The RSPB Liverpool Local Group: Indoor Meeting, Monday 20th January 2020

Tuesday 11 February 2020

Indoor Meeting, Monday 20th January 2020

Bird photographer Richard Steel entertained a large crowd at Monday night’s meeting with a presentation, Beyond 66.5 Degrees North, covering his recent journey to North East Norway and the birds he photographed there – and the *rather* expensive restaurant prices!

The crowded hall, photo by Debra Williams

We were taken on a journey from Manchester airport to close to the Arctic Circle, at a time of year when the sun – and thus the photographer – never sleeps. Photo after photo, clear as day, and yet taken at 11pm or 3am (they’re a hardy breed, professional bird photographers).

The gorgeous red-spotted bluethroat was the subject of quite a few photographs – a personal favourite/obsession, as Richard explained. Pine grosbeak, dotterel, red phalarope, lekking ruff, and the daintily beautiful red-throated diver – we see some of these species in the UK, but not usually in their amazing breeding plumages, so Richard’s photos were an absolute delight.

Lekking ruff, image taken from Richard Steel's presentation, photo by Debra Williams

My personal favourite was the Siberian tit – what a lovely little bird! But I’m sure other attendees had other favourites from the many great photographs we saw. For those of you who were unable to attend – or who did but want to learn more about the wildlife he photographs – Richard’s blog contains more details and photographs of his trips to Norway, and other places such as Extremadura, and is well worth a look: http://wildlifephotographic.blogspot.com/search/label/Arctic%20Norway.

Also on the evening, we had a visit from Alasdair McKee, RSPB Local Groups Officer, who presented a number of our volunteers with long-standing achievement badges:

Phillip Antrobus - 15 years

Rhodie Blythe - 5 years

Jen Jones - 5 years

Anne Pope - 10 years

Ann Thomson - 10 years