Only days left to pre-order your signed copy of Underdogs…

Don’t miss out on the chance to get a signed copy of my new African wild dog book Underdogs at a special pre-publication rate. With 23% off the retail price, you can order online via my main website at conservationphotojournalism.com and donations from sales will be made towards valuable conservation work aimed to secure a future for this endangered species.

You can also see selected pages from the book on my website. Underdogs will soon be available through selected booksellers at the full retail price.

See more on my website www.conservationphotojournalism.com

Land of Giants photo safari picked as one of Wanderlust Magazine’s top trips for 2012

Wanderlust, the world’s leading travel magazine, has selected my Land of Giants photo safari as one of their top trips for 2012. A feature in the December 2011 issue details their 50 best new trips for 2012, which includes this exclusive photographic tour to Africa’s Limpopo Valley led by myself and carnivore expert Peter Neville.

Peter and I are offering just six guests per trip the opportunity to join us on this safari combining specialist photographic guiding with expert carnivore insight. Being home to Africa’s true giants – big cats, great herds of elephant, huge baobab trees, large birds of prey, the striking kori bustard (the world’s heaviest flying bird), the ostrich (the world’s largest bird), the massive eland (the world’s largest antelope) and the giraffe, world’s tallest mammal – the Limpopo Valley is rightly known as the Land of Giants.

There are two dates for this photo safari to the Limpopo Valley in June and July in 2012. Check out my website for the full itinerary, trip information and how to make a booking. I hope to welcome you to Africa’s Land of Giants in 2012…

Find out more on my website conservationphotojournalism.com

Dr Neville, I presume?

Okay, so my first meeting with Peter Neville overlooking the mighty Limpopo didn’t quite have the historical gravitas of Stanley’s famous meeting with Livingstone on the banks of Lake Tanganyika in 1871 but that doesn’t make it an insignificant one. In 2009 I was in the Limpopo Valley photographing African wild dogs for my book Underdogs (a book that Peter has since penned the foreword for) and he was in the valley leading a safari with guests from all over the world. It was abundantly clear that Peter shared the same enthusiasm and passion for this Land of Giants as I. If his continuing support for African wild dog conservation efforts in the area didn’t prove it, then the fact that he returned each year with guests to share with them the splendour of this overlooked corner of Southern Africa certainly sealed the deal.

Thankfully, Underdogs and African wild dog conservation are not where our professional dealings ended. Our passion for the Limpopo Valley and mutual understanding of the importance of the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area have inspired us to combine our collective guiding skills with my wildlife photography experience and Peter’s knowledge of animal behaviour. As a result, we are proud to be able to announce our 2012 safari dates. A full itinerary and contact details are available on my main website.

Highlights of the trip include the chance to photograph many of the natural world’s true giants all in one valley – big cats, great herds of elephant, huge baobab trees, large birds of prey, the striking kori bustard (the world’s heaviest flying bird), the ostrich (the world’s largest bird), the massive eland (the world’s largest antelope) and the world’s tallest mammal, the giraffe. On top of that, the valley boasts a bird list of around 400 species.

The sandstone hills and ridges that line the valley are not only home to leopards and black eagles, they also bear the evidence of the valley’s rich bushman past through rock paintings and archaeological artifacts. We will be exploring these hills and working on elements of landscape photography while watching animals on the plains below. The African sun washes these sandstone rocks with a golden hue at sunrise and sunset and makes landscape photography a true pleasure at this time of year.

The Limpopo’s riverine forest supports great herds of elephant and our final destination hosts the greatest concentration of African elephant on privately owned land. The chance of seeing and photographing rare and endangered animals like the African wild dog also makes this a particularly special place to visit. So why not join us?

Visit my main website at www.conservationphotojournalism.com

Badger feature in BBC Wildlife Magazine

I’m excited and proud to say that my badger vaccination feature is the cover story of the Autumn 2011 issue of BBC Wildlife Magazine. The portfolio was shot in Gloucestershire in the UK while working alongside the magazine’s environment editor James Fair.

