Situated in Ringwood on the edge of the New Forest, Liberty's is home to a variety of birds of prey and reptiles and creepy crawlies. Most are behind bars or glass so not ideal photographically unless you book a Photo Day as we did over last weekend and for a very reasonable £40 there are excellent opportunities for photography in more natural surroundings without bars or glass restricting.
The day runs from 10am to 3 pm. In the morning we shot owls, eagles and hawks, all carefully posed on logs, tree stumps, rocks etc before joining the public flying display at 12 o'clock. The flying field is much smaller than at HCT but with careful planning it is possible to get shots without distractiong backgrounds. The display included Caracara, vultures and lanner falcon.
After lunch was the turn of the reptiles - lizards, snakes, spiders, scorpian etc. They are all brought out into the open, so no problem about low light etc and posed on a large sand tray with logs and vegitation.
The day finished at 3 pm with a further public flying display which included 2 siberian eagle owls and Liberty the bald eagle, from whom the centre takes its name.
So all in all an excellent day and at £40 extremely good value.
Liberty's web site http://www.libertyscentre.co.uk/index.htm
Photo Days are booked through Captive Light http://www.captivelight.net/photodays.htm
Stan
The day runs from 10am to 3 pm. In the morning we shot owls, eagles and hawks, all carefully posed on logs, tree stumps, rocks etc before joining the public flying display at 12 o'clock. The flying field is much smaller than at HCT but with careful planning it is possible to get shots without distractiong backgrounds. The display included Caracara, vultures and lanner falcon.
After lunch was the turn of the reptiles - lizards, snakes, spiders, scorpian etc. They are all brought out into the open, so no problem about low light etc and posed on a large sand tray with logs and vegitation.
The day finished at 3 pm with a further public flying display which included 2 siberian eagle owls and Liberty the bald eagle, from whom the centre takes its name.
So all in all an excellent day and at £40 extremely good value.
Liberty's web site http://www.libertyscentre.co.uk/index.htm
Photo Days are booked through Captive Light http://www.captivelight.net/photodays.htm
Stan
Comment