CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

This is the final day of my 7 Day Nature Photo Challenge for which I was nominated by Tom Hodgetts of Skye Walks and Photography. This shot was taken in November 2011 of a Grey Seal pup at Donna Nook in North Lincolnshire.  The pup was lying just inside the fence that separates the public area and the breach where the seals are.  You have to be careful not to touch the seal pups because if the mother smells a human on the pup she may reject the pup and it will die. The camera was fitted with a wide angle lens and set down on the ground behind the double fence so there was no chance of the pup being touched.  I then used the wireless remote release to take some pictures of the pup as it got curious and went to look at the camera.  It soon got bored and wandered back to mum and on checking the pictures I found this shot. It has to be one of my all time favourite nature photography images and is a nice way to round off this 7-day challenge. The camera ...

This is Day 6 of my 7 Day Nature Photo Challenge which I was nominated for by Tom Hodgetts of Skye Walks and Photography. This shot was taken at Belhaven Bay just before sunset.  The seabirds had congregated in the surf as the tide was coming in to feed.  The birds were silhouetted against the brightly lit wet sand and I took several shots of the scene on the Nikon D800 and Nikon 80-200mm f2.8. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on the adverts you are helping support this blog - thank you. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALL IMAGES ARE THE PROPERTY OF MACLEAN PHOTOGRAPHIC AND CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION MacLean Photographic run Tours and Workshops in East Lothian and th...

This is Day 5 of my 7 Day Nature Photo Challenge for which I was nominated by Tom Hodgetts of Skye Walks and Photography. T his is not a recent shot as it was taken in June 2011 but it was of my favourites in my wildlife collection of images.  The shot is of a vixen who spotted me through the trees, gave me a long stare and then carried on.  I managed to get a few frames before she broke eye contact. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on the adverts you are helping support this blog - thank you. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALL IMAGES ARE THE PROPERTY OF MACLEAN PHOTOGRAPHIC AND CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION MacLean Photographic run Tours and Workshops in East Lothian...

This is Day 4 of my 7 Day Nature Photo Challenge which I was nominated for by Tom Hodgetts of Skye Walks and Photography. A visit to the Isle of Mull is not complete without seeing a White Tailed Sea Eagle soaring above the island.  Normally you only see them from a distance and sometimes you may see them perched at the top of a tree, but on our last visit to the Island in May 2013 we saw a pair of Sea Eagles really up close and it was one of the memorable encounters that will be imprinted in my memory. A Sea Eagle is a big bird with a wingspan approximately 8 feet wide.  We went out on a Mull Charters boat trip  and we were treated to a fantastic display by a pair of wild birds as they circled the boat hoping for some easy pickings for lunch from the crew. This shot was taken on a Nikon D800 and Sigma 50-500 f4/f6.3 lens as the bird swooped in low across the top of the boat. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------...

Today is day 3 of the 7 day Nature Photo Challenge set by Tom Hodgetts and today is a picture from one of the natural wonders of the world, which is right on our doorstep.  I am talking about the Northern Gannet colony on Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth.  We see The Bass every day (when there isn't any sea fog of course) from the end of our road and after two years I still marvel at the annual spectacle of 150,000 Northern Gannets ( Morus  bassanus)  living, eating and breeding in such a small area. In 2014 I had the pleasure of landing on Bass Rock as part of a Scottish Seabird Landing Trip and it is still one of my all time top three Wildlife experiences (whale watching in South Africa and the Sea Eagles on the Isle of Mull). I took hundreds of images during the three hours I spent on Bass Rock but this shot of a Gannet spreading its wings is one of my favourites.  The wingspan of a Gannet is impressive but it is even more so close up. This image wa...

This is another shot from the trip out to the Isle of May in June and it was the main reason we made the trip by boat out from North Berwick, it was to see the Atlantic Puffins that nest on the island during the spring and summer. The Puffin or Fratercula arctica, eats sand eels by the bucket full and and they also have to feed their young which are in burrows on the cliff tops.  The Puffins usually stop with a beak full of eels making sure the coast is clear before flying to their nest site.  It is just a matter of being patient and catching a bird before they fly off. This shot was taken on the Fujifilm X-T1 and the XF55-200mm f3.5/4.8 lens. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on the adverts you are helping support this blog - thank you. ---------------------------------------------------------...

I have been nominated by friend and fellow photographer Tom Hodgetts of Skye Walks and Photography to take part in the 7 day nature photo challenge.  I will post one shot here from the MacLean Photographic archive every day for the next week.  Most will be from my trips here in East Lothian but I might throw in a couple from further afield. This is another shot of the Arctic Terns on the Isle of May which we visited at the end of June.  The terns were very vocal and were quite robust in defending their nest site, which were scattered all around us on the ground.  The best way to defend your head from getting pecked was to hold something above you as the birds always go for the highest point.  Most people used a leaflet or paper.  Is used my X-T1 and 10-24mm f4 wide angle zoom and took pictures of the bird up close. They were VERY close in this shot! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...