Everything you ever needed to know about badgers AND how to photograph them! 📸 🦡

deep in the heart of an ancient Woodland amongst the Rolling Hills and tapestry of lush Green Meadows under the soothing sway of towering trees lives a secretive and mysterious animal that captured my heart from the moment I first saw it each and every spring my heart yearns to return to this animal nestled within sweet blue bells with such enticement beauty and Mastery of an underground World We are so unfamiliar of it is of course the beautifully bewitching European badger [Music] hello everyone and welcome back to my YouTube channel if you are joining for the first time then my name is Rachel bsby and I am a wildlife photographer now since so many people have never seen a European Badger and so many Wildlife photographers long to photograph one I thought that I would bring you along to a typical Blue Bell season here in the UK and share with you everything that you will possibly ever need to know about photographing European [Music] [Applause] badges I've been working with European badgers for six years now and during that time I've had the privilege of many many solo encounters but also I've had the privilege of connecting Global audiences with the species by filming and photographing for S David aten Wild aisles for various BBC programs and for Badger trust the leading voice for Badgers in England and in Wales now during these magic moments with European badges I've had the opportunity to further develop my understanding and appreciation of them by learning and observing their biology their ecology and all about their mysterious and secretive lives I'm now so passionate about Badges and very proud to be an ambass Ambassador for Badger trust further championing the species and introducing them to people just like you [Music] many people have sadly only ever seen the European Badger dead at the side of abroad and this is not the Legacy they deserve so before we get started I would love to introduce you to the European Badger as I know it the badger is one of the UK's most recognized and popular mammals bringing pleasure to thousands of people as a living symbol of the British Countryside but their semi nocturnal nature makes them rather [Music] elusive Badgers are the most wonderful ecosystem Engineers meaning that they bring so many added benefits to the environment around them they create new habitats for wildlife in the soil when Excavating their Chambers and tunnels and they also disperse seeds in their dung creating amazing areas of biodiversity in and around the badger set badgers have so many cool facts about them though for example how they can eat up to 200 earthworms per night and how they can inflate their skin they can also use delayed implantation when it comes to mating and giving birth to their cubs and they can even change their bedding dragging it out from under the ground leaving it to air in the hot sunshine to kill off any pesky [Music] fleas I've been so fortunate to photograph badges for 6 years now and time and time again I am asked for my top tips for those also wanting to photograph badges so I'm going to share my top three with you now the first of which is to observe your badges before you photograph them now there are two ways of doing this you can either do this by installing camera traps around the badger set to survey the surroundings to capture footage throughout the day and night and to help you better understand the behaviors of your badges their tolerance levels and any behavioral habits that will help you when it comes to photographing them if you don't want to use camera traps then you can simply just sit and observe the badges you can do this by remaining downwind of the badges ensuring that your scent is being carried away from the set with the wind and of course wearing no strong scents or no strong perfumes or deodorants you need to make sure you're sitting in absolute silence at all times this means no getting up and moving for a perspective you need to really decide on where you're going to sit at least half an hour to 45 minutes before you predict the badges will emerge now my second tip for photographing badges is to use a long lens where possible to reduce the risk of disturbances now Badgers are highly secretive mammals we are of course so so lucky to have them living all around us so it's really important that we protect them for generations to come now as Wildlife photographers we all have the best interests of our subject at Heart of course if we were to accidentally scare the badges away then we are never going to capture the shop that we so dream of and this is why it's really important to be highly respectful of the badges and to cause very very minimal disturbance when you are in their home and working with them and my third tip comes down to your camera setting so I shoot exclusively with the Nikon z9 the flagship mirrorless camera which is amazing camera to photograph Wildlife especially Badgers because of that silent shutter now working in a woodland and working with badges which are semi nocturnal animals means that you will be working in very low light conditions and for this reason you need to be trying to use a very shallow depth of field depending on what lenses I use I usually go for anything between f1.8 to f2.8 and up to F4 I tried to keep my ISO as low as possible by doing this and sometimes that means you need quite a slow shutter speed meaning that you might need to use a tripod because if you're photographing handheld at this slow shutter speed you might not get sharp enough images that you desire I use the benro tortoise tripod when working with badges the small size means that it's not too invasive and it's the perfect height for those eye Lev shots it may be small but it's incredibly sturdy and an invaluable tool in my camera bag now on my Instagram Channel I asked you to share with me any of your questions wow that's a very close Buzzard wow that was a great addition anyway on my Instagram Channel I asked you to share with me any of your questions about European badges or also about photographing them you sent me some amazing questions so thank you so much and I've chosen a few of the questions that I thought would be the most helpful for people following along and wanting to photograph badges for themselves the first of which was are there any rules and laws when it comes to photographing Badges and the answer is yes in 1992 the protection of badgers Act was enforced and this includes malicious acts of crime for example snaring poisoning or Badger baiting it also now includes cyber enabled crime and more importantly for those of you listening and wanting to get yourself out to a badger set the protection of badger Act also protects badges from negligent crimes in which a crime has been accidentally committed without malicious intent so when you are photographing badges or wanting to go and simply observe badges it's very very important that you remember Badges and their sets are protected by law and this goes for any disturbances to European badges or any damage caused to their set now another really great question was how do I balance up my shutter speed and my ISO when working with badges now of course the badges that do emerge within daylight hours are often emerging very very close to dusk and for this