Fishing Ospreys

Any visit to Speyside is not complete without time spent filming Ospreys as they catch trout in the numerous lochs. It is almost impossible to determine where they are going to fish and even if you guess which loch they will visit they are going to be a long way off your camera so the […]

Red Squirrels Galore

There is little doubt that the best place to see Red Squirrels is the Caledonian pine forests of Speyside. They are found in virtually every forest and thankfully do not have to compete with the more dominant Grey Squirrels. If you are going to visit Speyside then make sure you have a pocketful of Hazel […]

Osprey Magic

No trip to Speyside is complete without time spent with its Ospreys – either when they are catching fish or better still when they are at their nest.One of the most magical days I have ever spent with wildlife was when I was in a hide overlooking the nest of a pair of Ospreys.I spent […]

Crested Tits

No trip to Speyside would be complete without time spent in the forests filming Crested Tits. They will readily come to feed on a bag of peanuts and the more severe the weather all the better for your photos. However, make sure you go before mid March because in most years by then Crested Tits […]

Winter Mountain Hares

If you are going to visit Speyside in winter then in addition to Ptarmigan you have to go in search of Mountain Hares. The good news is that you do not have to scale Cairngorm mountain to find the Hares, in fact a better option is the Findhorn valley, where you do not have to […]

Cairngorm Challenge

In previous years the early part of the year has seen us heading up the slopes of Cairngorm in search of Ptarmigan. When the Funicular Railway was working it was relatively easy to reach the summit and I was once stood on top before 10.00am!! Those days are long gone with the railway out of […]

Top Ten

Despite covid, bad weather and finally injury its not been a bad year for the camera. Thousands of photos were taken and it is always a difficult job to pick ten of the best. However, pride of place this year goes to two of our rarest Grebes. I finally got photos of the Black Necked […]

The Stormcock

The Mistle Thrush is Britains largest song-bird and is also known as the Stormcock. This name emanates from the Thrushes habit of singing at the height of a storm. Unfortunately,. from a photographers point of view it has a very annoying habit – it stakes its claim to a berry-laden tree and chases off all […]

Temperature Inversion

When we have a High Pressure in Winter it is the best time to go out and film temperature inversions. These occur when the temperature in the valleys is colder than that on the hill-tops. Mist and cloud is formed in the valley bottoms with glorious sunshine above. It is a fabulous natural occurrence and […]

Garden Visitors

Still with mobility problems so I have spent most of the last two weeks watching the feeding birds in the garden. On most days we have had twenty or more different species taking food which for the size of the garden is amazing.By far the largest bird has been the male Pheasant who first appeared […]