To ensure receipt of our emails, please add info@northshots.com to your address book. Pic of the month: Nov '10 Floodwater tapestry, Loch Insh, Scotland Nature photography has no Champions League, no Premiership, no Europa Cup. There is no definitive barometer for how you measure up against colleagues and competitors. But each year there is the rather fickle business of photographic competitions. Ordinarily the experience of entering these now global phenomena, is a heady cocktail of anticipation, disappointment and depression, but every now and then you hit a purple patch. The image above is included in this year's Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition and a previous 'Image of the month' (click here to view Osprey image) has won the overall prize in the US-based Nature's Best competition. This alongside recognition in the Landscape Photographer of the Year, British Wildlife Photographer of the Year and Asferico 2010, is about as purple a patch as I could wish for. Moreover, with one exception, all images were taken within five miles of my home and therein lies a much greater satisfaction - as well as a salutary lesson - than the fleeting good wishes from friends and colleagues. Best regards Peter Cairns ps. My son, Sam, has also done really well in recent photo-competitions. I am very proud, but he's becoming increasingly capable of doing his own self-promotion, so I'll leave it there! New Frontiers If you're free, why not pop along to one of my NEW FRONTIERS talks this month: 15 November: Dundee Photographic Society 25 November: Swavesey Camera Club (Cambs) 26 November: North Staffs RSPB Group 28 November: Wirral Photographic Association See you there! Just a thought... Like a few photographers I've been approached by Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust to try and persuade potential visitors to the Donna Nook seal colony to avoid walking out to the seals on the shoreline (there is some evidence to suggest that disturbance is having a negative impact on pup survival). I'm in no position to dictate what folk do or don't do, and yes before you ask, I've visited the site myself in the past - several times. But if you are thinking of going this winter, ask yourself this: Do I really need the same shots of seals that everyone else has got? Could I do it differently - by working the dune seals for example? Could I be more productive photographing in my local patch? As I say, just a thought. 2020VISION The fieldwork for this amazing project has now kicked off and we'll shortly be introducing a Photographers Diary to the 2020V website. If you want to be the first to see the images as they're delivered, and hear the stories behind them, visit www.2020v.org to sign up for the 2020VISION newsletter. And don't forget to join both 2020VISION and Northshots on Facebook (or follow on Twitter) to be kept up to speed on all news - good, bad and outrageous! Wild Wonders on NPL Nature Picture Library, the official image library of Wild Wonders of Europe, have now uploaded an extensive selection of images from the wider Wild Wonders collection. You can search by country, photographer, species or habitat but be warned, you'll need a gin and tonic and a couple of hours! Click here to view the library. PHOTO-TOUR NEWS Thanks to all of our Autumn Gold guests this past month - both groups had their fair share of rain, but remained in good heart and, from what I've seen, have produced some amazing images. We're now planning next year's Autumn tours, so watch this space! SENJA ISLAND, NORWAY We have now opened our Northern Lights tour which will be led by Niall Benvie (click here for more details). The tour is already half full so if you'd like to experience some of the most spectacular winter landscapes that Arctic Norway has to offer, do drop us a line...and quickly! FINLAND The first of our 2011 Finland tours is now open. Predators of the North sees us returning to this magical location to get up close with Europe's most charismatic carnivores. Click here for more details. INDIA Mark Hamblin is developing a fantastic tour to India for early 2012 and we're looking at a few locations suggested to us via the Northshots Facebook page. More on this later. This mail is sent to Northshots subscribers, picture editors and natural history enthusiasts. Please respect the time and effort invested in this type of photography by not using these images without prior permission.