Canonical URL: https://natureslens.co.uk/bence-mate-hides-in-springtime/ # What Makes Bence Máté’s Hides in Hungary So Rewarding in Springtime? Published on October 4, 2026 Written by [David Miles](https://natureslens.co.uk/guides/david/). ### Article brief Editorial article Published October 4, 2026 Springtime is when Bence Máté’s hides in Hungary are at their most productive, because the weeks from mid-May into June bring [European Rollers](https://natureslens.co.uk/photograph/european-roller/), [European Bee-eaters](https://natureslens.co.uk/photograph/european-bee-eater/) & [Eurasian Hoopoes](https://natureslens.co.uk/photograph/eurasian-hoopoe/) back to the family farm at Pusztaszer at precisely the moment they are courting, nesting & feeding young, which means the behaviour photographers travel for unfolds a few metres in front of the glass rather than somewhere out across a field. I have been guiding for NaturesLens since 2014, & in that time I have found very few places in Europe where so many colourful, characterful species can be photographed at such close range, against such clean backgrounds, within a single week & without anybody walking more than a few minutes from their room. That concentration is the whole purpose of our [Wildlife Photography Hides of Hungary holiday](https://natureslens.co.uk/photography-holiday/hungary/wildlife-photography-hides-of-hungary/), & it is also the reason the choice of season matters rather more here than at most hide locations, since the farm in spring & the farm in winter are, photographically speaking, two quite different places. ## Why does spring change what you can photograph at Pusztaszer? The difference comes down to migration & breeding, because the three birds most people associate with Bence’s farm spend the winter in [Africa](https://natureslens.co.uk/discover/africa/) & only return to the Hungarian lowlands as the ground warms through late April & May. By the time our group arrives in early June, with the next departure running from 5th to 12th June [2027](https://natureslens.co.uk/during/2027/), the pairs are established, the nest sites are occupied & the birds have settled into routines that repeat reliably enough for a photographer to anticipate them, which is a very different proposition from hoping a passing migrant happens to land on the right branch. What that gives you is behaviour rather than simply presence. A male Roller arrives with a beetle or a small lizard & offers it to his mate, Bee-eaters pass dragonflies to one another along a perch & toss them to be swallowed head first, & the [Hoopoes we photograph in Hungary](https://natureslens.co.uk/photograph/hoopoe/) are by then ferrying food to the nest every few minutes, crest flicking open as they brake to land. Around them the supporting cast is just as busy, with [Little Owls](https://natureslens.co.uk/photograph/little-owl/), [European Ground Squirrels](https://natureslens.co.uk/photograph/european-ground-squirrel/), [Common Cuckoos](https://natureslens.co.uk/photograph/common-cuckoo/) & [Red Foxes](https://natureslens.co.uk/photograph/red-fox/) all active, while herons, egrets & spoonbills work the wetland hides. June also brings very long days, with usable light from before five in the morning until well after eight in the evening, so there is a generous amount of soft, low sun at both ends of the day in which to work. ## How do the hides themselves shape the pictures you come home with? All of that behaviour would count for little if it could not be photographed well, & this is where the design of the hides earns its reputation, because each one has been built around a specific picture rather than simply placed near a nest. There are more than 25 hides on the farm, including six for Hoopoes, five for Rollers, two for Bee-eaters, four drinking stations, two for Ground Squirrels & one for [Kingfishers](https://natureslens.co.uk/photograph/common-kingfisher/), alongside the tower, shore, theatre & cinema hides, the last of which was built with the [Eurasian Otter](https://natureslens.co.uk/photograph/eurasian-otter/) in mind. The common thread is one-way glass & soundproofed walls, which allow seven people to move, talk quietly & change lenses while a bird sits close enough to fill the frame, entirely unaware that anybody is there. The drinking station hides put the lens almost level with the water, so a bathing bird is photographed eye to eye with its reflection beneath it, & the perches at the nesting hides are positioned so that the background falls a long way behind the subject & dissolves into a smooth wash of green or straw even at modest apertures. The glass does take some light away, which is a real constraint on a dull winter afternoon, but in the strength of a June morning it barely registers, & that