Year End
At the beginning of the year my photographic targets for the year included hunting Long Eared Owl and young Kingfishers perched on a branch after fledging. Up to six hours a day were spent, under cover, in June and July to capture the Long Eared Owl and I was almost successful with the young Kingfishers. My dream of five young Kingfishers on the same branch was spoiled when two of them perched nearby so I had to make do with three on the branch and two elsewhere as shown in this weeks gallery. My work on Hen Harriers on Islay continued and after 43 years is now nearing completion!
The end of this year is quite special in that it is fifty years since I started to film wildlife. Initially it was a hobby but for 22 years I was a full time professional wildlife film-maker travelling the world from the Seychelles to Spitsbergen to make films. It was a dream come true and I can still remember the day I had to pinch myself to believe that here I was, in my hide, on the Arctic tundra of Alaska waiting for a Snowy Owl to return to its nest!! – a long time since, as a ten year old, I won the Nature prize at a secondary Modern school in Bury! Click here
This week’s photo was taken through my video camera in Svalbard ten years ago. The Svalbard reindeer is smaller than the Lapland reindeer but its antlers are much more impressive. On my last ever visit to Svalbard, three years ago, I had the unique opportunity to photograph a female Polar Bear with three cubs. This has hardly ever been seen before and only myself and a fellow traveller were in the right position at the rear of the boat to obtain any photos.
The Kestrel might be our commonest bird of prey but you can never go out and plan to photograph one. This summer I spent some time watching a well-marked male as he looked for prey on the ground from some telegraph wires. I had to try to anticipate the split second he left the wires and more often than not failed to capture the action. However, with luck I did succeed occasionally as can be seen in this weeks blog photo. Some immature birds are shown in the gallery. 
Its amazing what wildlife you can encounter whilst out walking the dog. Along our local canal last week I came across a pair of Goosanders. I had just about enough time to take the dogs home, grab my camera, and return to film the male before he took off. The light was perfect and his bottle-green head showed up magnificently in the winter sunshine. 