2020 highlights of a wilder Orkney life
In 2020 I managed two trips to Orkney. I did it by self-isolating for two weeks before travelling and then taking all …
The Top Ten ways to help wildlife (and people) this winter
Would you like to know the most effective way of encouraging wildlife this winter? Here are some of my personal suggestions which …
The Gift
I spent many days with the Puffins on the coast of Westray this summer. All were a joy. Some days were too …
Not every Puffin makes it
Puffins face constant threats. There are Great Skuas overhead every day on the lookout for the weak, the old, the unwary, or …
A Puffin evening to say goodbye
It’s nearly time for the Atlantic Puffins to depart. I’d like to say goodbye and good luck to them, so I set …
Flocking heaven
Getting a photograph of a Puffin flock is tricky. They’re fast and fly with seemingly random twists and turns. Too few birds …
Puffin blow-dry
Some Puffins are just so… pristine. This one has definitely just had a cut and blow-dry. Don’t you love that feeling? When …
Fish envy
There’s a week in July which I call ‘peak Puffin’. It’s when every burrow is full of a hungry growing Puffling. Adults …
When you’ve been working hard on the family farm all day
Westray farmers work hard. Their familiar blue overalls billow in the wind as the breeze blows the washing on a fine day …
The Ogre and the Peregrine, master of peril
The coast is full of anxious Guillemots transporting a single silver fish each, flying in strict convoy. There are parading Puffins waiting …
A Puffin life on the ocean wave
There are Puffins far below in the ocean. I’ve never been able to photograph them in the sea before, except as dots …
Out of the Maelstrom – ultraHD Photo Print
Out of the Maelstrom captures an incredible moment as an Atlantic Puffin comes back to its Puffling in a rock burrow on the cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Available as an UltraHD Photo Print printed on Professional Archive Maxima High-Gloss Paper
The Puffin experience and pint-sized love
It’s still a shock to me how small Puffins are. I spend 10 months of the year telling people that they’re the …
The first walk, Britain’s rarest bumblebee and a fattie cuttie
Arriving back on Westray means I want to experience it all at once. I want every sensation. I want to be at …
The adventures of Dick and Titty at Brixham breakwater
There are long lenses galore at Brixham harbour. A flock of twitchers have arrived. They’re perched at the end of a jetty, …
2019 highlights of a wilder Orkney life
The turning of the year is always a great time for reflection. Celebrating the darkest day with the thought that longer days, …
The One Minute Puffin Cure #8
Comical Puffins in golden sunlight on Westray: Recorded using a tiny remote control camera at the Castle o’ Burrian on Westray in …
The One Minute Puffin Cure #7
Comical Puffins in golden sunlight on Westray: Recorded using a tiny remote control camera at the Castle o’ Burrian on Westray in …
Collapsed burrows
The headlands and inlets of Westray are covered in spongy tufts of damp grass. Beneath them lie normally invisible tunnels. They are …
The One Minute Puffin Cure #6
It’s time for another One Minute Puffin Cure. Recorded using a tiny remote control camera at the Castle o’ Burrian on Westray …
Puffincoming!
Looking back at some of this summer’s Puffin photographs I find a sequence I really enjoy which I haven’t developed. How entertaining …
A bit of singing and dancing
Black Guillemots are the connoisseur’s auk. If you find Puffins too gaudy, or Guillemots too dowdy, then Black Guillemots are for you. …
“I’m shy!”
Not everyone wants their photograph taken. Especially when you’re just getting ready to go out.
A floating circus
I’ve heard of a travelling circus. I’ve heard of a flying circus. But a floating circus? That’s a new one on me. …
All fingers and thumbs
Did you know birds have an arm-wing and a hand-wing? You can see it well on Puffins when they fold their wings …
The One Minute Puffin Cure #5
Puffins are hunted by Great Skuas (known in Orkney as Bonxies). The Bonxies patrol the coast and appear, low and fast, unseen …
The One Minute Puffin Cure #4
Alfred Schnabel, the incredible digging Puffin, almost throws himself off the cliffs in his Herculean efforts to dig grass roots out of …
The One Minute Puffin Cure #3
Puffins are delightful to watch. The more you watch, the more you notice. The more you notice the less you understand. We …
The One Minute Puffin Cure #2
It takes an extraordinary amount of time to keep in tip-top waterproof condition when you spend your time in the salty ocean. …
The One Minute Puffin Cure #1
I met a German tourist at the Castle o’ Burrian on Westray in Orkney. He’d just been to see the Puffins. His …