A not so snowy Norway, but at least the eagles performed!

Weather is such a massive factor when considering planning a trip. However, the best laid plans of mice and men can be sadly thrown out of kilter when the weather gods decide not to play ball! Winter in Norway should be cold and snowy. Unfortunately, the warm south-west gales that wracked the UK took a perverse swing west to the coast of Norway and warmed up what should have been a landscape that resembled a winter wonderland!

Saying this however, the experienced wildlife photographer always knows there are shots to be won. True, they may be a little harder to initially see, but imagination is often best fired by grey skies and wet days. The aim of this trip was to work with both species of European eagles - golden and white-tailed.

The goldies were photographed from a hide using bait in the form of a dead fox. Long days in the hide became the norm and at times spirits may have flagged but, when the adult female landed at the end of our fourth day in stunning evening light reflected from a reddish cloud base, those flagging spirits quickly soared.

The white-tailed eagles were much easier to photograph and we had two superb days out in the boat with Ole. A mixture of light and Ole’s experience allowed us to capture a fantastic range of images, as these magnificent hunters of the sky dived for fish right next to our boat.

So, on reflection, whilst the trip didn’t supply the snowy white backdrops we’d hoped for, a mixture of light and perseverance, dashed with imagination, did mean that we produced some fantastic images. And last but not least, a great group of guests to work with, calm, collected with super banter! Thank you Lesley, Eric, Charles and Richard.    

Common birds seem to get under photographed these days, familiarity breeding contempt perhaps? However, the dark water and lovely light elevated the herring gulls to a new level which, I feel, produced a nice set of dramatic images, I just wished I had had longer to work with the gulls.