Textures of the Antipodes
Gentians, ferns, Acaena (biddy-bids), Lycopodiums and more! I love photographing wildlife, but something that draws me just as much is the textures of the environment I'm in. All the tiny…
The Light Fantastic
The end of a long day of census blocks, walking in lines over lumpy, orifice-infested vegetation. Wind riffling up the slopes of the southern end of Antipodes island, tossing golden…
Ten ways to photograph an Albatross
Classic portrait Are we surprised that I took lots of albatross photographs during three months living and working on Antipodes island? Not really. But how do you keep things fresh…
The Southern End
I didn't manage to do a great job of blogging while on the Antipodes. I hoped to, but too many competing interests were bubbling around at the time, and my…
Antipodean Summer 1
I’m writing this sitting outside the hut on Antipodes Island, 870km southeast of New Zealand. The fact that I can write and post blogs from here is a bit startling,…
Blue day
Blue sea, blue sky, mirroring each other. The sea is oily, but this is just a pretence of calm. Less than an hour ago, we leapt off Pokohinu - Burgess…
Thank you
This post accidentally went live the other day with no text! Whoops! We ended up having to depart Tawhiti Rahi a day early due to incoming weather and I wasn't…
Island nights
I've spent a week under the stars, camping in a pōhutukawa clearing on a seabird island. Wind was constant, an endless river through the canopy. Hushing leaves and groaning trunk-creaks…
Little shearwaters
Last week I started work on another part of my PhD project - monitoring the breeding success of little shearwaters. These wee birds are very cryptic. Unlike fluttering shearwaters, we…
Geckos in the ceiling
This week I’m back in the field again - looking for little shearwaters! One of the highlights of working on the islands (apart from all the birds!) is the amazing…
Plastic Ocean
The dangers of plastics in our ecosystem is an issue that is becoming more mainstream knowledge. We've begun to realise that nothing that we throw 'away' truly vanishes - it…
Dawn around the Pinnacles
The 5am start is a struggle, in the chill starry blackness before dawn. We traipse down an empty road in the dark to hop aboard the comforting familiarity of Trevor's…
January fieldwork
After seven days in the subantarctic, I'm back on the Poor Knights islands. It's Northland warm, still and sunny, Shag bay turquoise and calm. The storms of December ripped through…
Light at night
I have a complicated relationship with the lighthouse on Burgess island. I love it for the predictable swing of the beams that slice out into the night, rays reaching out…
Beyond the camera – seabird sketches
I was an artist long before I was a photographer. I was also a birdwatcher long before I was a photographer, and it was only natural for the two to…