Posted by Brydon Thomason on Monday 16th August 2010 | News, TV Appearances

Following the massively popular ‘Shetland Diaries’, Simon was once again in the Isles this summer. This year he has been commissioned by ‘Promote Shetland’ (Shetland’s official tourism promotions team) to put together a TV commercial. Once again we were delighted to be chosen by Simon to work with him throughout his ten-day trip in July.

It was particularly exciting to ‘fill in’ as his camera man for various shoots and indeed quite gratifying to see how useful our local knowledge and contacts were to help pull things together where ever and when ever it was needed.

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Posted by Brydon Thomason on Saturday 7th August 2010 | News

What a fantastic summer season we have had here in Shetland. Our ‘Wild Shetland Weekends’ and ‘Shetland Nature Experience’ holidays (which all sold out!) went wonderfully. There were many highlights throughout the summer. All our groups enjoyed multiple encounters with Shetland’s enchanting wild Otters – this really is a ‘Shetland Nature’ speciality and an area where our clients experience first-hand the difference between travelling with a small group of six as opposed to a ‘coach-tour’ group of twelve! But it was not just the Otters that enthralled this summer. We had many thrilling cetacean encounters too; Minke Whales, Basking Shark, Risso’s and White-sided Dolphins, Harbour Porpoises and last, but by no means least, Killer Whales were all seen by our groups. This was undoubtedly one of the best summers on record for Killer Whale sightings throughout the isles; with a combination of our local knowledge and contacts, the fact that all our guides are resident in Shetland and not just brought here for the summer, and of course an element of luck, we saw Killer Whales on all but two of our holidays! We also identified a new pod for Shetland’s waters, a very interesting find indeed – a more detailed news post on this will follow soon…

Amongst the other highlights were of course Shetland’s mouth-watering diversity of breeding birds and the northern specialities the islands harbour, such as Red-necked Phalarope, Red-throated Diver, Merlin, Arctic Skua and Great Skua, to name but a few, not to mention the seabird colonies and evocative nights with the Storm Petrels on Mousa. More news on the breeding season for Shetland’s seabirds to follow from our friends at the RSPB soon…

Birding highlights included some star-quality sightings. Amongst the rarities seen were Great Reed Warbler, Black Stork, White-tailed Sea-Eagle and Iberian Chiffchaff (the latter being the first ever Shetland record), whilst scarce migrants included Long-tailed Skua, Red-backed Shrike, Marsh Warbler and Golden Oriole. We also made some very exciting discoveries on the birding front, with Hoopoe, White-billed Diver, ‘Northern’ Eider and a fine drake Surf Scoter making national headlines! More on these stories on our ‘Birdwatching’ Reader Holiday posting…

Plants, by their nature, don’t fly or swim away, so it’s always lovely to catch up with them in stunning surroundings. The Shetland endemic Edmondson’s Chickweed has proved a star attraction, whilst orchids have included Fragrant, Frog, Heath Spotted, Early Purple and Northern Marsh. Several scarcities included Oysterplant, Arctic Sandwort, Northern Rock-cress, Wood Burdock and Moonwort. Mountain Hares also performed well, with all groups connecting with them; this species can be found later on in the season.

A big thanks must go to our hosts at the Orca Country Inn, Saxa Vord Resort and the Spiggie Hotel, for excellent company and cuisine after a full-on day in the field; savouring the best of food Shetland has to offer is a must. Much enjoyment came from the debates over cheesecakes!

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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, TV Appearances

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, TV Appearances

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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