Vine House Farm wildlife photography library freely available online

Vine House Farm wildlife photography library freely available online

Mistle thrush by Vine House Farm 

Nicholas Watts MBE, owner of conservation award-winning Vine House Farm, is making his entire wildlife photography library freely available online with all images totally royalty-free.

The collection, which totals over 10,000 images, will be released in batches with the first release just before Christmas. The rest of the collection will be published every month throughout 2018.

The majority of the collection is of birds, with many of the shots taken at Vine House Farm where Nicholas has worked tirelessly for many decades to reverse the trend of farmland bird decline, and created a thriving wild bird food business.

This work has involved a wide range of measures, such as hedgerow planting, creation of numerous ponds, wild flower meadows, sympathetic management of drainage dykes, generous field margins to allow seed-rich weeds to grow, and old farm buildings restored for barn owls to nest in.  Nicholas has continued to pursue a passion for photographing the birds and other wildlife on his farm and beyond.

Nicholas's passion for photographing the birds and other wildlife on his farm and beyond created a vast library of photographs which he is now sharing: “I’ve always taken a very hands-on approach to running my farm and aiming to make a positive difference to the wildlife that we share the land with. This means that much of my time is out in the fields rather than in an office, so taking a camera with me has always seemed the obvious thing to do.

"The main reason I wanted my collection of photographs to be freely available to anyone, is that it’s a further practical way I can raise awareness of the importance of farming with wildlife and the environment in mind, plus more specifically the need for action to reverse the trend of declining songbird numbers. I also hope my work will inspire more people – especially the younger generation – to take up nature photography.”

The first batch of images from Nicholas’ photo collection is available now from Vine House Farm website.

Since 2007 Vine House Farm has raised more than £1,250,000 for Wildlife Trusts across the UK through the sales of bird food and bird feeders.

Passionate conservationists, Vine House Farm is leading the way in wildlife-friendly farming - growing, packaging and dispatching the vast majority of bird seed sold from the Lincolnshire farm, ensuring the family-run business always operates with the environment in mind.