The feature looks at the Badger Vaccine Deployment Project being undertaken by Fera as a trial to understand the viability of vaccinating badgers (instead of or alongside the proposed cull) to protect cattle from bovine tuberculosis (bTB). You can see a gallery of the shots on the magazine’s website discoverwildlife.com and see more of the portfolio on my website in the Stories section.

Visit my main website at www.conservationphotojournalism.com

Wild Estonia

Estonia’s bogs, ancient forests and meadows support a diversity and abundance of wildlife long forgotten in most European countries. This richness makes the country a pleasure to explore as a photographer and wildlife watcher. Estonia is fast becoming one of Europe’s birding hotspots and having watched short-toed eagles, nutcrackers, honey buzzards and three-toed woodpeckers during my recent trip, I can see why. It can also be one of the best places to see some of Europe’s large mammals like bear, wild boar, elk, lynx, wolf and beaver.

With food plentiful and the forests thick with growth, summer can be a difficult time to see these large mammals but it was the wealth of healthy ecosystems supporting this wildlife that really drew my attention as a photographer. The dedicated portfolio on my website is just my take on why Estonia is so special and why I cannot wait to return. Keep an eye on the Safaris & Workshops page for details of how you can join me on an exciting photo tour to one of Europe’s smallest but wildest countries, organised in partnership with Estonian Nature Tours.

It is not only wildlife that is intrinsically connected to Estonia’s various habitats though. Many people still gather wild food in the forests, fish the large lakes and hunt for meat. This connection with the offerings of the land reinforces just how important Estonia’s landscapes are. However, many Estonians that I spoke to fear that the awareness of the importance of the country’s habitats is being lost. Wildlife tourism through local pioneering companies like Estonian Nature Tours not only helps to celebrate Estonia’s natural heritage but it generates valuable income for local economies. And one knock-on effect of a successful eco-tourism industry is increased protection for wildlife and wild places.

Visit my main website at www.conservationphotojournalism.com

Ripples in the reeds

‘Beaver!’ Remek’s outstretched arm pointed to a shady patch in the shallows under some river-side vegetation. My usually sharp eyes struggled to find anything vaguely animal-like in the dark waters. A sudden loud splash signalled where the young beaver had grown tired of my ineptitude and disappeared beneath the surface, slapping his tail in disgust as he went.

I was on the Emajogi, a river in southern Estonia, with wildlife filmmaker and photographer Remek Meel. Having watched, researched, filmed and photographed beavers in his native Estonia for almost all of his life, Remek has become the country’s beaver specialist. It is these years of experience of looking for beavers that makes Remek able to locate them simply by looking for what he calls ‘strange ripples’ coming from within reeds or from under overhanging vegetation. Perhaps that’s where I was going wrong – I was looking for mud-brown creatures against a mud-brown, shadowy backdrop in the fading light just before sunset.

As we went on and I had slipped into Remek’s method, it became easier to spot them. We were picking them out at such a rate that we eventually lost count once we passed the mark of Remek’s record for an evening’s Beaver watching. It was at this point that it became clear just how healthy the Beaver population has become in Estonia. Beavers were once ruthlessly hunted in Europe and by the start of the 20th Century had disappeared from all but a handful of waterways in Germany, France, Norway and Belarus. Reintroduction programmes and the introduction of protection measures have seen them make a remarkable comeback across the continent though. The UK is following suite now too with breeding, monitoring and reintroduction projects developing across the country, such as the one at the renowned Aigas Field Centre in the Scottish Highlands.

The close viewing opportunities and Remek’s infectious enthusiasm for these semi-aquatic mammals make spending a day on the Emajogi River with him an absolute must for any wildlife watcher or photographer visiting Estonia. A selection of Remek’s work can be seen on his Nature Observer website but to be shown how to look for those ripples in the reeds yourself, contact Estonian Nature Tours directly.

