Photowall Portfolio – Natures Moments

Lockdown has ended but we still felt nervous. We had a great trip, lots of wildlife, fantastic encounters and not many other people so all very civilised gamedrives. The highlight had to be the fantastic encounters with Cheetah and Lion, but what was truly amazing was the rainfall which made for some pretty interesting afternoons in the private conservancies of Ol Kinyei and Olare Motorogi.

Hurriedly arranged trip to coincide my departure from Italy with Larry Jackson's arrival in Slovenia. I probably only went in order to meet up with Larry who I hadn't seen for quite some time. It was a fairly average trip probably on account of the lack of wildlife which was to be expected but sharing time with my good friend made up for it.

Three weeks in Tuscany required a bit of research and I think I did rather well with stays in Lucca, Radda in Chianti, Siena, Pienza and Orvieto. Followed by a few days in Sorrento before flying to Slovenia for more landscape adventures

Following our trip to Ranthambore we flew to Leh, Ladakh, to start our journey to Uley to hopefully see the Snow Leopards in the mountains of Uley. We joined up with our good friends Ann Brooks and Sue Saunders at the Mahay Retreat and stayed for four nights to see the local temples which included visit to the festival at Matho Monastery. Then we headed to the Snow Leopard Lodge in the mountains of Ladakh. Our journey was curtailed by the outbreak of Coronavirus. Who would have believed that we weren't safe in the mountains where there was no phone or internet.

Trip to New Delhi and then transfer to Jaipur as Elaine, my wife, was taking part in an International Floral Competition. I went off to Ranthambore for a few days and left Elaine to make wonderful floral creations. We both then transferred to Ranthambore and stayed with Hemraj Meena at his wonderful Tiger Home Lodge very close to the entrance to Ranthambore.

2020 Yellowstone

Third trip to visit Yellowstone National Park in the winter. This trip more or less mirrored the 2015 trip where we spent eight days in the Lamar Valley, three nights at the snow lodge in the heart of the park, and five nights at West Yellowstone.

Last minute trip to the Yucatan region of Mexico which I booked after some research about the area. A frustrating trip and not one I would recommend but nevertheless was enjoyable and I had a great time just chilling and doing things you normally do on holiday rather than chasing wildlife!

Four and a half weeks in Brazil. Architecture, wolves, birds, and Jaguars which equates to Ouro Preto, Barreiras, Sao Paulo coast and the Pantanal Amazing, incredible and lots of photographic opportunities.

A very disappointing trip with lack of bears on a non-photographic expedition!!

2019 Costa Rica

What a great place!! Three weeks and covered six areas of a relatively small country. We didn’t travel far though on this self drive trip, put together by myself after extensive research and then organised by Pieter at Aratinga Tours of Costa Rica.

Another place on my bucket list and the first real time in South America (other than Chile in transit to Antarctica). The trip consisted of three days in the capital Quito, followed by five days in the Cloud forest of Mindo and then fourteen days on a boat around Galapagos.

2018 Finland Bears

In September 2018 I went to visit the Wild Brown Bear Centre in Lentiira, Finland together with my photography friends, Ann, Carol & David.

2018 Namibia – Quiver Trees, Sand Dunes and Etosha

In June, Elaine & I together with our photography friends, Ann, Carol, David & Sue, went to Namibia for a 23 day tour.

A month spent in India primarily as my niece was getting married in Kerala but then three weeks in three locations, Madhya Pradesh for Tigers, Gujarat for Asiatic Lions and Rajasthan for Leopards.

2017 Antarctica

This is a place I've had on my bucket list for a long time and two things stopped me going; the sea crossing and the cost.

Trip to Kenya for Wildebeest and other wildlife. Slightly late as we went towards the end of September but it was an amazing trip for wildlife with high proportion of "good" photographs that seem to have taken forever to sort out.

Trip to both Malaysian and Indonesian Borneo for Primates and other wildlife. Both countries were wonderful but Indonesia was more memorable and photogenic with the feeding stations in Tanjung Puting NP providing an abundance of Orang-utan.

Trip to Algonquin, for moose, in Ontario for a few days followed by a week at Baffin island in the Arctic North of Canada with Marc Latremouille.

This was my second trip to see the magnificent Must Ox of Dovrefjell, Norway. This time in the cold month of March when the snow is receding but still very cold with temperatures of -20c and howling winds to bring the temperature down even further.

2016 British Columbia

On the 25th September I travelled to Chilco, British Columbia, Canada as one of a group of six photographers to photograph Grizzly Bears on the Chilcotin River. Great trip where we were based on two boats going up and down the river looking for bears fishing.

David & Carol Taylor, John Betts & I had a trip to Dovrefjell National Park in Norway. David & Carol had visited the area a few years ago in the autumn time and were happy to revisit to try and capture more images of the Musk Ox.

In July, David & Carol Taylor, John Betts, Ann Brooks and her partner, and I had a trip to Skomer, a small island off the coast of Pembrokeshire. Prior to visiting Skomer I had a day at the Barn Owl Centre in Gloucestershire and a couple of days at the Red Kite Feeding Station at Gigrin Farm, Rhayader.

In July, David & Carol Taylor, John Betts, Ann Brooks and her partner, and I had a trip to Skomer, a small island off the coast of Pembrokeshire. Prior to visiting Skomer I had a day at the Barn Owl Centre in Gloucestershire and a couple of days at the Red Kite Feeding Station at Gigrin Farm, Rhayader.

