About me | Ben Locke Wildlife Photography

My earliest memories of watching wildlife date back to my young childhood, when my father would take me into the hills of Gloucestershire to look for reptiles, paddling in the local brook looking for fossils and wading through tall-grassed meadows in Wiltshire looking for butterflies.

When I moved from a suburban house to a cottage in a forest, the change of environment only served to widen my interest further. The interest in photography was a by-product of my passion for wildlife. I try to make the effort to see and photograph as many species as I can, avoiding the temptation to concentrate only on the more iconic or appealing families of wildlife (although I am a little bit obsessed with the caprimulgiformes and felidae families!). As a strict self-imposed rule, I only ever photograph wild subjects.

In finding many of my subjects, I’ve had the pleasure of visiting some amazing locations and having some unforgettable experiences. Whilst I always try to make the most of a situation photographically, some of my favorite pictures of all are also my worst, simply because of the experience they represent to me or the sheer difficulty involved in finding that species in the first place. Over the years, wildlife has led to me meeting some inspirational people and most importantly making some great friends. It has also brought me some excellent opportunities, such as making a short film for the BBC, then working for the BBC Natural History Unit on various productions, contributing to a number of books and research projects and contributing both practical and technical effort towards various conservation based projects, none more so than the countless hours spent in the field studying Nightjars every year.

I currently serve on the Executive Committee of the Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society – the natural history recording organisation for the county, formed in 1948. The Society also helps finance projects concerned with biological recording, education, public awareness and environmental or nature conservation within the county. I am also part of the team behind the Gloucestershire Raptor Monitoring Group, responsible for the safekeeping and analysis of the county’s raptor records.

Like most naturalists, I like keeping lists! In more recent times I’ve also started to enjoy drawing some of the wildlife I see.

You can find me on all the usual social media websites. Feel free to follow me to keep up to date with my work.

I hope you enjoy my photography. I’m always happy to hear from people who visit the site, so feel free to get in touch.

Ben