There are two reasons why I chose this particular image this month. The first exposes me as a self-serving capitalist with a lorry load of books to sell (see Caledonia below). The second is less superficial and is something I think many photographers struggle with. Picture the scene. A crisp silent dawn gently awakens to a heart-warming orchestral masterpiece courtesy of cuckoo, crested tit and, drifting on the occasional breeze, distant black grouse. One by one the rising sun picks out the spring foliage of birch and the understated bottle greens of twisted ancient pines. And then, puncturing the silence, the mournful, almost painful wail of a red-throated diver, which from nowhere, surfaces ten metres distant with barely a ripple.

These are the moments that photographers live for. So it is almost impossible to detach myself, emotionally, from that morning in Glen Affric. The experience is still raw in my mind and so to judge this image objectively, I will have to wait until the memory fades and just sometimes, it never does. I hope you like the image but for me, all I can hear is that diver.

Our first self-published book hits the shelves this month (June 23rd). Actually that's not true as the only shelves Caledonia is available from are ours! Once the new website is (finally) finished, orders can be taken - Amazon will NOT be stocking this book!

As a really neat accompaniment, we are also producing a gift wallet containing ten individual prints from the book, along with a CD featuring a fantastic rendition of the iconic "Caledonia" song set to an evocative slideshow.

To get a sneak preview of Caledonia, you can download our promo-flyer.

Nature of Scotland Awards

We were delighted to be featured in Natures Best magazine with a selection of images from the Wild Wonders of Europe collection. If you'd like a copy of the pdf, please drop us a line. A full selection of the Wild Wonders library can be seen on the Nature Picture Library website.

Thank you to all those who have already booked tours for 2012. We know it's an uncertain time out there so we do appreciate your business. Our Winter Wildlife tours are already half full and others aren't far off!  For 2011 we have just a few places left:

Wild on White: 1 place for which we are offering a £100 discount if you book before 15 June!

Ultimate Autumn Gold (Cairngorms & Skye): 3 places

Next year's programme includes some really exciting landscape desinations and we're looking forward to taking guests to some of Scotland's most dramatic wild areas like Assynt and Torridon in the far north-west. If you want to go even further, join us right on the edge of the British Isles in our Wild West Coast tour. I was there recently doing some photography and I can't wait to get back. See just a few images here.

Our new website (I know I keep mentioning this but we're very nearly there!) will introduce a new guide to our small team: Andy Parkinson. Andy has been around for ages and he's one of these guys that just gets on with it. He's a great teacher and good fun to be with. Andy will be guiding a couple of our Winter Wildlife tours and we're sending him off to Shetland, a place he knows as well as anyone. www.andrewparkinson.com

And finally, in partnership with another photographic tour operator, we're giving a little thought to a real once-in-a-lifetime trip to Antarctica and South Georgia (a bit off our usual beaten track!). It won't be until 2013 and nothing is hewn in stone, but if you might be interested, do drop us a line and we'll keep you informed as our thoughts develop.

Many of you know Amanda, my long-suffering wife and even longer-suffering business partner. Well, we thought it was about time she had her own soapbox...err...platform. From next month Amanda will be offering her thoughts on photography, nature and life in general. So has anyone got a snappy title for her monthly musings? Keep it clean and e-mail us your suggestions. We'll use the best one.

Northshots is a corporate supporter of the John Muir Trust, a charity founded in the name of one of Scotland's pioneering conservationists and today, dedicated to protecting the values of wild land.