Over the past year I decided to spend some time volunteering for the RSPB, for those that haven’t heard of the RSPB, it’s a charity based here in the UK focused on conservation and in particular birds. The name is an acronym: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

In recent years they are moving their focus from specifically birds to the conservation of habitat, which supports birds. My local visitor centre is at Loch Garten, which I’ve spoken about as a photography location.

But I got to know the area a bit more intimately from my time spent volunteering there. 

The Loch Garten visitor centre, and the Abernethy Nature Reserve it eventually created, began with the help of George Waterston the Director of the RSPB.

In the 1950s when ospreys, a bird that had gone extinct in the UK due to persecution and egg stealing, returned and chose Loch Garten as its nesting site.

The belief is that they were a pair on their yearly migration from Africa to Scandinavia and they got blown off course, over the UK and seeing the rivers and lochs of Scotland full of fish, they decided to stay.

With their arrival began Operation Osprey. George, a veteran from World War II, established a 24 hour surveillance and guard to protect the birds from the continuing threat of egg poachers. He employed techniques he learned in the army to fortify the site and relentlessly cared for the birds.

In 1959 George had the wonderful idea, instead of keeping the birds a secret and working to protect them alone, he and his team opened Operation Osprey to the public and allowed people to come and see these majestic birds and learn why they should be protected.

From this project to protect a pair of Ospreys, we now have 300 breeding pairs in the UK. O

peration Osprey developed into the Loch Garten Osprey Centre and the RSPB managed to buy the surrounding lands to create the second largest nature reserve in the UK, a staggering 58 square mile reserve focused on conservation of the habitat and its inhabitants. 

As the centre is focused on Ospreys it is only open to the public through their breeding season from March to September. I had never thought about volunteering before, but when my girlfriend saw an advertisement that Loch Garten was looking for volunteers, I thought to myself “I should do that! I love nature and I am sure to learn something new!”

So, I applied and began volunteering once to twice a week from April until the end of the season, and I must admit I had a blast! It has been a fantastic experience and I am looking forward to next season. 

During my time there I learnt so much about ospreys, about the Caledonian forest in which the centre is found, and about conservation.

Listening to the presentations about the ospreys breeding season, I developed a fascination with the birds that led to me creating a project focused on them (check out the gallery!)

With that project I was able to observe new facets to their behaviour that I had only glimpsed from the presentations. These birds have evolved to be completely unique.

They are the only bird of prey in the world to solely eat fish and nothing else.

Other birds of prey that are famous for eating fish will eat other animals as well as fish, but not the osprey. They are literally unable to digest anything other than fish!

With such a specific diet, they have developed extremely specifications adaptations to help them.

For example, they are waterproof. They have a preen gland at the end of the tails which secretes an oily substance that they massage into their feathers to give them water resistance.

Their toes are a posable, meaning that they can turn one of their toes so that their foot looks like an H to grab the fish underwater and to be able to easily grip the fish.

They have a clear eyelid that shuts upwards to protect their eyes from the water, essentially giving them swimming goggles!

They can fish in either salt or freshwater, and they complete a 3000 mile migration twice a year!

Truly they are fascinating birds! 

Moving on from the birds, my duties as a volunteer was basically to talk to visitors. Give them some information about the centre, the history, the animals, the conservation projects, and answer any questions that they may have. It was a real fun thing to do.

I met some fascinating people from all ends of the earth. Some of the visitors were fascinating, others were quirky, but each and every one had come to the centre to experience nature. And I honestly think that they managed that.

Although there were some disappointed people, because unfortunately, this was the first year since George began the project that the centre lacked an osprey on the nest that the whole place was designed to celebrate. It was a bit of a blow.

The female that had been using that nest for the past 15 years had sadly not returned in the spring, and because she was such a ferocious protector of that nest, it took longer than normal for younger birds to realise the nest was empty.

But hopefully, next year there will be a new bird making Loch Garten its home. Surprisingly, even though the Osprey Centre was lacking an osprey, there was a good steady stream of visitors that came to support the RSPB and its efforts to conserve the environment of Abernethy. 

As this was the 60th year since Operation Osprey was opened to the public, the centre was celebrating its history with an exhibition about George and the original project. 

As well as the exhibition, the team decided to put together a party weekend, and as I was volunteering and I was a photographer, I was asked to take pictures for the Big Birthday Bash.

I was a bit apprehensive because I have always avoided event photography. Its simply not my genre, I am always nervous about the expectations of my work and the results. With landscape and wildlife photography, I don’t mind if you don’t like my image because it is my image and I make it for myself.

But with event photography, I am by necessity creating something that is for someone else and that makes me nervous. However, those fears were needless and when it came down to it, I had a lot of fun.

The whole team dressed up as if it were the 1950s. The centre was decorated in an attempt to recreate the old camp that George and the others were living in, with tarps and tents and caravans. And the Forward Hide, which is normally off limits to the pubic as it is the monitoring station where the 24 hour watch on the nest is conducted, was open to the public on a guided walk.

The Forward Hide, is a small room with a special set of binoculars George brought back from the War, namely a set of Nazi German U-Boat binoculars, which are still used today to monitor the nest.

There are also 2 small camp beds for those that are on the night shift, so they can get a few hours sleep between shifts. So the fact that there was no nesting osprey enabled the public to experience an area that normally would not be accessible, I guess that’s a bit of a silver lining. 

All in all, the best part about volunteering with the RSPB this year was definitely the team that I got to know and work with. They were all super fun, intelligent and interested in conservation and the natural world. I guess you’d have to be, to be working with the RSPB.

I got to know a group of incredible people, most of whom will not be returning next year, and that is the sad part about Loch Garten. It is often a transition place.

Because it is only open for 6 months of the year, it is not a permanent place for most people.

Although this amazing group has now moved on, I am sure that next year’s group will be equally fantastic and great to get to know. I hope that next year I am able to witness the drama of an osprey in its breeding season, instead of having to break the news that there was an empty nest.

This year was a great experience and I truly recommend volunteering with your local charities. You will have a great time! 

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Written by Daniel Long

Daniel Long created DRL Photography as a place to showcase his work as a photographer. Daniel has learnt a lot about photography and wishes to impart this knowledge with you, although the world is an ever changing place and he always says “you can never learn everything.” So as he makes his way, he continues to learn knew techniques, skills and information about photography. He focuses on Landscape and Wildlife photography and Daniel has a special focus on Scotland, his home away from home. As well as writing about photography and taking pictures out in the field, Daniel offers guided photography days so he can share his knowledge and locations in an effort to give his clients the best opportunities possible. Have a browse around this website to see his images, guided experiences and articles about photography. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to get in contact.