alone is a practical argument for spring, since shutter speeds fast enough to hold a Bee-eater’s wings are available for far more of the day. ## How is a week in the hides organised for seven photographers? We take exactly seven guests, for seven nights, on a full board basis with single occupancy included, & everybody stays on the farm itself, roughly two hours south of Budapest, so that the walk to a hide is measured in minutes & nobody loses the best light to a minibus. The group size is not arbitrary, because it matches the capacity of the hides & allows us to rotate people through them fairly, so that over the course of the week each photographer has proper time with the Rollers, the Bee-eaters, the [Hoopoes](https://natureslens.co.uk/photograph/hoopoe/) & the water-level hides rather than a hurried turn at each. The days follow the light & the wildlife, with sessions built around the early morning & the late afternoon when the sun is low & the birds are feeding hardest, while the hotter middle hours tend to suit the drinking stations, where rising temperatures bring a steady procession of smaller birds down to bathe. The real advantage of having so many hides in one place only becomes apparent when something changes, as it always does with wild animals, because a brood that fledges early or a pair that abandons a perch need not cost anybody a session when there are alternatives a short walk away. It also means that a hide which worked particularly well can be revisited later in the week, with a different lens or a different idea, which is very often when the strongest pictures are made. ## How does a spring week here differ from a birding trip, or from a winter visit? That willingness to go back to the same subject is really what separates a photography-led week from a conventional birding itinerary, which in this part of Hungary would typically cover a great deal of ground across the plains in pursuit of the longest possible list. We do the opposite & stay put, because a single morning spent with one pair of Bee-eaters, watching how they use a perch & learning where the male lands when he returns with prey, will produce better pictures than brief views of thirty species at binocular range. The number of species photographed in a week at [Pusztaszer](https://natureslens.co.uk/specific-location/pusztaszer/) is respectable in its own right, but it is a by-product of the approach rather than the aim. The comparison with winter is a more interesting one, because the hides remain productive in the colder months & the pictures can be wonderfully stark, yet the days are short, the light through the glass is harder to work with & the summer migrants that give the farm its colour are simply absent. It is also worth setting [Hungary](https://natureslens.co.uk/discover/europe/hungary/) beside our [Wildlife of the Danube Delta trip](https://natureslens.co.uk/wildlife-photography-holidays/destinations/), which uses boats & floating hides to work a huge wetland & suits photographers who enjoy movement & a wider sense of place. Bence’s farm rewards a different temperament, since almost everything happens from a fixed position, at very close range, with the photographer’s effort going into timing, framing & patience rather than into finding the subject. ## Who is a spring week in Bence’s hides best suited to? Because of that, the trip suits a broader range of photographers than people sometimes expect, & I would not want anyone to assume that a location with this reputation is reserved for the highly experienced. Someone relatively new to wildlife photography will find that the hides remove most of the usual obstacles, since the subjects are close, the backgrounds are already clean & there is time to check a result, change a setting & try again, with guidance from an experienced wildlife photographer alongside. The walking is minimal & the hides are comfortable, which makes the week a good choice for anyone who finds long days on foot with heavy equipment difficult. More experienced photographers tend to use the same reliability differently, treating a predictable subject as permission to take risks, whether that means working for birds in flight as they approach the perch, shooting into the light for rim-lit feathers at the start & end of the day, or going wider to show a bird within its habitat. The distances are short enough that a 100 – 400mm or 500mm lens covers most situations, so the longest & heaviest glass is not essential. What the week does ask for is patience, because sessions are long & the action comes in bursts between quiet spells, & photographers who prefer to roam & explore may find a week of sitting still less to their taste than the varied [wildlife photography holidays we run in