Wildlife and nature Photography in The New Forest National Park Hampshire

The New Forest is one of my favourite places to visit for photography, it will be one of yours too once you have visited! The New Forest is a haven for wildlife and Nature photography, I dread to think how many hours I have spent wandering through the ancient woodlands and heathlands, the ability to get incredibly close to free-roaming animals like ponies, deer and wild Boar is what makes the New Forest stand out, it’s perfect for anyone that is interested in wildlife photography, you don’t even need an incredibly expensive long lenses, you can get some great images with pretty standard lenses or even you phone camera, sometimes you don’t even have to leave the car! Here are a couple of my excellent spots to visit in the new forest and what you will find there.

Bolderwood Deer Sanctuary 

Nestled in the heart of the New Forest along the picturesque Ornamental Drive, Bolderwood is a popular destination for nature lovers. With a free car park, it's the perfect starting point for exploring the wildlife and nature of the New Forest.

One of the highlights of Bolderwood is its purpose-built deer viewing platform, which overlooks a scenic meadow. Just a short stroll from the car park, this platform offers one of the best spots to observe New Forest deer in their natural habitat. It’s a fantastic location for wildlife photography and capturing the serene landscape. Informative panels provide insight into the different types of deer that inhabit the area.

For those who enjoy walking, Bolderwood features three signposted circular trails that are accessible to wheelchair and buggy users. These compact gravel paths, similar to the off-road cycle tracks in the area, range in length from ½ mile to 2 miles. As you explore these routes, you’ll pass through ancient and ornamental woodlands, home to some of the tallest trees in the 

New Forest, including majestic Douglas firs, Redwoods, as well as native beech and oak trees. 

Lymington-Keyhaven Nature Reserve

Lymington and Keyhaven Marshes offer a stunning stretch of coastline, renowned for its rich biodiversity. These internationally significant coastal marshes and mudflats are teeming with fish, attracting thousands of seabirds and waders to the area.

Spanning nearly 740 hectares between the Lymington River and the village of Keyhaven, this coastal reserve offers breathtaking views across the Solent, with sights of Hurst Castle and the Isle of Wight. While it’s the largest of the Hampshire and Isle of Wights nature reserves, it’s not designed for exploration but rather for soaking in the natural beauty.

Springtime is ideal for spotting migratory birds like wheatear, swallow, and tern. The mudflats and islands are home to vast colonies of black-headed gulls, while cormorants dive into the nearby sea for fish.

As you stroll through the marshes, listen for the distinctive calls of redshank and oystercatcher, as they forage for crustaceans, fish, and molluscs in the wetlands.

In summer, you’ll discover a range of salt-tolerant plants along the shingle banks of Hurst Spit, including yellow horned-poppy, sea campion, and sea aster. These plants thrive on the salty breezes from the sea. 

If you are looking to get started with wildlife photography the New forest is the perfect place to start, here’s some kit to think about to get you started too, Firstly, some cameras for beginners:

Nikon D5600 (DSLR) Camera Why it's good: The Nikon D5600 is an entry-level DSLR with great autofocus and good low-light performance. Its cropped sensor provides extra reach, making it ideal for wildlife photography.

Canon EOS Rebel T8i (DSLR) Camera Why it's good: Offers great features for beginners like fast autofocus and shooting speed. The Canon T8i's ease of use makes it perfect for learning the basics of wildlife photography.

Sony Alpha a6400 Mirrorless Camera Why it's good: Mirrorless cameras are smaller and lighter than DSLRs. The Sony a6400 has fast autofocus, excellent burst rates, and a compact form factor, ideal for capturing wildlife

When starting out in wildlife photography, you'll need lenses that can get a little closer to you subject, ideally 300mm or more but as i mentioned before, the New Forest let's you get closer to the wildlife than you would normally.

if you are looking for longer lenses here are some beginner-friendly options:

Nikon AF-P DX NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3G ED VR Why it's good: An affordable zoom lens with built-in vibration reduction (VR) for reducing camera shake. It’s lightweight and gives good reach for a beginner.

Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM Why it's good: A budget-friendly lens with image stabilization (IS). Ideal for beginners due to its light weight and good zoom range.

