As we settle into our new surroundings, we have been noting down month by month the species that we are seeing in and around the local Forsinard Area, click on the species list category to see everything we have seen so far;
December 2022
Blue Tit
Red Deer
Chaffinch
Coal Tit
Wren
Buzzard
Great Tit
Raven
Goldfinch
Greenfinch
Robin
Greater Spotted Woodpecker
Tree Creeper
Long Tailed Tits
Common Mergansers
Stout
Sea Eagle
Heron
Siskin
Kestrel
Dunnock
Barn Owl
Red Grouse
Black Friday is here again and this year we have been able to pull together some great deals for the day. We are only holding the deals for the one day so please do head over to our website on Friday to take advantage of them.
10% off all one day workshops and online tuition (including our 12 week course)
£200 off Forsinard Lodge week long tours
£50 off Forsinard Lodge weekend tours
These prices will be available on the website on the day, and of course this means members will still be able to use their discounts in conjunction with this offer.
What a fabulous week, thank you to our two lovely guests who joined us for our first week-long Autumn Photography Tour here in Forsinard.
The weather was very kind to us for the week, with only a few short showers and one very windy day. But the skies were full of moody clouds interspersed with blue, the colours were starting to shine through with beautiful rust colours covering the heathers on the hills and the red/orange leaves of the trees. The salmon jumped while we watched on in awe at their strength and resilience to such a big hurdle, with huge gushing waters constantly pushing them back.
The treats were endless with the impressive Red Deer Stag’s bellowing by the side of the road and a well-known haunt where the Osprey fly (who have left for the season) confusing us with similar large birds, who surprise us with their lovely white tails when they took off, there’s no mistaking a Sea Eagle once it flies and we couldn’t contain our excitement at such a find.
But there were many simple pleasures, from the numerous bright red Fungi, to the old ruined crofts with stories of the past and my favourite the flowing, tumbling, serene waterfalls which we could have whiled away many hours taking pictures, just trying to encapsulate this calming scene.
We can’t wait for out next set of guests to arrive and to share all the wonders that this beautiful, calm landscape has to offer.
With 4 months of settling in to our new location, we are very excited to be having our first group of guests at Forsinard Lodge, in just over a weeks time. The autumn is coming on nicely and we are spending a lot of time on the ground researching location for what we hope will be great landscape and wildlife photography.
The tree’s are just starting to change in colour and the fungi is starting to appear, with all the recent rains we should find even more and of course them and the streams and rivers are running harder. We are watching out leaping salmon and checking out further site for some wonderful waterfalls.
The Red Deer have started to bellow so we have high hopes for the rut this year, although we have already been very spoilt with the sightings and pictures through the summer.
We’ll keep you all updated as things progress.
Thank you to everyone who entered our Spring Photography Competition, we were overwhelmed with the response and it was a very difficult decision to pick the winners. After much deliberation we are please to announce the winners below.
Category 1 – Silhouette
Winner – Carol Kitson
Runner Up – Colin Armstrong
Category 2 – Together
Winner – Colin Armstrong
Runner Up – Yvette Brereton
Category 3 – Joy of Colour
Winner – Sarah Horrocks
Runner Up – Kate Unsworth
Overall Winner – Sarah Horrocks
Once again thank you to everyone who took part, we really enjoyed looking through all your images and we hope you all really enjoyed taking them.
For the original list of prizes please click here
As we progress with our exciting moving plans to Scotland, we are very pleased to announce we will be working with Wilkinson Cameras and ‘Animal Teach’ to offer amazing new macro events in nearby Liverpool. We have known the team at Animal Teach for many years, and their fully licensed animal collection is perfect for the studio photography we are planning.
We are offering a highly informative day in a superbly set up studio with fantastic subjects, perfect for anyone interested in capturing some awesome close-up images. Animal Teach will be rehoming many of our animals, adding to the already great line up of creatures they already have.
Animals you may see on the events might include;
Harvest Mice
Crested Gecko
Gargoyle Gecko
Leopard Gecko
Praying Mantis (various species)
Stick insect (various species)
Borneo Eared Frogs
Tomato Frog
Cinnamon Frogs
Panther Chameleon
Yemen Chameleon
Blue Tongue Skink
Millipedes
Poison Dart Frogs
Macro Photography Workshop, Liverpool
£198 (members price £158.40)
16.06.22
07.07.22
15.09.22
Happy Christmas everyone from all of us at Wild Arena, we hope you all have a lovely break and we look forward to seeing you in 2022
Our office opening hours over the festive period are:
Open as usual until midday on 24th December (we can do email voucher right up until this time)
Closed from 25th until 2nd January.
Open as usual from 3rd January 2022.
Happy Halloween everyone, we hope you a lovely spooky celebration!
£89 (members £71.20)
Last minute pricing
£71.20 (members £56.96)
£49 (members £39.20)
Last minute pricing
£39.20 (members £31.36)
£25 (members £20)
Last minute pricing
£20 (members £16)
It has been a crazy year, with most of us stuck at home or working incredibly hard. Easter hopefully will see the start of restrictions easing, so what better way to celebrate being outside in nature again than to dust off your camera and show us what spring means to you! This is an incredibly easy photography competition, we would just like nature pictures taken over the easter break, they should show the wonders of the natural world and how the places around us are bursting into life.
You can submit up to 3 images per category and our team will pick the ones that we feel meet the brief, and are of a technically and creatively, very high standard.
What are the categories and prizes are here you say … this is the most important bit, so here they are:
We initially thought we would do a simple ‘enter to win’ competition, but judging such a broad range of potential subjects, one against the other, can be difficult. So, we have decided on 3 categories to really help focus everyone’s minds!
This category is all about flowers & plants and how, at this time of year, they are just emerging and starting to fill our landscape and gardens with bright vibrant colours. Please note, we are hoping to see wild or garden flowers not inside bouquets or florist examples.
Over lockdown those of you who have pets will have really appreciated how they have supported us and kept us going through some lonely times, so this category is all about showing your love and appreciation for them with some wonderful pictures, capturing their crazy personalities or their simple calming influence.
Our final category includes all that lovely wildlife that exists just outside your door, from the yearlong birds who stay around in the coldest of weathers to seasonal but sleepy animals who are just yawning and making their way out of their winter hideaways to greet the spring sunshine. Everything from small jumping spiders to larger mammals, as long as you found it here in the UK and close to your home, it counts!
So, onto the second most important bit, the prizes!
The winners will be contacted via email on 1st May and then announced on our website and Facebook on 2nd May 2021
To enter simply send us your pictures (as a Jpeg file no larger than 2Mb), to us via email at info@wildarena.com
