Award-winning photography of natural history, landscape, antiquity and travel throughout the world. All images © Martin Grace
CATEGORY WINNER IN BIRD PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR

On Radio 3!

December 06, 2020

A dawn chorus recording of mine from New Zealand was featured on Radio 3 this morning, in their Sounds Of The Earth collage shortly after 08:00 during Sunday Breakfast. 18 minutes and 50 seconds of bird song (notably Tuis, Eurasian Blackbirds and European Song Thrushes) expertly interwoven with suitably evocative pieces of classical music. Excellently done by the BBC! Great to listen to it in bed today; hearing it live was a rather earlier and less comfortable experience! 

Tui (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae) calling, Tiritiri Matangi, Hauraki Gulf, North Island, New Zealand
Tui (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae) calling, Tiritiri Matangi, Hauraki Gulf, North Island, New Zealand

Endemic to New Zealand. Tui in Maori. Also known as Parson Bird.

Fern-rich native coastal Podocarp rain forest, Monro Beach Walk, Moeraki, West Coast, South Island, New Zealand
Fern-rich native coastal Podocarp rain forest, Monro Beach Walk, Moeraki, West Coast, South Island, New Zealand

Native podocarp-hardwood forest is at its richest and best preserved in the central west coast of South Island, where there is a 200km gap in the indigenous Southern Beech forest. Typical tree species are Rimu (Dacrydium cupressinum), Southern Rata (Metrosideros umbellata), Kahikatea (NZ White Pine) (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides) and Kotukutuku (Tree Fuchsia) (Fuchsia excorticata). Understorey plants include Kiekie (Freycinetia banksii), Supplejack Vines (Ripogonaceae), Saw-sedge (Gahnia xanthocarpa), numerous ferns of all sizes, and abundant mosses and liverworts.

Fern-rich native coastal Podocarp rain forest, Monro Beach Walk, Moeraki, West Coast, South Island, New Zealand
Fern-rich native coastal Podocarp rain forest, Monro Beach Walk, Moeraki, West Coast, South Island, New Zealand

Native podocarp-hardwood forest is at its richest and best preserved in the central west coast of South Island, where there is a 200km gap in the indigenous Southern Beech forest. Typical tree species are Rimu (Dacrydium cupressinum), Southern Rata (Metrosideros umbellata), Kahikatea (NZ White Pine) (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides) and Kotukutuku (Tree Fuchsia) (Fuchsia excorticata). Understorey plants include Kiekie (Freycinetia banksii), Supplejack Vines (Ripogonaceae), Saw-sedge (Gahnia xanthocarpa), numerous ferns of all sizes, and abundant mosses and liverworts.

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