Visit my main website at www.conservationphotojournalism.com

Fighting for her legacy…

I was always sobered by the experience of finding dead wild dogs while photographing for my book Underdogs. These are endangered creatures that I have dedicated the last three years of my career to and so I would like to think that my reaction is understandable. That said, nothing could have prepared me for the news that came through from South Africa that Stellar, the iconic alpha female of my Wildlife Photographer of the Year photograph Survivor, was dead.

Stellar’s life was characterised by tragic events. She had lost alpha mates and litters during her stressful and luckless existence on both Madikwe Game Reserve and Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve. When she was translocated to KwaZulu-Natal’s Mkhuze Game Reserve in 2010 she had the chance of a fresh start and to put the troubles of the past behind her. For almost a year it seemed that she had done just that in raising a litter of four pups through their most challenging period in life. Sadly, Stellar, her alpha mate and one of their pups were recently found to be the victims of snares.

It is a difficult balance to strike for conservationists but the dropping of fences between protected reserves to create larger conservation areas often opens up land to poaching and the threat of disease. The death of Stellar and her family at the same time as other deaths in South Africa’s fragile wild dog population highlights the fight that conservation authorities, game rangers and anti-poaching scouts still have on their hands if the species is to be saved.

As I put the finishing touches to my book Underdogs, the fight on my hands is to do justice to the time that Stellar allowed me into her world. I am hoping that the book will not only raise greater awareness of these charismatic canids and the threats to their survival but that it will help to raise funds for greater protection and invaluable research. Keep an eye on my blog or website and follow me on twitter or facebook to find out when Underdogs is available and how you can help the African wild dog.

Visit my main website at www.conservationphotojournalism.com

Ospreys aplenty

Those of you who read my last post and followed my tweets will know that I recently set myself the challenge of bettering my previous attempts at photographing ospreys hunting. For this, I needed a reliable location where I knew ospreys would be literally queuing up to catch food for their newly-hatched chicks. There are a few locations on the continent renowned for giving photographers the chance to work close to the action but Scotland’s Rothiemurchus estate on the outskirts of Aviemore and the Cairngorms National Park certainly ticks all of the boxes.

My first sighting of an osprey hunting was actually en route to Aviemore. Having stopped at the Scottish Wildlife Trust‘s Loch of the Lowes reserve near Dunkeld to see the resident female sitting on the nest, I couldn’t have been more than a couple of miles up the road before I found the male hunting along the River Tay. He must have gone down for fish five times in the time I watched him from my car, frustrated that I couldn’t find somewhere to pull over.

My frustrations were short-lived however and at first light the next morning I found myself frantically climbing into my hide with two ospreys scoping out the offerings of the Rothiemurchus lochs from above. Unfortunately, the changeable Scottish weather meant plenty of white cloud – nightmare conditions for photographing a predominantly black-and-white bird. When the sun did break through the clouds however, the light was fantastic and I often found my eyes wandering off to admire the Cairngorms reflecting proudly in the still waters rather than watching the skies for approaching ospreys.

My time at Rothiemurchus perhaps didn’t yield exactly what I had hoped for – the high quality shot of an osprey emerging from the water with a fish in its talons – although I must say that was through no fault of Speyside Wildlife and Rothiemurchus who between them provide what must be one of the UK’s top wildlife watching opportunities. Two ospreys carried off fish and there were several other failed plunges during my time by the lochs. Only two hunts happened within view however, and both were at quite a distance in dull morning light. That said, I think I can safely say that I have met my challenge and bettered the only shots of an osprey in my portfolio.

If you’re looking for an opportunity to test your photographic skills, then I couldn’t recommend a trip to Aviemore and Rothiemurchus more highly, particularly as the site plays a vital role in sustaining a healthy and renowned local population of these special birds of prey. Ospreys were extirpated from the UK by 1916 but now, almost a century later, it’s clear they’re safely established once again thanks to the hard work of organisations like the RSPB and people like Roy Dennis.

Visit my main website at www.conservationphotojournalism.com