2016 Grinton Moor

A day trip to Grinton Moor near Reeth in the North Yorkshire Moors National Park turned out to be a interesting and productive day with lots of nesting birds there was lots to see and a short drive onto Grinton Moor lasted all day, well at least until the rain and wind came and the birds disappeared.

Short trip to Norfolk to catch spring birds and to spend half a day with Simon Litton and his performing hares! Fairly quite in Norfolk and slightly disappointed with the birding opportunities.

2016 Uganda (Lake Mbura)

Final stop in Uganda was Lake Mbura which is mid point between Bwindi and Entebbe. The purpose of our stop over was to do a little relaxation prior to our flight home and we stayed at Mihingo Lodge which is a luxury lodge euston the edge of Lake Mbura Nartional Park.

2016 Uganda (Bwindi)

Fifth stop in Uganda was Bwindi in the South of Uganda. We stayed at two locations; Buhoma and the less popular Nkuringo area of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Buhoma region has three groups of gorilla and Nkuringo one. There are many other groups but these are the ones which have been introduced to humans and therefore approachable.

2016 Uganda (Ishasha)

Fourth stop in Uganda was the southern sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park (Ishasha) in the West of Uganda. The Ushasha region is the home of the famous Tree Climbing Lions. After arriving late morning we had lunch and headed out to look for these sometimes illusive animals. Word was that they had not been seen for several days and after several hours we had seen very little other than a mongoose and a few bird species including a rather nice Wood Sandpiper.

2016 Uganda (QENP)

Third stop in Uganda was Queen Elizabeth National Park in the West of Uganda.We visited two locations; the first being the Mweya region. This was a very dry and arid area and the wild life was quite sparse. We found lazy lions on the plain and quite a few antelope including good sighting of Ugandan Kob. We took a boat tour on the Kazinga Channel between Lake Edward and Lake George and got quite close to Hippo and Fish Eagle.

2016 Uganda (Kibale Forest)

Kibale National Park is a national park in South Uganda. It is 766 km2 (296 sq mi) in size and is located between 1,100–1,600 meters (3,600–5,200 ft) in elevation. We stayed three nights at Kibale Forest Camp which is situated in close proximity to the chimpanzees which were the primary species that I had targeted in this area of Uganda. Three nights gave us two full days of Chimpanzee trekking and what a great opportunity to spend time with these wonderful primates it turned out to be.

2016 Uganda (Murchinson Falls)

In March this year I travelled to Uganda to fulfil one of my lifetime ultimate destinations, namely the Gorillas of Uganda. It was a spectacular trip and I came home with too many images which I would like to share with you on my website. Because of the number I decided to break the trip into the different areas I visited.

In late November I travelled to Ethiopia with my wife Elaine. The trip was organised by an excellent agent, based in Addis Ababa who were recommended by a friend of mine Marcel Mueller. The trip focused on Gelada Monkey, Simien Wolf, and Colobus Monkey and the trip surpassed my expectation having heard how difficult it can be to spot and photograph some of these elusive animals.

On the heels of my trip to Terrace, British Columbia I could not pass up the opportunity to spend some quality time exploring the vast and wondrous National Parks in Alberta, Canada. Although I had set out to capture photographs of the local wildlife what struck me the most was the beauty and undeniable presence of the famous Canadian Rockies.

2015 British Columbia

On the 10th September I travelled to Terrace, British Columbia, Canada as one of a group of six photographers to photograph Spirit Bears in a remote area in the Great Bear Rainforests. When I booked the trip I thought the chance of seeing these elusive bears was pretty remote and I joined this trip organised by John Marriott of canwildphototours.com.

2015 Highlands and Lowlands!

Following my Pine Marten workshop I drove with Larry and Debbie Jackson up to Aviemore, for Osprey then back to England where we stopped off at Farne Island, WWT Washington on the way home and a few days out on the Yorkshire Moors and a very enjoyable day at RSPB Blacktoft Sands.

2015 Pine Marten in Scotland

In late June/early July I spent two weeks at a cottage on the Ardnamurchan peninsula in Scotland. The trip involved taking lots of photography equipment to shoot outside at night, together with materials to build a pool.

In June, Elaine & I went to Sri Lanka and travelled with www.walkwithjith.com whom I met at the Birdfair in August 2014. We were met by Jith at Colombo airport and introduced to our guide for the trip, Nandana. The trip was wildlife focused, as usual, and we had planned 22 safari drives over the 18 day period in various national parks. The primary species were leopard, sloth bear and elephant.

In late February/early March I spent two weeks in Florida, primarily for photographing Roseate Spoonbill. As well as visiting Sarasota, Venice and Fort Myers down on the Gulf coast I also visited New Smyrna on the East coast which was great for gulls, terns and lots of other waders.

2015 Yellowstone

In February 2015 I spent two weeks at Yellowstone National Park to photograph the wildlife and landscape of the park. I was lucky to spend the trip with photographic friends; John Betts, Ann Brooks, John Hoyes and David & Carol Taylor. The weather was unseasonably warm and we had a lack of snow, in fact in the north of the park the snow had almost disappeared and many of the animals were back in the hills. The main park area was covered in snow though and we had great opportunity to see foxes, swans, bison, coyote and even a grizzly, which was out of hibernation.

At the end of January I travelled to Ottawa in Canada and spent a few days with Rick Dobson photographing Snowy Owls. It was a challenging trip as the weather was cold when I arrived although as the week progressed we had lots of snow and even blue skies. It was an amazing week and as well as both male and female Snowy Owls I managed to photograph a few woodland birds and even Wolves at Omega Park.