’, ‘nerd’ and ‘twitcher’ comments thrown at me quite readily. That week in France reconnected me with what started it all off for me. Yes, when I take photos and film I still avidly watch animal behaviour and spot as many species as possible, but when forced to forget the camera, I simply took everything for what it was. I turned off the part of my brain that tells me that the distant Black-winged Stilt is too far away and to keep cycling, and instead I watched it intently, elegantly wading through the water, dipping its beak in and out. The flock of Penduline Tits darting about the tops of the willow in the harsh midday light weren’t ignored as being unphotographable silhouettes. Instead I watched as they hung, completely inverted, snatching at whatever was embedded among the catkins, lifting off as one and disappearing into the reeds at the first sign of danger only to reappear minutes later, their soft pinging contact calls echoing around me. While I was in France, I tweeted the geekiest thing I think I’ve ever tweeted. The trigger was one of the best bird moments of 2015 for me, which is saying something since I’ve had the pleasure of watching an Osprey fishing over a coral reef and been feet from a Resplendent Quetzal. I’d taken my girlfriend Katie (read her blog at naturenibbles.com) down to the marshes to try and show her the Wild Boar (I know, what a romantic!), and had left her sitting waiting while I went and checked another spot. For some reason I looked above me, and 30 Black Kites were circling, clearly recently arrived from further south. The winds had changed and I’d 2 February 2016
k his roots TOM him back to his youth – and reminded him birds are cool Luke Massey ONE TO WATCH... MASON, 22 BW: What first got you interested in birds and wildlife? TM: I first became interested after moving house. My family and I relocated to a farm in the local countryside and suddenly I found myself surrounded by nature. I spent hours playing out in the fields and woodland around my new home, exploring, watching and discovering about my local wildlife and this was where I first started to get a keen interest, first in nature watching, and then wildlife photography. BW: Which bird surveys/conservation projects are you involved in? TM: In the past, I have worked photographing all kinds of wildlife, from Ptarmigan to Foxes, but currently I am focusing on photographing Little Owls close to my home in Hertfordshire. Additionally, I volunteer my time with the RSPB at my local nature reserve Rye Meads, delivering events and educational activities for young people, as well as guiding walks. BW: What has been your most memorable birding moment? TM: I was in Finland, photographing bears, but in the middle of the night, after all the bears had moved back into the woods, I was woken by a strange noise on top of the hide I was in. Peering out of the window into the gloom I couldn’t see anything until a bird flew from the top of our hide into the adjacent tree. On inspection through my binoculars it was a Hawk Owl, a bird I had wanted to see for many years, just 10 metres away. A simple, amazing moment with nature. BW: What would be the one piece of advice you’d give to other young birders? TM: Get yourself a mentor. We all need to learn and often the best way is to have someone impart their knowledge on to us. Working at my local nature reserve as a volunteer I have been spoiled by the number of wonderful senior volunteers and staff who have taken me under their wing and taught me about birds, wildlife and conservation. Additionally, being part of the A Focus on Nature group (a great organisation set up to help young wildlife lovers) has put me in contact with other young people who are also mad about wildlife. Luke Massey BW: If you could make one change to the UK’s environmental policies, what would it be? TM: The biggest one in my mind is to have tighter rules around plastics and their sale. Supermarket shelves are stacked high with plastics that are rarely recyclable and end up as either landfill or worse, in our seas. They are causing huge problems for our sea life and birdlife, clogging up the oceans and filling the stomaches of poor creatures that mistake these throwaway items for food. birdwatching.co.uk 3
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Young Birders

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