Warts and all

I painted this last month as a gift for someone and it was a delight to do so as I've always wanted to create a composition featuring these characterful creatures.

Funnily enough I first came up with the idea for the composition some 20 years ago on my very fist trip to the African continent. I was on an unscheduled and, as I discovered later, somewhat kamakazi walk along the Zambezi river, when I first encountered warthogs and the idea struck. 

Whilst I tried to get some photographic studies to make my idea a reality, I got a little too close to a warthog and ended up being thrown into some bushes by a bad tempered female - much to the amusement of my wife!

I wrote about the experience in my Yorkshire Post column at Christmas and my article made the front cover!

Watching Osprey

Now is the time to see Ospreys in Yorkshire. They are on their way back from their breeding grounds in Scotland and are likely to stop near fish ponds before they begin their 3,600 mile journey back to West Africa. 

I spent a week this summer photographing them at a fishery in the Highlands. 

Rothiemurchus, near Aviemore, has a designated pool stocked especially for these beautiful birds of prey. Osprey are breeding again in Scotland after being wiped out partly due to the fact that they competed with anglers. So it is a sign of the times that a fishery is now welcoming them with open arms.

The site is so popular I had to book a year in advance. To read about how I got these shots click here to link to my latest column in the Yorkshire Post.