This year, Ellen and I took a trip, roughly following the North Coast 500 route.

The West coast of Scotland is stunning. As a Glasgow cabbie observed, if it wasn't for the weather and the midges of the Scottish West Coast, Brits wouldn't bother leaving the UK for their holiday. I can't comment on the weather (which was beautiful), but he may have a point about the midges.

Here are some photos from that trip.

Thistles at sunrise. Taken at around 5.30am. Worth getting up for?

This image is part of a much larger panorama that I would like to print for my wall in three parts.

The iconic Highland Cow, or Highland Coo as we call them in Scotland.

If you aren't familiar with midges, they are tiny biting flies. Their vileness is brilliantly illustrated with the following video...

In addition to Orangutans, my Indonesia trip was to photograph Komodo dragons. These are absolutely remarkable animals, and as close to a living dinosaur you can see today.

As excited as I was to see these animals, the experience was a little disappointing. The rangers lead us around a short trek through the forrest before returning to the beach where there a dragon was basking. It was all clearly staged.

Komodo Dragons are actually venomous, contrary to the popular belief that their bites kill with toxic bacteria in their mouths.

This was a juvenile dragon. We saw it meandering through the forrest, occasionally chewing on dry bones, trying to find sustenance. The urge to hug him, and squeeze him, and call him George was strong! continue reading…

The Isle of May is an island just off the East coast of Scotland. Although tiny (less than 1km²), it is home to a remarkable amount of wildlife, birds in particular. I was lucky enough to visit with the Glasgow Photography Meetup group.

Here's a few shots from that day.

I think this is a juvenile gull. Post a comment if I'm wrong!

Photographing a bird in flight is a challenge, so I'm please I got this at all, but the plain background this doesn't make for a memorable photo.

There were some fantastic vantage points on the island where I could get eye-level shots like this one.

These photos were all taken with a Canon 500mm, which is an absolutely fantastic lens for bird photography and a good upper body workout.