Otter breaking the surface while hunting on the river wharfe

Getting Otter on the River Wharfe, In January

A crisp morning by the river in late January results in one of the best mornings for spotting and identifying five individual otters all heading up stream towards Ilkley.Read more


Urban fox in suburban garden with christmas lights

Christmas Eve in Chessington

It’s Christmas Eve 2022, and I’m at my parents house in Chessington, where London suburbs unfurl into the Surrey borders. As the festive evening draws in, a childish excitement flushes through me. 

Familiar naive questions drift to the forefront of my brain. Will he visit me tonight? Can I stay awake long enough to witness his arrival? And have I been good enough to be rewarded with what I want?

As Christmas Eve turns into Christmas Day, the anticipation of checking my camera is reminiscent of getting the photos back from a roll of film sent off to the lab. 

Did it work? Were the settings right? Yes! The magical creature, so embedded into my childhood did visit, and left me with a festive encounter, I’ll long remember.

Urban fox in suburban garden with christmas lights


Red Squirrel, Hawes, Yorkshire Dales

Red Squirrels of The Yorkshire Dales, A Tonic to the Ears

I've been blessed and cursed with an over active imagination from the moment my eyes began interpreting their immediate and wider surroundings.Read more


Pied Flycatcher, Burley in Wharfedale

Most Epic Moorside Morning Yet...

Job cancellations come with the territory when you're a freelancer; and since that eruption of  coronavirus, work postponements and cancellations have become nearly as frequent (and inconvenient) as my ageing bladder! But not all cancellations are born equal. Read more


Colossus Hummingbird (Gigas Numenius) Spotted Over Sun Lane Development Plot

Colossus Hummingbird (Gigas Numenius) Spotted Over Sun Lane Development Plot

On the 1st of April 2022 reports of a fictus avian named the Colussus Humming Bird (Gigas Numenius) caused twitchers from across the UK to descend en masse to Burley in Wharfedale, West Yorkshire. Read more


Swan swimming in the sunrise at St Aidan's

A Spring Morning over St Aidan's

St Aidan's near Leeds is a wildlife haven born out disused opencast coal mine. It's incredible, and inspiring  to think how an environment so scared by human activity no offers refuge to such a diverse and eclectic range of wildlife.Read more


Alder Leaf Beetle, Agelastica alni photographed at Burley in Wharfedale West Yorkshire

The Un-Extinct Alder Leaf Beetle From the Doorstep

Can you keep a secret? I've succumbed a new camera! ?  More on that another time, but of course the first thing anyone wants to do when they get anything new, is to test it out, and I'm no different!Read more


Otter on the river Wharfe, Ben Rhydding Nature Reserve

Tails, from the Riverside

Oh, how I’d love to tell you about how I woke up hours before sunrise. How I hand-ground some coffee and gently simmered it over a stove before stepping out into the cold and dark. That I went into full camouflage mode, rubbed otter spraint into the pores of my skin and waited motionless for hours in anticipation of my quarry. While the reality is somewhat more mundane, my most recent and closest encounter yet with otters was no less magical and no less authentic. Read more


Dipper sunlit under a wrought iron bridge, Ilkley

A Dip Under the Bridge

I don't need to tell you that since the global pandemic, finding the quieter spots locally has become harder. Yet, where there's a will, there's a way and on a bright summer's evening where best to find some quiet? Under a wrought-iron bridge, naturally. Read more


Hoopoe, Upupa epops on a driveway digging for grubs Collingham, Leeds West Yorkshire

Mott the Hoopoe & All the Young(ish) Dudes!

Sporting a majestic mohawk, I guess the Hoopoe may be more punk-rock than my glam rock pun-tastic blog title (channelling Mott the Hoople) suggests! Read more