Posted by Brydon Thomason on Friday 7th May 2010 | Birding in Shetland, News, Sea Mammals in Shetland

What a fantastic day! After an extremely successful (and very enjoyable) three days of Otter Photography – 23 Otters on three Islands with a Dutch client (Wim Konninghurst) we decided to spend a day on Unst.

The day got off to a fantastic start with a pod of over 20 Risso’s Dolphins off the early morning ferry. The dolphins were spread widely across Bluemull Sound between Yell and Fetlar. This stretch of water is one of the best in the Isles for seeing these burly dolphins.

Although you cant quite make out much detail from my cropped record shots, Risso’s are characteristically covered in scars. With blunt- bow headed appearance and these often rather prominent markings, Risso’s can look quite coarse and rather rough looking and with this be very distinct, given decent views. They are often quite deep water predators, with squid being a favourite food source and cause of much of the scarring! Feeding dives can often last up to an impressive 15-20 minutes and Squid in the stomach contents of Risso’s have been found to measure an amazing 12 feet! Lets hope we manage to locate them during our Seamamal Search on the 29th of May!

Barely an hour later, on arrival to Burrafirth Shore Station at the North end of Unst (where the Scottish Natural Heritage reserve’s visitor centre is based) we found a Hoopoe, literally seconds after getting out of the car and kitted up! Quite increadable given that fellow members of the ‘Shetland Nature’ team Garry Bell and Rob Fray had been called out to identify a bird the previous day – which turned out to be a Hoopoe! Which incidentally is the one photographed, by Gary.

But the day was not yet done. Just as we were about to make our way down off the reserve, whilst sitting gazing out over the Atlantic Ocean, simply awe struck by the ‘seabird city’, my good mate Robbie Brooks rang to inform me he had just had a Sea Eagle heading North over his house. Trying not to expect too much more out of what had already been an incredible outing, I thought to myself ‘that could very probably head our way…’

I then also passed on the exciting news by calling the reserve warden Alister Wilson, who I knew was out on the reserve, not too far away.

Sure enough about an hour later we were alerted to the birds presence by the hundreds of Great Skuas which took to the air across the reserve as the bird drifted low over the moorland. A truly awesome sight indeed watching how this fantastic bird of prey simply dwarfed the swarming Skuas. Not wanting Alister to miss out I called him again literally minutes later it soared over his head, when he got this cracking shot- note the wing tag.

The bird was an immature which was first seen a few weeks earlier on Fair Isle and again by good friend and Shetland nature tour leader Roger Riddington soon after. It is one from a release program on the east coast of Scotland. This bird had a green wing tag on with a No.8 on and is known to be a one year old male. We later enjoyed yet another encounter with the bird during an evening visit to the reserve cliff tops.

Oh if only these masterful raptors would return to the Isles to breed some day…

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Posted by Brydon Thomason on Tuesday 20th April 2010 | News

A very exciting development for us, we are now sponsored by ‘Stealth Gear’. Stealth Gear is a relatively new brand of outdoor clothing, which is as they say themselves ’is designed by wildlife photographers for wildlife photographers’.

It is my reputation as a guide for wildlife photographers seeking to photograph Otters in Shetland that led me to review and wear the clothing, for which the gear is ideally suited. The clothing is designed for dedicated wildlife photographers spending a lot of time in the field and, as my experience so far proves, in all weathers!

Read more about Stealth Gear and my review at: http://www.stealth-gear.com/photographers/brydon-thomason.html

Being sposored by ‘Stealth Gear’ realy is a fantastic development for ‘Shetland Nature’ and especialy so for the Otter Photography trips I guide. The various camo garments I normally provide clients with are now being replaced by ‘Wlildlife photography clothing that has been designed by wildlife photographers’.

Read more about my Otter photography

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Posted by Brydon Thomason on Thursday 15th April 2010 | News

Brydon with Simon

As if Simon Kings Shetland Diaries was not enough of a joy to watch on screen (and it truly was), the book is an absolute must have! Whether you are a fan of Simon, Shetland or Natural History in general it is sure to entertain and enthrall. A signed complimentary copy from Simon arrived today!

Having worked closely with Simon and co throughout the making of the documentary, I truly did feel privaliged to be included in the series (read more about this) .  It was indeed an extended privilege to be asked by Simon to provide photographs for his ’Shetland Diaries’ book, for which he chose six images; otter’s (of course), Orca, White-sided dolphin, Red-throated Diver and Guillemots.   And to be amongst the few individuals to be given a special thanks in the opening paragraphs was an true honour to say the least.

