I am a wildlife cameraman based on the west coast of Highland Scotland. I specialise in long lens and I also have a commercial drone licence. For recent credits and a little blurb about me please click on credits.
LATEST NEWS
20TH MAY 2021
Despite the pandemic 2020 was a busy year for me. I was working on a number of shoots for NHNZ filming otters in Shetland, seals in Orkney and deer on the west coast. The series Scotland – A Wild Year will be shown on Channel 5 later in 2021. I’m now onto a new project working with the multi-award winning team at Silverback Films. It’s a bit hush hush so I can’t say too much but it’s an exciting landmark series for the BBC which should come to our screens some time in 2023.
5TH JUNE 2020
The coronavirus lockdown made it very difficult for the Springwatch team to get out and about so they asked me and some other camera people to make a series of short “mindfulness” films on our own patch. Here’s mine.
Take a breather at Loch Aline in the Scottish Highlands 💙#Springwatch pic.twitter.com/iAAnYiQVKA
— BBC Springwatch (@BBCSpringwatch) June 5, 2020
30TH SEPTEMBER 2019
I’m just back from Russia where I was filming Eurasian lynx for Gordon Buchanan’s latest series which you can see on BBC2 this Christmas. It follows the journey of these beautiful cats as they are rehabilitated for release back into the wilds of Siberia.
I’ve also been on the Isle of Rum filming for Autumnwatch. Rum is close to where I live and I have been there many times, usually to film the deer. This time I was after a bird that is altogether more difficult to film despite them nesting in their thousands. To film them I had to be near the top of a mountain in the dark for five nights. And just to make it that little bit more difficult I had to contend with horizontal rain and gales too. Fortunately I had this little hut to retreat to when the weather got really bad. You can find out what I was filming on Autumnwatch at the end of October.
20th August 2018
I’ve spent the summer documenting the success or otherwise of a white-tailed sea eagle nest on the Isle of Skye for Tigress Productions. You’ll be able to follow them on Channel 5 next year. Many hours were spent in this cramped hide but being so close to these wonderful birds for so long made every bout of cramp worthwhile.
26th April 2018
Otters and their excrement feature in an article that I wrote for the BBC’s #OurBluePlanet social media campaign. Click on the pic to read it.
4th December 2017
This is one of the arctic foxes I’ve been filming in an isolated corner of Iceland. Had the pleasure of his company for four days.
30th October 2017
I’ve just finished filming golden eagles, ravens and feral goats for Plimsoll Productions here, close to home, on the Isle of Mull. The former is one of my favourite subjects and it’s always a thrill to be so close to wild eagles, as I was when alone in my hide for three days. I’ll post some screen grabs once the production company have given the green light to do so!
30th March 2017
The Isle of Rum is on my doorstep so it wasn’t a particularly long commute to film the red deer there. This was for a new landmark series for Nutopia / National Geographic. Scientists have studied the deer on Rum for over sixty years which makes them very obliging since they are quite used to people sitting watching them for hours and days on end. Here I am doing just that, attached to a Sony F55 and Canon 50-1000mm lens.
1st December 2016
I’ve written about my filming of the Springwatch golden eagle nest in this month’s BBC Wildlife magazine. Back copies available!
20th June 2016
I have spent a total of sixteen days in a hide filming the golden eagle nest for Springwatch. You can read my blog about it on the BBC Springwatch page and there is a short ‘Behind the Scenes‘ film too.
2nd June 2016
It’s a real pleasure to have spent the past couple of weeks filming a golden eagle nest for Springwatch (2016). And I have a couple more weeks to go. Golden eagles have featured quite heavily in my life for the past few years so I can’t think of a better way to spend my time than observing a nest at close quarters for hours at a time. Here’s a shot of Eagle HQ – my hide tucked amongst the rocks just a stone’s throw from the eagle eyrie.
11th May 2016
After three years in production, Highlands – Scotland’s Wild Heart finally comes to the screen. It was fantastic to be part of the dedicated Maramedia team who made it possible. I filmed many of the time-lapse sequences, and spent a month filming in Caithness and Sutherland where I may have caught an orca or two.
2nd June 2015
Otters
The latest issue of Scotland Outdoors magazine has a feature of mine on otters. Many a wildlife nut has been seduced by the charisma of the otter and I’m no different. I’m often asked how best to see them in the wild and I’ve tried to answer that in this article. The otter I photographed for the piece is a young male on the shores of Loch Sunart near my home. He had quite a few cuts and scars which suggests he had come off worst in a fight with a more robust dog otter. I’ve been away filming for most of May so I haven’t had a chance to catch up with him. Hopefully he is okay.
