'Quacking' Cairngorms wildlife photograph collection up for major award
A range of spectacular nature collections is vying for the Scottish Nature Photography Awards – including one showcasing the secret life of the Cairngorms
This year’s shortlist comprises 11 books celebrating nature, wildlife and landscape photography across Scotland, and there are two with links to the strath.
The success of Andy Howard’s Secret Life of the Cairngorms (Sandstone Press) caught the Inverness wildlife photographer and his publisher by surprise, selling out in months.
He told the Strathy: “I owe a lot to the Cairngorms and its amazing wildlife, scenery and light. To get a combination of these three on a regular basis is what keeps me coming back for more.
“No two days are ever the same up on the hill.”
Also shortlisted are Cromdale couple Helen and Paul Webster, of Walkhighlands fame, with their book Scottish Island Bagging (Vertebrate Publishing).
Awards spokesman Niall Irvine said: “Books can take us out of our current limitations to places and subjects we know well, or have yet to see.
“They can provide us with a view we might not otherwise have seen and there is surely no better time than now to celebrate that.”
Other books on the shortlist include: Fragile: Birds, Eggs and Habitats by Colin Prior (Merrell Publishers Ltd); Hirta: A Portrait of St Kilda by Alex Boyd (Luath Press Limited); Scotland the Braw by Alan McCredie (Luath Press Ltd); Scotland: Highlands, Islands, Lochs and Legends by Claudia Martin (Amber Books Ltd). The public is being asked to choose their favourites in the sixth biennial Favourite Scottish Nature Photography poll.
n Voting is now open at https://scottishnaturephotographyawards.com/bookvote until March 1. The results will be announced later in the month.
