Hi - I'm Tom...
I’ve not always been a wildlife photographer but I have always been into wildlife.
My limited photography experience started when I set up a computer business in 1995, whilst digital photography was beginning to boom. Since setting up the business, I only ever used a camera occasionally, for business purposes, for the next 25 years.
In terms of wildlife experience, I spent every second weekend, every mid-term & both Easter & Summer holidays, as a kid, at the family caravan, on a farm near Amulree in Perthshire. The caravan sat on its own, tucked away from view, right next to the River Braan. It would be fair to say that I spent at least 80+ days a year in that river, from the age of 5 until I was 17. In addition to building dams and catching minnows, I'd sit and watch kingfishers, dippers, herons, moorhens, trout & much more. Along the river, I would also spot red squirrels, red deer & I'd listen out for woodpeckers & owls. I learnt a massive amount about spotting wildlife & how to live with them & around them - this undoubtedly helped build my wildlife experience, over those formative years.
After such a 'full on' wildlife experience in my early days, I spent the rest of my life always keeping an eye out for these & other creatures. However, it wasn’t until I was recovering from Total Knee Replacement surgery in 2020 that I decided to pick up a camera & start photographing the urban wildlife of Edinburgh. I needed to walk as much as possible to help recover from surgery, so this seemed like an ideal solution.
I had never photographed wildlife before & so my journey of recovery & discovery began on the Water of Leith in Edinburgh, on the 1st of January 2021. I decided to walk 10k steps a day, for a year, with the aim of setting up a website at the end of that year, which would be full of Edinburgh's urban wildlife.
Since I started in Jan 2021, I have walked over 5,000 miles, with my camera - 3,500 of those miles have specifically be done on the Water of Leith & around Edinburgh. The remaining 1,500+ miles were covered throughout Scotland. I have travelled along the whole of the Scottish mainland coast line and have visited many of it’s islands. This website & my social media accounts are an insight to what I have seen on my journey in Edinburgh & around Scotland, in the last four years or so.
My photos have been used by many local newspapers around UK & national newspapers such as, The Sunday Times. They have also been used by the likes of BBC Scotland, BBC Wildlife Magazine & BBC Winterwatch. Other organisations such as the Scottish Wildlife Trust, The Water of Leith Conservation Trust, The Scots Magazine & Nature Scot, to name some of the more high profile organisations, have also used my photos.
I currently have a 45x print exhibition at the Water of Leith Visitor Centre on Lanark Road, Edinburgh. The visitor centre is open 10-4pm every day (Mon-Sun) Entry is free but please buy a tea/coffee as the funds greatly help the amazing work that the Trust do.
Miscellaneous.....
With all the wildlife we have in Edinburgh such as, foxes, otters, deer, birds and much more, it's the little Kingfisher that takes the crown as my favourite of the lot!
The Goldfinch is probably my top pick of the garden birds. It's all about the colours!
The Heron was the first bird that captured my wildlife passion at the age of 7-8. I guess it was the sheer size of its wingspan that hooked me!