What gear I'm taking on my Scottish winter wildlife tour!
If you have been following me for a little while now, then you will know I have been on some wildlife photography tours, and this January as my birthday and Christmas present to myself, I booked onto another. This time it is a one-to-one with Karen Miller, in the Scottish Highlands. I opted for a one-to-one this time in then hopes of being able to absorb more knowledge from Karen, as it would just be the two of us. While I feel I am quite competent with my camera and taking the actual images, I still struggle with field craft, so am especially looking forward to the mountain hare day. We would also be seeing some red squirrels, crested tits and some red deer. The crested tits I am very excited for as I have not seen these little fellas before.
For the trip, I will be taking my usual camera gear:
Sony A7iv as my main photography and video camera.
Sony 24-70 f2.8 GM ii for filming talking to camera bits in the cabin I will be staying in, as well as if there is a potential for some landscape images.
Sony 70-200 f2.8 GM ii, it is going to be Scotland in winter, so potentially needed on darker mornings or later in the day when my main wildlife lens is just not fast enough.
Sony 200-600 f5.6-6.3 G my wildlife photography workhorse and muscle building lens.
Osmo Action 5 Pro, Insta360 X5, DJI mic 2 and an array of selfie sticks for filming my little vlogs.
Tripod wise I'm actually going to bring both of the tripods I have because I am a bit worried that the big one that I have from Suiri is going to be a bit too heavy for me when I'm going up the mountain and the little tripod that I have from three-legged thing with the ball head I feel will do the job for me but it's also so much lighter.
I'm also going to be taking my waterproof camera cover because this is Scotland in winter, so the likelihood is we are going to be needing that.
I'm going to be carrying all of this gear in my Shimoda Action X25, which you will see me using in all of my videos. It is a great bag, very waterproof even without the rain cover, and I really can cram a lot of gear in it.
One of the ways that Karen works is that we will not be using a hide on any of our days out with the wildlife. So to ensure that I do not freeze on the side of a mountain in the Scottish winter, I have got myself some ‘keeping Jo warm’ essentials, these consist of:
USB-C rechargeable hand warmers, these were a Christmas gift from Tim and they are blooming brilliant. I've just been using them on the low settings and keeping them in my pockets and then on dog walks or in my incredibly cold workshop when I'm cold, I can just grab onto them and warm up my hands
Normal hand warmers because those I can stuff up inside my gloves for when we are sat out in the elements.
Heated socks, as you know I feel the cold and my feet are one of those things that really struggle with it and as we're going to be sitting out in the weather for quite a while not moving I'm going to need to be able to keep warm, and I feel that with the heated socks they're just going to keep my feet that much warmer and hopefully I'll be able to be more comfortable when we are out and about.
Deerhunter heated top, I got this in the black Friday sales, and was a recommendation from Karen who also has one and feels the cold. I'm using it with a 10,000 mAh USB power bank and on the lowest setting it lasts all day which is just brilliant and this is just going to be another layer of heating for me to help keep me warm when we are out in the elements.
Deerhunter Eagle Winter Trousers (I got ladies, but they do men’s and youth sizes as well). These are insulated, waterproof and windproof and will be ideal for sitting out on the mountain as well as at the other spots we will be visiting.
Down Jacket that I can wear underneath my Jack Pyke smock.
Two pairs of waterproof gloves, just in case it is piddling it down and one soak through, I shall have a spare pair to keep my hands warm and dry.
Highlander seat pad, I know that when we are going to be out with the squirrels we will be sitting down, so this will help to keep my butt dry, but also save my back as I can lean against it when waiting for the squirrels to come in.
The final thing that I'm bringing has nothing to do with photography at all, however it does have to do with keeping me warm in that it is a thermal food container and so that way I can have a nice warm lunch when we are out on the hill.
So that is all the gear that I'm taking on my winter wildlife photography tour I'm super excited to get back up to Scotland, and it's going to be a part of Scotland I haven't visited either I'm going all the way up to Inverness this time. I'm looking forward to bringing you guys along with me and sharing the photos and videos that I create whilst I am up there.