30th January 2008: Common Cranes, Pitgaveny, Moray. Family group, a juvenile with 2 adults.

30th January 2008: Common Cranes, Pitgaveny, Moray.

30th January 2008: Common Cranes, Pitgaveny, Moray. Part of a flock of 11 present in this area since at least 17th January, although today they were in 2 groups (5 and 6) in different fields about a mile apart.

24th January 2008: Waxwing,  Nethybridge.

8th December 2007:  Sabines Gull, Insh Marshes.

8th December 2007:  Juvenile Sabines Gull, Ruthven Barracks/ Insh Marshes, Inverness-shire. Completely unexpected, away from the coast and in December, this is the second record for Speyside and the first since September 1975. This bird (found by Dave Pierce) was working a large circuit over the frozen floods, regularly dropping down onto the ice to feed and then quickly lifting off again.  Snow-capped mountains, sleet showers and  a freezing wind all added to the arctic feel.

5th December 2007:   Long-tailed Duck, Moray Firth.

5th December 2007:  Taking a bow... juvenile Shag, Moray coast.

13th November 2007:  Juvenile Whooper Swan, Speyside.

2nd November 2007:  E-lek-tric...  one of 3 male Black Grouse balancing  on an electricity pylon and cables just before dusk.  Speyside.

25th October 2007:  Female Ptarmigan.  Endemic Scottish subspecies, Lagopus mutus millaisi, photographed here in the Cairngorms amongst pink granite typical of the area.                         

24th October 2007:  Bottlenose Dolphins, Moray Firth.  There seem to be more young Dolphins around this autumn than for a few years; there are actually 2 in this picture, with the dorsal fin of one just in front of the raised head of another.

5th September 2007:  Pacific Golden Plover, Paphos, Cyprus. (4th record for Cyprus).  This was an unexpected bonus to a week long trip where one of the aims was to find Demoiselle Cranes on migration from Ukraine to Sudan. On our second attempt one morning we found 10 Demoiselles (including 2 juveniles) at their roost site in the middle of the dry salt lake at Akrotiri. We watched them preening and wing-stretching until sufficient thermals built up for them to lift off , circle ever higher and select a bearing out over the Mediterranean to continue on their journey. Fantastic to watch (and hear). We also found the 2 endemics, Cyprus Warbler and Cyprus Pied Wheatear as well as Black Francolin, Masked Shrike and a colony of Eleonoras Falcons. Good numbers of Bee-eaters were moving through as well as several flocks of Honey Buzzards.

15th August 2007:  Humpback Whale, Brier Island, Canada.

19th August 2007:  Humpback Whale, Brier Island, Canada.

19th August 2007:  Humpback Whale (and Wilson's Petrel), Brier Island, Canada.

18th August 2007:  Ruby-throated Hummingbird at feeder, Brier Island, Canada.

 14th August 2007:  Migrating Monarch, Brier Island, Canada.

9th August 2007

4th August 2007:  Young Bottlenose Dolphin doing a bit of surfing, a bit of fishing, some leaping around and generally having a good time.

9th July 2007

9th July 2007