I was on a workshop last month which included a boat trip to off the coast off Kaikoura, a small town in North Canterbury. If you are visiting the area it’s well worth making the time for: the Kaikoura canyon is relatively close to shore meaning pelagic birds and other marine life are accessible. It is however a small boat and a few folk found the swell a bit much. Here are a few portrait shots: Wandering albatross, Salvin’s albatross, Westland petrels, Fairy prions, Cape petrels and Hutton’s shearwaters.

These Spotted Thick-knees are frequently seen on my pavement when I come home. They are trusting, yet very cautious. They lay their eggs on the sand and raise a number of precocious chicks every year…

I've been searching for fairy wren nests for the past few years and lo and behold, this year I've got one building a nest at the end of our front path!🤗 Here are some of my shots of the hardworking female (I haven't included any shots of the male as he doesn't help with the nest building at all!).

I was very lucky today to find these young Wedge-Tailed Eagles!

Loads of small birds around - always challenging to photograph, but I do enjoy torturing myself 😆 Practice is definitely the key - as I tell my students, an accomplished marksman would expect to practice continually to retain his/her sharp shooting skills. Absolutely no difference with photography, it's a very similar skill. I notice a significant improvement in my ability to raise the lens and have the bird centred perfectly in the frame after a full week of shooting. Unfortunately that skill slides backwards when I'm on a break from bird photography, and I have to work a little extra to get my eye back in. So keep getting out there and follow those tiny fluff balls, it does get easier! Weebill Superb Fairy Wren (M and F) Brown Thornbills