24th April. Another sunny day in Spain. The received wisdom suggested that there was no point in looking for chameleons until the oven was hot so we drove to a pine wood near Cartaya just after breakfast. When we had visited yesterday (to photograph one of the three remaining charcoal makers in Andalucia at work), [...]
While most species are migrating north in spring, I flew south to Andalucia in late April, driven by the need to photograph rather than breed. In planning an itinerary for this spring, I thought of southern Spain as a famous, top-class restaurant where you know the menu is fabulous, although never quite what will be [...]
After a huge amount of campaigning by Friends of the Forest and STORM to prevent these wild areas of lowland Angus being turned into industrial wind parks, the Scottish Government reporter has recommended that the applications be refused. I am personally grateful to everyone who has committed a large part of their lives for the [...]
Bluebells are at once a hugely engaging subject yet one that that we see relatively few interpretations of. I’ve resisted the temptation (amn’t I the virtuous one!!) to feature a “creatively” blurred one – the sort of thing where the camera is moved during the exposure – going instead for one of my [...]
Hanging around public toilets with a 500 mm lens poking out of my campervan isn’t something I feel comfortable doing. In this case, however, the setting was irresistible – a turf-roofed toilet near Vinje in Sør Trøndelag, Norway – and the subject, an oystercatcher, obliging. As is often the case, the van made for an [...]
I had an email from Conny Lundstrom yesterday notifying me of the service he offers to photographers who wish to photograph a whole suite of Scandinavian species from his hides. Conny is perhaps best known for his work on golden eagles, a portfolio of which was published in BBC Wildlife a few years ago.
If you [...]
We have long complained that there is just no proper market in the UK for photographic prints compared to the United States. Yet Tom Mangelsen, who has created a big business around wildlife print retailing, is at pains to point out that his success didn’t come over-night – in fact it took closer to 25 [...]
With uncharacteristically good timing, I found these catkins of woolly willow (Salix lanata) at their peak when I went to Glen Clova, Angus, earlier this week. This is one of the 15 alpine species at risk from high altitude warming (as well as browsing by mountain hare and voles at some sites) that I have [...]
When I first investigated digital projection, it was very hard to find proper answers from anyone. You may find this article a useful starting off point in your own quest for answers!
“Difficult times often lead to great innovations…” New Scientist tells us this week. I’d put it more simply: the more miserable I get, the more creative I become. This is not as counter-intuitive as it may at first seem – once you’re swimming in the benthos you’re forced to find new ways to ascend if [...]