In the month of November I discovered the Yorkshire Wildlife Trusts Staveley Nature Reserve located between Harrogate and Ripon. It is easily accessible and looks stunning in the rare Yorkshire sunlight, both at dawn and dusk.

One of the few disadvantages of photography in North Yorkshire is that you are often operating under steel grey skies just after dawn. In my case I am also usually under a canopy of trees. Although not ideal, this does bring the low light capabilities of the Canon R6 Mk2 come to the fore.

Now that the leaves are starting to fall it is time for one of my favourite games, searching for some of JRR Tolkiens "Ents".

One of the shocks of buying a 150-600mm Sigma zoom lens is how the heck do you carry it when scrambling around the countryside. After nearly falling 20ft into the river Nidd at Nidd gorge, I decided that a camera harness which allows both hands to be free was an essential safety item!

Another upgrade to the website and hopefully the last for a while 😆. The main changes are behind the scenes but allow for much quicker updates and a more diverse page layout.

A big first for me, whilst sitting in a hide at the High Batts Nature Reserve, was seeing a stationary Kingfisher.

The weekend just gone was a glorious weekend in terms of weather and I used it to scout out a nature reserve that is new to me.

Taken on a grey overcast morning under tree cover I was amazed to get these "action" pictures of a white throated dipper hunting on the river Wharfe. Given that these were taken hand-held from the riverbank, using a full 600mm zoom with a f/6.3 aperture and a 12800 ISO, I am delighted that this actually worked.

Whilst walking alongside the river Wharfe at 6AM one grey and muggy morning I encountered this guy coming the other way in search of breakfast. As he was approximately 10 feet from where I had previously seen an otter swimming, and much bigger than a ferret type animal, I assumed it was a "dry" otter. However others seeing some of...