The white stuff aplenty!

February 25 2010

Well what an night! It started off as a breezy suggestion of winter and ended up as a full-scale blizzard with drifts that swallowed my poor old spaniel whole!
Our Slice of the Arctic tour may not have turned out as guests had expected but the description was apt! Alongside my favourite creative best for the afternoon, is Amanda's car and half of our pioneering group who have remained good-humoured throughout. Mind you, they don't know that they can't get home yet!
Thanks to Steve (x 2), Karen, Annie, Chris, Gill and Graham for at least being brave!

There's a price to pay...

February 18 2010

...for snow I mean. Don't get me wrong, it looks fantastic and as camera fodder, it's unbeatable but boy can it be hard work.

This morning saw the conclusion of the latest in our series of Winter Wildlife photo-tours. Guests were 'privileged' to be in a Land Rover precariously sliding on ice next to a deep wooded ravine; having the opportunity to push an out-of-control VW minibus away from a guaranteed collision and finally, racing their prized motor cars full tilt up our snow-laden access track just to get home...and only one failed to accomplish their RAC Rally qualification (sorry Ken!) So, here I am back in the office where I can take a break from life on the knife-edge (and I wasn't even guiding!) Now I can get on filling in the claim form for Amanda's coming together with Emma's poor old VW Polo just yesterday.

Yes it looks great but my nerves and bank balance prefer life without the white stuff. But don't let any of this put you off coming!! And thanks to all those who (I think) enjoyed the snow-laden Highlands this last week.

Season's greetings...

December 23 2009

...and I genuinely mean that. True, I'm not a fan of the modern consumer Christmas but it looks like being a white one so what more could you ask for? Well actually, quite alot it seems. A number of folk I've spoken to in the south would ask for a more speedy and efficient response to the clearing of the transport system when the weather turns...well, Christmassy! Not that those folk would be complaining when the necessary billions were spent on under utilised snow-clearing equipment of course. Cake and eating spring to mind.

Yesterday was chilly, minus 16c chilly. So chilly that I have minor frostbite on three fingers. I'm sure someone other than me must be to blame for that! It was chilly but it was achingly beautiful. In fact for four days, it's been just splendid.

Have a happy, stress-free Christmas and enjoy the snow - we'll be complaining when there isn't any. Mind you, we can always find someone to blame when that does happen.

Getting colder!

December 11 2009

With temperatures predicted to drop to minus 15c in the next few days, yesterday was balmy by comparison. These intricate ice patterns formed on our office window.

The ultimate Wonder?

October 2 2009

I've spent the last few weeks sifting through over 19,000 images taken by over 60 different photographers in all 48 European countries. The goal is to establish around just 300 top images for the Wild Wonders of Europe flagship book. I'm doing this in conjunction with my fellow WWE Directors, Staffan Widstrand and Florian Moellers.
So from a full collection of over 180,000 images, how do we get it down to just 300? And which image is my personal favourite? Almost impossible to say but if I had to choose one, it might be this one of a single musk oxen on a blizzard-swept mountain plateau in Norway by Vincent Munier (France). Of course, you may disagree...