“Snap Shots”
Well, I might as well start 2024 off the way I should with my first entry into my blog.
I’ll start with what happened at the end of 2023.
November
I’d had a trip booked to photograph polar bears. The trip was booked well in advance (like 2 years ahead).
To get to where I needed to go involved a day and a half of flights (4 flights there and 4 back) all done in 9 days. To say the least it can be punishing on the body.
Day 1
Arriving tired into Churchill, Manitoba and my first encounter was a couple of bears already near the runway ……a good start I thought. After a quick tour of the town and a sighting of a red fox I ventured to the fort at Cape Merry, it was here that I had my first sighting of 2 permanently placed armed rangers. Just to be clear, the rangers were there for our safety……………to frighten away any polar bears. It was also here that (as I’d been advised) it’s a little on the “fresh side”. In other words, it was cold. I have experienced cold temperatures of -35c before however, with Churchill being on Hudson Bay the wind chill was and is extreme and it cut right through me so whatever the temperature was at the time you can add another -11c to it.
Day 2
Up and out early to grab breakfast, although talking to others it would seem that because of jet lag everyone was awake from around 05:00. Breakfast was healthy scrambled eggs and very crispy bacon with pancakes………in other words the usual fare for Canada.
Once breakfast was over a quick trip back to my hotel room to pick up my camera gear (with plenty of fully charged batteries and spare cards) and outdoor clothing to keep me nice and toasty. Back outside I boarded a small bus (12 people) to take me around 15/20 kilometres to the tundra.
Arriving at the tundra buggy site, I climbed into my buggy for the day (big and long vehicles with huge wheels – so high up that polar bears can’t reach you).
The buggies are heated and comfortable with plenty of seats, they also have bathroom facilities, just as well because once you are on the tundra you can’t get out of the buggy as you might just get a bear coming up to say hello to you.
First sighting of the day was a mum with 3 cubs now, this I believe is unusual. A mum with a single cub or two not so, but to see a mum with 3 cubs was exciting and a very pleasant surprise. The smallest of the cubs looked very tired and was lagging behind.
One sort of feels sorry for the little cub……however, that’s nature.
The little cub was named “Rudi” by the tundra drivers. Now hear comes the sad part to this adventure. Rudi was seen with his mum for a couple of days and was seen later during the week but this time not with his mum. From this point onwards I don’t know if Rudi was abandoned or if he had just lost contact with the family. So, I’m not sure if he survived, I’m pretty certain that being so young he would not have had the skills to hunt for himself. Hopefully he would have found some food left by the older bears after they had made a kill. Not forgetting that my timing in Churchill coincided with the sea freezing over and therefore the bears were on their way further north to catch seals.
Days 3, 4, & 6
These days were much the same with plenty of healthy-looking bears plus sightings of artic fox, cross fox and ptarmigan.
Day 5
I had the use of a 4×4. Whilst I mention the 4×4 – I was told to leave the doors unlocked, the reason being that should a polar bear be on the loose anyone can climb into the car for their protection.
As it happened on one night I heard (what I thought were fireworks…. thinking of November 5th and then realising Canada doesn’t celebrate Guy Fawkes). The sound of the so-called fireworks was in fact crackers going off to frighten away the bears which were then in town.
Driving around in my hire car enabled me to see other animals……which indeed I did. I came across a “cross fox” looking for food it also gave me a chance to photograph it listening and then jumping into the snow trying to catch its next meal. I also managed to see an arctic hare all snuggled up next to a rock. At this point I must mention again the extremeness of the cold/wind chill. If I tell you that after about a few seconds, I couldn’t feel my index finger to press the shutter button on my camera, this will give you some idea of the temperature.
Also, on this day I was lucky enough to see a mum feeding her two cubs and a single bear on the rocks around the bay. It was just after I had spotted the bear when the conservation people and the police appeared and ushered me on. This not only to protect the visitors but to protect the bears.
