Tom Langlands Photography Blog

Barnacle Geese from Svalbard over SW Scotland The family is descending upon us in various waves over the Christmas and New Year festive period and there is a good feeling of joy and togetherness that can often be missed throughout the course of the other months of the year. Sometimes friends and members of our family who live in far flung corners of the globe travel huge distances to spend some time with us and renew old bonds. These visits also create new bonds when children introduce new partners or friends and sadly, they can also remind us of bonds that we had that aren't always present any more for one reason or another. As a nature lover and wildlife photographer I also think of our wider bond with the flora and fauna of the natural world around us. It is amazing how often we receive visits from those who live in far off places but perhaps we aren't always as aware of them as we should be. Perhaps we don't pay them a visit or even give them a second thought....

Atlantic Puffin on the Island of Lunga Firstly, I have to apologise for the delay in posting this latest blog. It has been a very busy summer for a variety of reasons but also a very frustrating one. I had several plans for interesting photography shoots over the summer months but the appallingly wet weather here in Scotland made it all but impossible to find time when the rain had stopped, the light was favourable and I was available. I could have used the time away from my camera to write more but I was missing the photography that for me is so much an integral part of what I write about. I did manage a few days here and there and latterly spent some time with my macro lens photographing dragonflies and damselflies along the fringes of midge infested ponds. As I discovered, that posed a few interesting challenges. However that is a story for another day. Earlier this year I was fortunate enough to come second in the Scottish Wildlife Section of the annual photography co...

Ask anyone to conjure up an image of Scottish wildlife and the chances are that the first thing they will think of is that great monarch of the glens - the Red Deer. Undoubtedly the Red Deer has inspired poets and artists across the generations. Standing stately on heather clad hills with antlers probing through the all too familiar Scots mist it has become the embodiment of the spirit of a nation. In reality it is well established with a healthy population spread across the country. At the opposite end of the scale in terms of size is another of Scotland's great wildlife icons.  It also has the red 'Celtic' hair but its future is far less secure. I am talking of the Red Squirrel. Red Squirrel (Scirius vulgaris) The Red Squirrel has been part of Scotland's natural landscape, and indeed the landscape of much of Europe and Asia for centuries. Hence it is more correctly known as the Eurasian Red Squirrel or, to give it its latin title, Sciurus vulgaris. Yet i...

Barnacle Geese (Branta leucopsis) Last month I wrote about the Whooper Swans that migrate from the Iceland to the UK every winter with a good number of these beautiful birds coming to take advantage of the rich feeding on the merse and farmland around the Solway Firth. About the same time that the swans visit there is usually a significant number of geese. Perhaps the most famous to be seen around the Caerlaverock Nature Reserve on the Solway Firth are the huge numbers of Barnacle geese that overwinter here. Barnacle Goose in its natural wetland habitat Typically, there can be as many as 30,000 of these birds in the area during the winter months and that's an astonishing number considering the fact that the Barnacle population was down to some 300 or so birds in the period immediately after WWII. So what has brought about this incredible increase in numbers? The answer is quite simply good conservation and land management skills. Prior to WWII the shooting of du...

Two Whooper Swans in flight Having met up with some visitors from Iceland in December I have yet to arrange my visit to their homeland to photograph the penguins and polar bears. If you think I'm going mad check out my last blog for it seems that Iceland offers some pretty amazing wildlife photography opportunities. Maybe I shall put it on my list of possible destinations for next winter. Of course, the alternative is that Iceland's wildlife comes to visit me in Scotland. I guess the polar bears will struggle to cross the vast expanse of sea and it's probably too far for the penguins to fly but it certainly isn't too far for one of my favourite birds, the Whooper Swan. As I write this, there are several hundred of these magnificent birds on the Caerlaverock Nature Reserve and surrounding area in SW Scotland. A Whooper Swan tries to keep warm in winter Every year some 25,000 Whooper Swans fly from Iceland to overwinter in the UK. Although Iceland can get v...