Sony E 55-210mm f/4.5-6.3 OSS Why it's good: Affordable zoom lens with Optical SteadyShot (OSS) stabilization. Great for beginners needing a decent focal length at a low cost.

If you’re lucky enough to have a telephoto lens you will be in paradise, I’ve managed to take some of my favourite wildlife images here, you can spend the day hiding away and waiting to see what wildlife comes your way, there’s nothing better if you ask me! 

My favourite time of the year to visit for wildlife photography is during the rut (September to early November) the rut is the breeding season for deer, when male deer, or stags, fight over females, or hinds, to establish dominance, seeing two massive stags locking antlers really is a sight to behold and wonderful to photograph.

For those keen on birds, The New forest boasts over 100 species of birds, varying with the seasons, that’s more than enough to keep the most avid of twitchers happy!

Nature and Macro Photography

Maybe you’re more of a nature photographer? getting close to insects and creepy crawlies might be more of your thing, The new forest has you covered there too, visit The New Forest in spring or summer to see a huge number of insects, if you’re lucky you might spot some rare butterflies including the silver-washed fritillary and the pearl-bordered fritillary or rare beetles like the Noble chafer.

Between October and November and the forest floor is tranformed and filled with variety of mushrooms and toadstools, perfect for budding macro photographers, macro photography focuses on capturing small subjects like insects, flowers, and textures in stunning detail, it’s an opportunity to capture natures wonders in a unique way, there's plenty of opportunities for macro photography in the New Forest too. 

If you are new to macro photography it's essential to choose gear that provides both high magnification and ease of use. Here are some great beginner macro lenses and kits across various camera brands, along with useful accessories to get started.

Nikon AF-S DX Micro NIKKOR 40mm f/2.8G Why it's great: Affordable and compact, this lens is excellent for beginners who want to explore macro photography without spending too much. It offers a 1:1 magnification ratio, which is ideal for true macro shots.

Canon EF-S 35mm f/2.8 Macro IS STM Why it's great: This budget-friendly macro lens for APS-C cameras is ideal for beginners. It has a unique built-in Macro Lite for illuminating small subjects, making close-up shots even easier.

Sony FE 50mm f/2.8 Macro Why it's great: Affordable and compact, this lens is a perfect entry into macro photography for Sony full-frame or APS-C mirrorless users. Its 50mm focal length also makes it a decent walk-around lens.

Some Useful Accessories for Macro Photography Beginners

Macro extension tubes are a great, cost effective way of adapting standard lenses to let you take macro images, these tubes fit between your camera and lens to reduce the minimum focus distance, allowing you to achieve greater magnification with standard lenses, they’re a budget-friendly way to get closer to macro photography without investing in dedicated macro lenses, you can see some Here, You'll also need a steady Tripod, macro photography often requires stability, especially when shooting with narrow depth of field or in low light. A sturdy tripod helps keep your camera steady for sharp, detailed shots, here are some great options:

Manfrotto Befree Advanced: Lightweight and great for travel.

Joby GorillaPod: Portable and flexible, perfect for positioning your camera close to the ground.

Lighting is very important in macro photography, natural light may be insufficient. Ring lights or small LED lights attached to the front of your lens provide even illumination of small subjects, you can see some LED Camera lights here

Tips for Macro Photography

Use manual focus, when shooting very close to your subject, autofocus can be unreliable. Manual focus allows for more precise control.

Get a remote shutter release, this helps avoid camera shake when pressing the shutter button, which can be magnified in macro photography, try shooting in live view mode, using live view (the screen on the back of the camera instead of the viewfinder) allows you to magnify your subject on the screen and fine-tune your focus. 

Try a technique called focus stacking, macro photography often has a shallow depth of field, focus stacking is where you combine multiple images taken at different focus points, this can create sharp images from front to back, we will go more into this is future posts.

The New Forest is a wildlife and nature photographer’s paradise. The new Forest provides endless inspiration, from the vibrant colours of spring and summer to the misty mornings and frosty vistas of autumn and winter, each season brings its own charm and unique photographic challenges. So, pack your camera, explore the hidden gems of the forest, and let the beauty of the New Forest ignite your creativity.

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