PAUL’S comment

When we first walked in to the centre, several birds were sitting out on perches and both Ben and I were drawn to this handsome red kite. I had positioned myself at eye level to the bird, zooming in with my 100-400mm lens, but Ben also made me aware of checking the background, keeping it neutral and therefore highlighting our subject. An aperture of f/5.6 has kept the whole bird nice and sharp.