Here is my first picture of a Ruff from this years trip to Norway.


The weather conditions were lousy and I can tell you that the smell from this particular bay was “memorable” to say the least. Just looking at this picture brings back memories of the special aroma and lying down in this stuff was above and beyond the call of duty, even for a hobby. However, that was what was required to get an eye level angle on this bird species and to make myself less obvious as it approached.

Back in June, I spent a very enjoyable week with a friend and fellow photographer Rich Steel, photographing inside the Arctic Circle.

Most of the time was spent in Norway although we spent some time in Finland as we travelled in search of wildlife, primarily birds. I will start to post some images over the coming days and weeks to show the variety of subjects and weather conditions that we encountered.

First up is a very obliging Short-eared Owl, followed by a relatively close encounter with a Wood Sandpiper in its environment.

Here are a couple of Egrets from a recent trip to Majorca.


The Little Egret looks pretty tatty and appears to have had a hard life, whereas the young Cattle Egret below seems to be in much better shape. They were clearly shouting about something but in both cases I was being cooked inside a hide so I am pretty sure they weren’t complaining about me.


First the Cattle Egret:-





and the Little Egret:-