Harvest mice workshop

On August Bank holiday Monday a friend and myself went along to a Harvest Mice workshop at Dean Mason’s Windows on Wildlife hide Windows on Wildlife website near Corfe Mullen. We would have a morning just the two of us taking photos of these lovely little creatures. We had been to Dean’s reflection pool so we knew we were going to have an enjoyable time Dean Mason Reflective pool hide

It turned out to be a very hot and sunny morning, we were very lucky as the weather has been very changeable, we would be taking pictures of them outside in natural light. I was a bit worried about it being so bright out in the open, but it was fine as Dean had set up a white gazebo over the mice so it gave a nice filter for the light on the mice and protected them and us!

It took me a little while to get into the photography, they are very busy little creatures and you need to have a fairly fast shutter speed and keep a close eye on what they are up to and when they look the most cute! I was surprised how small they were, although I had taken Harvest mice in the studio before I had forgotten what tiny little creatures they are.

The first few I took with my 100mm Macro lens but I changed to my 70-300mm lens which I found easier to use I could be a little farther away from the mice and it blurred the background nicely. The yellow background in many of the images was from the mass of yellow daisy type flowers, which I think were Hawkbit carpeting the field.

Dean kept changing the plants over to keep the mice interested, they just love to climb and he was always aware of their welfare when they got tired he swapped them over never physically handling them.

There are plenty more pictures below, they were so irresistible and a joy to spend a little time with them. I would highly recommend any one interested to go along to one of Dean’s workshops.