Hungary](https://natureslens.co.uk/discover/europe/hungary/) & elsewhere in [Europe](https://natureslens.co.uk/discover/europe/). ## So why does springtime at Bence Máté’s hides matter so much? It matters because spring is the one period in which everything this place was designed to do comes together at once, with the migrants back on territory, the behaviour at its most varied, the days at their longest & the light strong enough to make the most of hides that put you closer to wild birds than almost any other approach allows. A week in June will send a photographer home with courtship, feeding, bathing & flight across a dozen or more species, photographed at eye level against backgrounds that need no tidying afterwards, & that kind of variety within a single portfolio is very difficult to assemble anywhere else in so short a time. For NaturesLens it is also a clear expression of how we prefer to work, with a small group, a single well-chosen base & enough time with each subject to move beyond the first acceptable frame towards something more considered. Bence built these hides as a photographer, for photographers, & spring is simply the season in which that intention is most fully rewarded. - [![A Lesser Kestrel Perched On A Tree Photographed During The Natureslens Spanish Wildlife Birdlife Of Toledo Photography Holiday](https://natureslens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/a-lesser-kestrel-perched-on-a-tree-photographed-during-the-natureslens-spanish-wildlife-birdlife-of-toledo-photography-holiday.jpg)](https://natureslens.co.uk/2019/09/07/wildlife-birdlife-toledo/) ### [21 images of the captivating Wildlife & Birdlife of Toledo](https://natureslens.co.uk/2019/09/07/wildlife-birdlife-toledo/) September 7, 2019 Graham was one of the group of guests that joined myself & Dan in Spain during July 2019, to photograph… - [![A Walking Red Eyed Tree Frog Photographed In Costa Rica In November 2025](https://natureslens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/A-walking-Red-eyed-Tree-Frog-photographed-in-Costa-Rica-in-November-2025-300x225.jpg)](https://natureslens.co.uk/2026/01/20/costa-rica-photography-tours/) ### [Costa Rica Photography Tours – Small Group Wildlife Focused Travel](https://natureslens.co.uk/2026/01/20/costa-rica-photography-tours/) January 20, 2026 Why our Costa Rica photography tours deliver consistent wildlife opportunities across rainforest, wetlands, cloud forest, & coast. Small groups, flexible… - [![A Close Up Of One Of The Golden Eagles Feeding In The Snow Image Captured During The Natureslens Golden Eagles Of The Swedish Winter Photography Holiday](https://natureslens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/a-close-up-of-one-of-the-golden-eagles-feeding-in-the-snow-image-captured-during-the-natureslens-golden-eagles-of-the-swedish-winter-photography-holiday.jpg)](https://natureslens.co.uk/2018/09/24/eagles-of-the-swedish-winter/) ### [Golden Eagles of the Swedish Winter by David](https://natureslens.co.uk/2018/09/24/eagles-of-the-swedish-winter/) September 24, 2018 During early March 2018, David attended our Golden Eagles of the Swedish Winter photography holiday. We chose this time of… In this articleJump to section 1. [Why does spring change what you can photograph at Pusztaszer?](https://natureslens.co.uk/bence-mate-hides-in-springtime/#why-does-spring-change-what-you-can-photograph-at-pusztaszer) 1. [How do the hides themselves shape the pictures you come home with?](https://natureslens.co.uk/bence-mate-hides-in-springtime/#how-do-the-hides-themselves-shape-the-pictures-you-come-home-with) 1. [How is a week in the hides organised for seven photographers?](https://natureslens.co.uk/bence-mate-hides-in-springtime/#how-is-a-week-in-the-hides-organised-for-seven-photographers) 1. [How does a spring week here differ from a birding trip, or from a winter visit?](https://natureslens.co.uk/bence-mate-hides-in-springtime/#how-does-a-spring-week-here-differ-from-a-birding-trip-or-from-a-winter-visit) 1. [Who is a spring week in Bence's hides best suited to?](https://natureslens.co.uk/bence-mate-hides-in-springtime/#who-is-a-spring-week-in-bences-hides-best-suited-to) 1. [So why does springtime at Bence Máté's hides matter so much?](https://natureslens.co.uk/bence-mate-hides-in-springtime/#so-why-does-springtime-at-bence-mts-hides-matter-so-much) ### Author Written by [David Miles](https://natureslens.co.uk/guides/david/). Next step ### Find your next wildlife photography holiday Browse small-group trips by destination, subject, season and photographic goal. [Browse Holidays](https://natureslens.co.uk/) ### Article topics ### Field notes by email New articles, trip reports and wildlife photography holiday announcements from NaturesLens. [Join The List](https://natureslens.co.uk/newsletter-preferences/)