birds

Meet the colourful and comical birds of Africa

As well as photographing elephants, lions, leopards, cheetah and baboons during my recent trip to Africa, I also managed to take a few shots of the amazing birdlife from honking hornbills to grumpy vultures. In fact the very first photograph I took in Africa was of a yellow weaver bird on a fence. We were having breakfast at the Ole Sereni hotel in Nairobi en route to Diani for the first leg of our travels.  The weaver suddenly hopped onto the fence and kindly stood there in perfect profile while staring out at the national game reserve. I couldn’t have asked for a better photographic subject! Most[…]

READ MORE »

Fuchsia flamingos of Namibia

Having spent a month in the Namib Desert since my last post with no internet access, temperatures of 50 degrees celsius and the nearest town 200km away, I’ve got very behind in keeping my blog up to date!  In fact I have a tonne of stories and images to post including tales about baby-sitting a tiny baboon for the night, being chased by an Ostrich and searching for Hyena in Kanaan. Firstly though, I have to share some of my favourite pictures from one of the highlights of my visit to Namibia – seeing the incredible Flamingo colonies at the lagoon in Walvis Bay near Swakopmund. There[…]

READ MORE »

Natural New Zealand: A photo essay

In 2015,  I spent three weeks in New Zealand photographing the beautiful fauna and flora of my native country. Here are just some of the images I took from bees collecting honey from deep inside the Pohutukawa flowers in Taranaki, to my favourite birds – the peeping Oyster Catchers – appearing to comically stare at their own reflections in the sand in Raumati, just north of Wellington. Hope you enjoy! SaveSave

READ MORE »

Louis the Tui: The tale of an infatuated noisy New Zealand bird

This is Louis the Tui. He followed me all over my parents’ property in rural Taranaki (Naki), New Zealand last Xmas, singing, grunting, wheezing, coughing and popping like a mechanical toy (Tui’s have a very active and noisy vocal range!). At one stage he even landed on the grass near to where I was sitting which is the first time I’ve ever seen a Tui on the ground. My parents were convinced that Louis was threatened by my Nikon camera and large zoom lens possibly thinking it was another Tui invading his space. I like to think he was in love with me and[…]

READ MORE »