Wildlife Photography across the Water: A great year for Sea Eagles in the UK

Sunday 7 November 2010

A great year for Sea Eagles in the UK

If you have been following Autumnwatch on the BBC this year, you will have seen the White Tailed Eagles on Mull. This year has been the best for Sea Eagle breeding with a record number of 50 breeding pairs in Scotland having raised 46 fledglings. It is worth remembering that they were only reintroduced relatively recently, in 1975 on the Isle of Rum.

More details can be read here. I was lucky enough to see them at very close quarters in the wild this year on a boat trip out of Portree on Skye, as blogged here in June.

Reintroduction of the species into England has been a troubled process. There has been an attempt in East Anglia but this has been thwarted so far largely by the farming community it appears who seem to think that it will spell disaster to them. Guess they haven't thought through what their Scottish counterparts have been through. Certainly the majority of opinion on Mull has been to welcome and jealously guard and protect the birds as a huge tourism opportunity.

Having completed nearly all my Christmas shopping today, it got me thinking about setting up some Christmas gift ideas for us wildlife photographers. Over my next couple of posts, I will bring you a series of things to think about it to either buy for yourself, or get your spouses to link from us.

Martin

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Bio's

David Courtenay, a self taught wildlife and nature photographer, has been capturing images for over 30 years. He has had a passion for wildlife since early childhood and remembers being glued to the television whenever Survival, Wildlife on One and other natural history documentaries were shown. In the 2006 he swapped his established career for the life of a wildlife photographer, such a move demands a measure of uncompromising passion and commitment.

David has travelled extensively throughout Europe as well as spending more than 7 months in India working with local guides and trackers in search of Bengal Tiger, Asian One horned Rhino and Asian Elephant. He has also photographed Wildlife in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra, Africa, Canada and America. Working closely with Conservation companies he tries to raise funds to help Wildlife that has been put on the endangered list by poaching and habitation loss

Martin Dyer has had a passion for avian wildlife since childhood, particularly raptors. Photography was also another keen interest and it was with the specific availability and control of the whole process that digital offers that Martin was then able to combine the two in 2003. Based in the UK, Martin is a regular visitor to Scotland, specifically the Isle of Mull to watch the Eagles resident there. Other trips to Europe and around the UK are usually part of Martin’s agenda in a typical year.

However, as a firm believer on making the most of the local patch, Martin has spent a lot of time and hard work creating a wildlife garden which is reaping the rewards with many new species and varieties of wildlife. A keen member of a number of wildlife photographic groups, Martin is keen to expand his portfolio into other areas of wildlife, and has already established a wide portfolio of images of fungi.