I found the Skomer course with Andy on Google when researching puffins and I wanted to see and photograph them, a kind of mini ambition if you like. One of my objectives is to be able to photograph birds in flight, although I’m fairly new to all this having bought my Nikon D90 in April.

I drove 300 miles and stayed overnight at Greenacres in Marloes which I recommend, just up the road from the ferry jetty. Although it was raining the ferry was running, and I met up with Andy and the other student Donna, and we were delighted to see thousands of puffins as soon as we reached the island.

Andy covered some theory on photography, and then we couldn’t wait any longer and took a number of puffin photos out of the windows of the warden’s house! After lunch, and a review of our pictures with Andy, the rain abated and we refined our technique and got up close to the delightful creatures. I learnt a number of things, not least how to hold the camera better, to improve focus and check it on the Nikon software afterwards, to improve composition, and to take the pictures in RAW mode. We had a brilliant day on Skomer and the only way it could have been improved would have been to stay longer.

The following day I went to the Welsh Wildlife Centre at Cilgerran with Andy but we were not lucky enough to see the kingfishers or otters but that’s not surprising considering the otters are nocturnal and the kingfishers only make fleeting appearances. The river, swallows and flowers were good. The sunset pictures were taken from the B&B Ael y Bryn at Eglwyswrw, which again is recommended and handy for Cilgerran.

As you can see from Andy’s website he is very skilled at nature photography, knowledgeable and also patient with us as students of photography. I whole heartedly recommend these courses to intermediates and beginners.

Alison Johnson