It's been a long wait but finally we had a clear cool morning today with a beautiful veil of mist hanging over the fields and marsh. Ideal conditions for a host of subjects but I decided to stay local and set out on foot in search of roe deer. Just 200m for the house a doe leapt into the field and posed for me. Not in a great position but not bad for starters! The nearby marsh was empty so I retraced by steps and caught up with the doe further down the field. After a few frames she took flight but this was perhaps the best shot of the morning. I searched for the local buck who is currently courting a doe and found them in an adjacent field but they saw me and disappeared into the wood! Another search of the marsh turned up a doe as well as the mating pair but again they were wary and I had to content myself with distant shots of them in habitat. In many ways I prefer these shots but they do require an interesting backdrop or atmospheric weather. As always a work in progress.

The British Birds Bird Photograph of the Year 2010 winners have just been officially announced and I'm delighted to say that I have been awarded overall winner with a picture of a backlit short-eared owl. The other winning entries can be seen in the August issue of British Birds magazine and at the Rutland Bird Fair 20th,21st,22nd August. Well worth a visit if you get the chance.

Well actually four black-throated divers on a loch! This week I had the chance to join a couple of friends on a small fishing boat in an attempt to secure some images of black-throated divers for the 2020VISION project. Trying to find any divers proved difficult on the 7 mile long loch but then 4 came along at once! In fact on one occasion we saw 6 together. I can only assume these are failed breeders from neighbouring lochs that have gathered up together before heading back out to sea to spend the autumn / winter. Something I had never seen before so many thanks to Ian Mason for the invite and hospitality.

Its very rare that I go anywhere without a camera but I was very tempted to leave all my gear behind on a recent holiday to Italy's Gran Paradiso National Park. Not because I thought there wouldn't be much to photograph but because in our infinite wisdom, Gale and I had decided to do it all under our own steam which meant carrying everything we needed for the 2 weeks on our backs! The good thing that came out of this was that I could justify buying the much lighter Canon 5D MkII to replace my hefty 1Ds MkII. So I took this with me along with a wide-angle zoom and short telephoto. This in itself was 3Kg I could have done without. But what I wouldn't have been able to do without was a fix of taking pictures in some stunning scenery. For the most part I was 'happy snapping' as we went along but I did make a few pre-dawn excursions to try to capture some early light on the mountains. I was also 'forced' to stop on innumerable occasions to photograph some wonderful displays of wildflowers. The weather was equally as bright as the alpine flower meadows and this is an area that I would thoroughly recommend to anyone with an interest in wildflowers, butterflies and alpine scenery. The pizzas are very good as well!


Dawn light on Mount Blanc (from Itlalian side near Courmayeur)


Alpine flower meadows with Mount Blanc range beyond

At this busy time of year it's hard to keep up with photography trips, processing and blogging! It's almost a week now since I returned from Shetland but other things have taken priority over processing so apologies for the long gap between posts. Whilst getting a couple of shots ready for the Picture of the Month slot I also pulled out a few early red-throated diver images.


It was a frustrating time trying to photograph what are one of my favourite birds, due to weather constraints and to be honest I could have achieved so much more if I had enjoyed a little good light at the right time. Not that I'm complaining (much!) - it was a great trip and good to be back after 18 years.


I was 'given' one diver site and found a few others besides, one of which yielded these shots. It wasn't without self-inflicted difficulties. So, having decided that I needed to get a lower perspective than was possible from a hide on the shore, I fool-hardedly decided to lug my floating hide (that had for the past 2 weeks been taking up my bed space in the camper!) across a mile and half of rough moorland.

The lochan wasn't deep so I ended up shuffling around on my knees for several hours by which time the birds were very relaxed and although not the best shot it was rewarding to be fully accepted into the diver's environment.