I been sitting on some pretty exciting news for a few months now. I am delighted to ‘don the orange’ (makes a change from green!) as one of the new 2020 Ordnance Survey Champions! I feel very  proud honoured and privileged to be one of just 100 champions, ambassadors for the outdoors, chosen from all across the UK  to help Ordnance Survey to promote the benefits of being in the great British Countryside. Ordinarily, this would be a fantastic opportunity and I was SO looking forward to the big launch and to meet all the other amazing outdoorsy folk who are part of this new team. Of course, the ..read more

Well, it’s been a rather surreal few weeks, since I wrote my last blog. Ironically, I have been busier than I have ever been… but that is because what I do and love has suddenly become even more relevant to everyone; appreciating what is right on our doorsteps. The way that we all interact with the world has changed. For some, this  will have completely turned their world upside down in so many ways. It is a frightening time, when everything around us seems to be changing and our lives feel like they will never be the quite the same again. Many now feel like they are not in control and, as res ..read more

This is the fourth year that the tawnies were to nest in our box at YewView. The custom built box, with three cameras, has been adapted and improved over the years and , this year, I had installed the best camera to date inside. Normally, I have to spend a lot of time getting the camera pre-focused for the interior of the box, which is difficult. You have to predict where the bird is going to sit and, if you get it wrong, then you can’t do anything about it once they are inside. Technology is moving on a pace and, when Hikvision said they’d loan me a few cameras for this season, I was keen to ..read more

This week, I was delighted to hear that my image of a rolling Mountain Hare had achieved the runner-up position in the Mammal Society’s Mammal Photographer of the Year competition. The email had actually gone in my junk folder, so I only discovered on the day that the announcement was made! I took the shot on a trip to the Cairngorms, in amazing snowy conditions. I had been really lucky with this shot; one in a sequence of four that I took. I had been tracking this hare across the snowy landscape, when it paused and then rolled. It was over in a fraction of a second! Sometimes, you are just in ..read more

I have been following Emma Mitchell on Twitter for a while. Her wonderful representations of the natural world were the pull for me … I have a fascination with all natural forms. Her website is well worth a visit, especially if you like what I am about to write about! Click on the image below: Emma describes herself as a ‘designer-maker, naturalist, illustrator, mum and author.’ and ‘an ardent fan of cake, yarn and hedgerows.’ Sounded like a perfect combination! When I saw Emma release dates for another workshop last year, I thought I would treat myself! I knew it was ‘right up my street ..read more

Logging onto the Birdsy camera I set up at Septimo Paraiso, in Eciador, I could see the hummingbird feeder hd been knocked over. Looking through the clips, I soon saw the culrit… a stunning male Tayra.  Visiting the platform at about 7.30am, her proceeded to feast on the banana, giving me excellent views of him. I was most fascinated by his huge feet and pads. These pads seem to extend up his ‘ankles’; further than normal pads. I presume this is to aid climbing as this mammals spends a lot of times in the trees. The feet are huge, with large claws aswell, for climbing, ripping  and digging. I ..read more

I have not been to Yew View for a few weeks, with my trip to Aigas and then issues with flooding on the surrounding roads last week. I headed to site today and the drive towards Worcester, from the M5, was shocking. The whole area was under water. I have seen it flooded before… but not this bad. This year’s flooding on the Severn has been exceptional and this was confirmed when I arrived on site and walked out onto the patio.. The river would normally be beyond the trees and hedgerow in the background. For the first time ever, the wildlife pond has been breached.. It is just incredible how ..read more

I am absolutely loving working with the Birdsy team, as they further develop this exciting technology, ready for launch. For those followers who have not seen my previous tweets or blog about Birdsy, this video I produced sums up what it is all about. Due to launch this Spring, if you are interested, please sign up at the Birdsy website to receive information as soon as we announce the launch date! Although it is primarily designed to monitor bird feeding stations, recording clips of and identifying the bird species visiting, it is some of the other captures it has recorded that have got me ..read more

After building several feeding platforms at different locations, I thought it was about time I built one for myself and my cameras! I had constructed this platform a few months ago, out of materials I had hoarded in my garage. In order to locate it to where I wanted it, I had to dismantle the whole thing and move it in bits, before reconstructing it. I have a building called my ‘hub’ up my garden. It is a shed I designed for a show I exhibited in and it has a living roof, some large viewing windows, hide windows and I use it for all my wildlife paraphernalia! I reconstructed it just outside he ..read more

Aigas has a series of wonderful wildlife viewing hides that provide different opportunities for species and wildlife watching. The Campbell Hide is the one I spent a few evenings in, as it was pretty close to where I was staying and it was where the pine marten was visiting just about every night. It is tucked away in a thinned forestry plantation and has night lights, illuminating the area, making excellent viewing. With my ISO pushed up to over 12,000, I was able to get about 1/60th of  second which is just enough to capture an image. To be honest, I was much more interested in just revelli ..read more