I found Tesni at the Photographic Show in Birmingham just catching the end of her talk on the Great Outdoors stage. Months later I made sure I caught her talk at the Rutland birdfair. After saving for many years I had finally bought a longer lens to get closer shots of wildlife. After looking through Tesni’s website and everything on offer, I enquired about the Red Grouse workshop in the wonderful Peak District, I received a reply very quickly with details of the day. The day before Tesni arranged a meeting time for 8 or 9am as the weather was looking cloudy all day with no chance for a sunrise. On the day weather was sunny with some light cloud completely different from the forecast – typical! We met at 8am and after a short walk, Tesni had a quick look through my camera settings and tweaked a couple of things. Tesni soon located the first Grouse and got me into a good spot with the best light. Throughout the day Tesni’s fieldcraft and knowledge was exceptional and was finding the birds way before I could see them. She also pointed out different plants and mushrooms with their names and if they were or were not good to eat. While it was quiet we sat for some refreshments and Tesni looked for signs and sounds of the Grouse. We walked around 5 miles through out the day. I came away with some lovely images and some added field craft skills I can build on. I would definitely recommend Tesni’s workshops, she’s very professional at all levels and has a vast amount of knowledge, I will be definitely booking again.

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this workshop. I hadn’t been able to get any good photographs of Red Grouse on my own so decided to book on a day with Tesni. We started at dawn and headed out. The weather was stormy but it didn’t take long for Tesni to spot the first grouse in the distance. Before long we were practically surrounded by them, making it difficult to decide which way to face. Tesni moved us into a spot near a male Grouse and sure enough we managed to get our first shots. I was very impressed with the advice she gave me, both in terms of settings and composition but also fieldcraft. It was very clear from the start that Tesni is highly passionate about wildlife and it’s welfare and she made sure that we let the wildlife come to us rather than us chasing them. Throughout the day there were few occasions where we weren’t taking photographs and the day ended with all my expectations exceeded. I will definitely go on future workshops with Tesni, thank you!

I really wanted to photograph Red Grouse in the pink heather this year and after a little searching I found Tesni’s page. I got in touch to ask if it were possible and she got back in touch very quickly. We arranged a day out to the peaks to hopefully see the Red Grouse but also to photograph Lizards. In the morning I met Tesni as planned and she drove us to a location for the Lizards. Immediately I got the impression from her that she knew her stuff and that we would have a good day ahead of us! Once we got to the location for the Lizards Tesni quickly found some for me to photograph and gave me lots of guidance and advise on technique to get some great images. We ended up seeing several different Lizards including some babies which was great! From there we drove up to the next location to try and find some Red Grouse. When we arrived it was super windy and we had some trouble spotting them as they hunker down in the wind. But we didn’t give up! After a short while we spotted a Grouse very close to the path and with Tesni’s guidance we managed to sneak carefully and slowly to a comfortable distance from the bird to photograph it. We followed it for some time until it did a “Houdini” on us and disappeared! It wasn’t long at all until some more flew in and we started carefully heading towards them. We crept slowly with Tesni keeping watch letting me know when it was ok to move and when to stop until we got a comfortable distance away from the Grouse, but close enough to photograph. We watched them there for ages, wandering around and eating the heather and then! Finally! One hopped into the pink heather and we both, very excited, crept around the back to get “the photo” of the Red Grouse in the pink heather as I had hoped for! It was brilliant to watch and i definitely would not have managed to get those shots by myself. After some time the Grouse scurried off to find its friend and we watched them waddle off together into the sunset. A lovely day! It’s clear that Tesni is a lover of wildlife and a true advocate for the protection of all creatures and I truly enjoyed my day out with her. A lovely lady and a dedicated and experienced photographer, what more would you want from a workshop leader? I would whole heartily recommend her to anyone who appreciates and loves wildlife and photography.