New image galleries

My new image gallery page is now live: http://jtm.photoshelter.com/

You can now download images or buy prints. There are galleries on wildlife, Scotland, hillwalking, the Himalayas and more. Feel free to let others know too!

Blue tits nesting

Well, this baby-rearing business is proving to be a great way of finding the local wildlife. First the bats and now blue tits. If it wasn't for my wee son demanding a cuddle with a view out of the window I wouldn't have been staring out into the garden for fifteen minutes and I wouldn't have spotted the blue tits flitting in and out of a natural hole in an old ash tree. So, I got the 400mm lens on it and managed to get a couple of shots. They're a bit grainy but it's a start.

Otter having a scratch

Knoydart gets a great summer, usually for about two weeks in May. This year it came at the end of April and so far May has been a washout. I had hoped to get out and film the otters but I've used the bad weather as an excuse to stay indoors and update my website. In the meantime I've had my Bushnell camera trap strapped to a tree by the otter holt down the road. Of about 30 clips over the last few days, this is the best.

Baby bat alarm

My wife and I have now had nearly five months of endless sleepless nights tending to a tiny new life. Every hour or so we're up to change nappies, do hot water bottles or feed the little tike (well, I don't do that bit).

A few nights ago, at about three in the morning, I was on my way to the kitchen to do yet another hot water bottle when something caught my eye through the front door window. Something small and dark had just flown through the moonlight into our porch. There were swallows nesting in there but it was way past their bed time. A quick look with a torch revealed a couple of brown long eared bats - never before recorded here in Knoydart. So I set my trusty camera trap up and got this short video.

We've now got about half a dozen bats using our porch every night as a resting up place during their night time midge hunts. I don't know how long they've been using it but if it wasn't for my baby son and his night time alarm calls I might never have known they were there.