So, the end of 2023 and onto 2024
2023. Did not end well for me as following on from my trip to the Canadian artic I managed to acquire Covid, although whilst just feeling a bit shivery I had no other side effects………I just slept for 36 hours, not surprising as the Canada trip is very draining.
2024.
May – Skomer Island
I managed to book a few days staying at the RSPB site on Skomer Island (Wales).
A short 15-minute boat trip is necessary to reach the island.
I also needed to carry my camera bag plus all the clothing and food for 3 days (and nights).
Not much sleep happens on this trip, not forgetting that the days are gradually getting longer and there’s plenty of daylight.
The day starts at about 05:00 so up and out to where the puffins are. It’s a bit “fresh “and windy at that time of day, but one must be ready to grab those winning shots. Bleary eyed and somewhat tired I walked the mile or so to the area of interest.
Puffins are the order of the day and as it was mating time the puffins were extremely busy flying in and out with sand eels for their partners. To give to any idea of the conditions the puffins would fly back to their burrows but could not land as the wind was so strong and I was trying to get an image of a puffin with sand eels in its mouth – I had to track the bird from its first failed round of landing to the next time ……. hoping that I have locked on the bird and my image is sharp. Thankfully the images were a success.
10:00 and I head back to my digs for a late breakfast and a few hours sleep.
15:00 Up again a light bite to eat and out this time to a different place on the island to try and capture the birds with the setting sun, another long day returning at 22:00, then a self-prepared rehydrated dinner (out of a packet) and off to bed this I repeated for the next two days.
July – Finland
This is my second visit to Martinselkonen this time to capture some images of bear cubs ……plus anything else that passes my lens.
This is a 7-day trip (including travel). 2 flights in each direction and as the return journey was a late return a hotel stay as well (just for a few hours). My first flight started in Manchester going to Helsinki and from there a short internal flight to Kajaani. I then travelled by taxi (approx. 2 hours) north………. stopping of course for the essential provisions, like alcohol and biccies.
My place of residence for this trip is just 1 kilometre from the Russian border.
Yet again my hobby is punishing on the old body.
The day starts with breakfast at 08:00 followed by a snack of cake and coffee at 12:00 – this is then followed by dinner at 15:00. The eating now stops until our return at 08:00 the following day.
So, after dinner (15:00) we assemble for our trip to the hides (4 types). Now all the hides are of a metal construction and well insulated as it gets a bit nippy in winter up here. However, this is not good in the summer as the hides become very warm and of course they have mosquitoes…………lots of them.
Also, as I mentioned in my previous post at this time of year there is plenty of light, in fact it doesn’t go dark at all, therefore as a photographer who wants to grab all of what he sees there’s no chance of sleep.
Conditions under foot were to say the least a bit precarious – very wet (there had been plenty of rain). It felt like walking on a trampoline all the time.
So, at 07:00 I’m picked up and escorted back to our digs where we then grab a bit of breakfast and the whole experience happens again………for the next 4 days.
One of the things I noticed on this trip was that all the hides now had electrified fences around them. This made things a little difficult getting into and out of the hides, on one occasion “I made up the circuit” i.e. I got an electric shock. Normally one would just shrug this of however, few earlier I was fitted with a pacemaker to keep the old ticker going. On returning to the UK the cardio team knew when I’d had the shock as they could check this against the device………all clever stuff really.
A good trip all round, plenty of images of bear cubs and their mums, plus some climbing bears, which h was good to see. I’m back again in 2025 to photograph (hopefully Wolves) and Capercaillie/Black Grouse.
31st July………Surprise Day
For some time now I’ve been sending my images to an agency hoping that (just one) might be published……sadly nothing happened. However, my luck was about to change when I made contact with another press agency and low and behold, I’ve had some of my images now published
My picture of an Osprey with breakfast featured in The Times and printed in The Telegraph on 31st July 2024
Then a week later I had 2 of my images of a Kingfisher published in The Star and The Guardian on 7th August 2024.
I’ve had further success with an image of a Barn Owl being published in The times again on the 17th August 2024.
September 18th my images of a very tired Brown Bear published in The Star