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Posted by Brydon Thomason on Tuesday 16th March 2010 | News

Irish TV’s RTE1 travel show, ‘No Frontiers’ aired last weekend, which you can catch on the internet at http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1068599 This was our third TV appearance this winter, after ITV’s ‘Islands of Britain’ with Martin Clunes which was recently repeated and the BBC’s ‘Simon King’s Shetland Diaries’, due to be repeated in the next few weeks.

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Posted by Brydon Thomason on Saturday 20th February 2010 | News

If you were not fortunate enough to have seen Simon King’s fantastic three part series which finished this week, we would very much recommend viewing it on BBC iPlayer. It was with out doubt the best TV documentary to feature Shetland in recent years, maybe ever! It was a huge privilege to have been involved right from the start and even more so to have made an appearance on screen.

Watch Simon King’s Shetland Diaries on BBC iPlayer (available until February 25th): http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qnw3b

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Posted by Brydon Thomason on Saturday 30th January 2010 | News, Sea Mammals in Shetland

Brydon with Simon

Over the past two summers we have been working closely with Simon King and his team helping towards the forthcoming documentary on Simon’s love affair for the Shetland Isles.

As well as keeping Simon and his team up to date with regular sightings and updates from around the Isles, our local knowledge has played a continual role in much of the research and also filming.

Searching for Killer whales

Following a very successful attempt along with the North Atlantic Killer Whale ID team at locating the herring feeding Orca off- shore, we set out with Simon and co eager to film a feeding frenzy.

Although a prolonged search (again working in close association with Andy Foote and Volker Deeke of the Killer Whale ID team) did not result in locating the Orca, the day out was far from a fruitless.

White Sided Dolphins

Some four or five miles North of Muckle Flugga (the Northernmost tip of Unst) Brydon and Vaila managed to spot a distant feeding frenzy of thousands of Gannets. Knowing all too well that whatever food source would attract such a mêlée of feeding seabirds would also very likely attract cetaceans, as indeed it had, some way up to, (or perhaps over) 1,000 White-sided dolphins – potentially the largest super pod ever recorded off Shetland.

The atmosphere was electric, with dolphins breaking the surface quite literally as far as the eye could see and the sky filled with gregarious gannets piercing into the ocean like arrows all around us. A just reward for our efforts indeed.

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Posted by Brydon Thomason on Saturday 30th January 2010 | Birding in Shetland, News

(From left) Brydon Thomason, Roger Ridington, Fiona Barclay (Birdguides), Mike Weedon (Birdwatching Magaziene) Martin Garner and Dominic Mitchell (Birdwatch Magaziene) minutes after identifying Britains third ever Taiga Flycatcher - the smiles say it all!

The birds were far from the only focus, we took time out to show the team our other speciality with some gripping otter watching...

In a bid to introduce some of the leading names from the nations Birding media to Shetlands legendary autumn migration, we put together a thrilling long weekend birding trip, with the vision being to showcase our innovative 2010 Autumn Birding holidays.

Lead by Brydon Thomason, Roger Ridington and Martin Garner, the top team of publicists (consisting of Fiona Barclay of Birdguides, Dominic Mitchell of Birdwatch and Mike Weedon of Birdwatching magazine) new that they could not have wished for better hosts as they each made their Island autumn debut.

Taiga Flycatcher

The weekend excelled beyond all our expectations and simply could not have been scripted better. With the incredible discovery of a Taiga flycatcher, (a third for Britain!!) by the team, the whole ethos of what our birding trips are about and much of our key aims and objectives were wonderfully illustrated; team work, sharing knowledge, inspiring others and the thrill of finding, identifying and enjoying your own ‘rares’ in a remote and crowdless environment.

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Posted by Brydon Thomason on Saturday 30th January 2010 | News

Brydon (left) with the No Frontiers filmcrew

Irish Televisions RTE1′s No Frontiers film crew during a day out with Brydon in search of otters in August. No Frontiers is one Ireland’s most popular top ten television shows. They are essentially a travel and holiday show, the nearest UK equivalent would be the old BBC show ‘Holiday’. No Frontiers is broadcast on Ireland’s number one television station, the state broadcaster RTE 1, in a prime time slot on Sunday evenings at 7.30pm. No Frontiers runs from January to April and this will be their twelfth year on air.

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