Hi there, and welcome to my wildlife photography website.

I am mainly a birder and bird ringer, but I also have a keen interest in photography. I started birding seriously in 1982 when I started going to Hauxley Ringing Station (in Northumberland), as part of my Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme. I started photographing birds in the hand in 1983 with my first camera – a Pentax ME Super. As the years passed, I bought a second (or was it third?) hand 500mm mirror lens and started taking bird pictures in the field. The results were ok, but in 1991, I bought a Canon T90 and a 600mm F4.5 Canon lens. My photography gradually improved and I had a few photos of rare birds published in several magazines. By this time I was working in conservation and at Bird Observatories (Calf of Man, North Ronaldsay, Sandwich Bay and Bardsey) and I had a couple of summer’s wardening a Little Tern colony in Northumberland.

In 1997 I started work at Newcastle Airport, and my travels abroad took off! My favourite destinations are Australia and Bermuda. I have also birded in China, The Gambia, Germany, Holland, Hong Kong, Madeira, New Zealand, Norway and the USA.

It was the trip to New Zealand with two friends that persuaded me to go digital! I took 60 rolls of slide film and had to buy another ten!! My companions had a point and press digital and a digital video camera, and each evening they were showing me their results and I was thinking “its going to be another six weeks before I see my slides – and they could all be crap!” That winter (2004/05), I took the plunge and bought a Canon 20D and a second hand manual 500mm Canon lens and an adaptor for the lens to the camera. The results were much better than I had anticipated, and in spring 2006 I bought a Canon 500mm IS USM lens and a 1.4 converter. The quality of the pictures now are even better and I have just bought a Canon 100-400mm IS USM, specifically for pelagics and birds in flight. I have now added a Canon 40D to the set up. I have also saved ‘god knows’ how much in wasted film!

My site will be updated when time allows, but a lot of the older pictures will be scanned from slides, so the quality may not be as good as the later digital shots.

I hope you enjoy browsing the site and please call back regularly.

Ian Fisher (January 2008)