reason the levels of light in and around the set and the areas that you're photographing them can be significantly reduced and with this in mind I try to photograph with a very shallow depth of field now the lenses that I'm using this season allow me to go to a depth of field of f 1.8 and up to around F4 now this is a really great way to compensate for those low light levels because using a shallow depth of field means that I can allow more light to enter my lens and my camera however if you have a lens that perhaps only reaches f5.6 or slightly larger this is still fine you might need to opt for a slower shutter speed and to compensate for any shake or any out of focus or slightly soft images I'd highly recommend commend that you use a tripod to keep your camera as stationary as possible when working with slow shutter speeds now when it comes to ISO I've been quite fortunate working at this Badger set that I'm shooting around 2,000th of a second with my ISO capped at 4,000 now I know that modern cameras can handle really high ISO numbers but I personally try to avoid it where possible and keep my camera capped at ISO 4000 however if you are are someone that's just really really Keen to get shot of Badges and you don't necessarily mind how high your ISO goes there is some really good noise reduction software that now you can use online to make your life a little bit easier now a very very important question that came through to me is why aren't Badgers protected in the UK and what is the problem surrounding them now Badgers are protected by law in the UK as are their sets but unfortunately they are also killed by the law in the UK now not only are badgers one of the most highly persecuted species of wildlife through Badger crime like poisoning Badger baiting snaring and shooting but Badgers are also one of the number one species killed every single day on British roads and as if this wasn't bad enough the UK government has killed over 230,000 Europe European Badgers in the UK within the last 20 years with no signs of slowing down this is harrowing and it makes me feel sick to say it every single time that I do and despite Badger being protected by law they are still facing a very very rapid Extinction with localized Extinction now taking place in some areas of England so what can we do about it first things first is of course to continue continue applying pressure to the UK government calling for an immediate end to this murderous Badger cult and when it comes to Badger crime we really need to continue campaigning for better prosecution measures and better law enforcement now a question that I'm sure you're all really really Keen to know is how do you go about finding a badet photograph now this is the million dooll question of course now finding a Badger set is very difficult to do intentionally and most people come across them whilst they're out walking or looking for something else but a good place to start is on the outskirts of Woodland and the borders of farmland and in urban areas badges can be found quite commonly now in gardens and communal areas now when you're looking for signs of an active Badger set what you're first and foremost looking for is fresh digging but you could also come across a badger latrine which is a toilet used at territorial boundaries and social markers now other signs that you could look for include snuffle pits and again these are very very small pits and depressions in the soil caused by the Badger's nose when they are going about their business following those ancestral foraging paths every single evening so now you know a little bit more about badges it's time to start looking for them each evening walk into the Woodland felt like falling into Wonderland for this project I was photographing exclusively on the Nikon z9 with 135 f1. 8 planner lens and aiming for boka and Whimsical images that portray the mysterious elusive personalities of the Badgers and capture their enchanting Bluebell Woodland [Music] setting so I've just got seated at the badger set the weather conditions really aren't on my side it has stopped raining for now but I don't think this any chance of getting nice light this evening also the wind is going to be quite challenging because it's blowing in lots of different directions when you're working with badges you really hope to place yourself down wind of the set so your scent gets carried away but of course when the wind is blowing in lots of different directions that makes things very very difficult so I'm going to see how that affects the badges of evening of course their welfare is always prioritized so if it looks like my scent is to off fitting and it's looks like it might be disturbing their natural foraging behaviors I will remove myself from the set when they are out of sight the fingers cross that won't have to happen hopefully the window will calm down and all will be well [Music] [Music] as each evening unfolded life felt more and more like Wonderland I don't know if they're picking up a camera but they're up to you Val here just behind me it's like being in some sort of fairy tale this evening the following day I made my final visit to the badger set [Music] the evening began beautifully with one Badger emerging earlier than it had done all [Music] week and then it got even better so the patter is quite literally in front of me let me show you [Music] it was the most extraordinary Unforgettable week working so intimately again with these badges surrounded by the sweet smell of blue bells and the songs of woodland birds each and every evening [Music] [Music] during this project I really allowed myself to flow with creativity and explore new angles with a lens and focal length I've never used before with the pure intention of photographing the badger Bluebell environment whilst capturing their mysterious nature I've made Everlasting memories and I feel so grateful for yet another magical season with these magical animals well that's it it's with a very very heavy heart that I'm leaving the badger set and I'm so sad to leave but it was such a good ending you know I have made so many amazing memories this week and captured some images that I am truly over the moon with I'm so sad it's over you wait a year for this week to come around and it's just over in a Flash and to be perfectly honest it just makes me feel so scared for the future of badges I'm going to try to get emotional while I say this but it's um it's pretty heartbreaking to think that the European Badger could go extinct in my lifetime and while the badges at this location are safe for now there's nothing to say that the UK government won't bring in a cold Zone here next year and these badges that I've worked with for the last six years will be shot and killed if you have 10 seconds today please please sign the petition in the bio to add some some more pressure to our government to put an immediate end to the badger Co because I can't imagine a life without Badgers it's been the most amazing week and I really hope you will enjoy the photographs but I can't help but leave here thinking will I get another Blue Bell season with them next year and sadly that's just so UNC

Channel: Rachel Bigsby

Views: 8,726

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Id: FhLJQ0VFi7g

Length: 21min 36sec (1296 seconds)

Published: Sat May 18 2024