Jonathan Kemp; A naturalist in the south of France

  Sitting to the west of the geographical centre of France is an area known as the ‘Land of a thousand Lakes’, a nature reserve three hours’ drive south-west of Paris,  It is an unusual place, a kaleidoscope of rich farmland – maize, sunflower, some cattle pasture – and mature stands of deciduous trees, seemingly with a lake behind every hedge. A flat land, with no hills or rivers to bend the roads, very different to the department of the Aude where I live with its’ mountains and hills. The lakes and pools are all artificial, created by man over the centuries wanting to stock and harvest fish. This explains why the only two main rivers of the region, flowing to the west, pass to the north and south of the honeycombs of lagoons, and do not feed into this maize of water filled lands. The lakes themselves are only connected by small streams, often controlled by sluices; clearly a very carefully controlled area of land. It is an area where the ingenuity and industriousness...

I am extremely lucky to have friend in the Aude who is a great wildlife photographer. I often rely on him for images. Self-taught, Michel Fernandez was at one time the president of the LPO Aude, but now concentrates on photography. His passion began with insects and birds, but quickly broadened to include all of natural life, from reptiles to mammals and plants, especially orchids.   Eager to immortalize nature, he decided to photograph it.   Very quickly, he came into contact with a group of friends driven by the same passion for photography with whom w ere shared techniques and approach to wildlife photography.    When asked, he stresses that there are rules have to be followed. “For certain animals, like large mammals, you have to be hidden and camouflaged from head to toe; show as little skin as possible and above all camouflage your face. We must also pay attention to the direction of the wind which can carry the scent to the animal. Another imp...