Mike Read

I have recently retired from being a freelance photographer and wildlife tour guide due to my increasing years and the onset of Parkinson's condition.  I now just take pictures of things that interest me or remind me of locations I have visited etc.

Each side of this text you can see some of the images I took in various places around the World. Scotland always remained mine and Liz's (my wonderfully supportive wife) favourite semi-local destination where the scenery adds so much to the special wildlife experiences that can be had there.  In fact we were there in April and May this year (2026).  Among the things that we did was to walk out from the lower slopes of Cairngorm mountain to the Green Lochan.  I wonder what the area looks like now following the devastating fire there.  As I write this, the emergency services are still damping down and watching for flareups on some local heathland.  The New Forest National Park Authority have said that it will take decades for the habitat to recover.  For the destroyed Ancient Caledonian Pine Forest  in the Cairngorms to recover to a stage where it can support breeding Capercaillies again will take perhaps 200 years!

The Alpenrose image to the right reminds me of an amusing moment.  I was in the French Pyrenees leading a photographic tour.  The group had just finished their photography and were packing up ready yo move on to the next destination when a coach pulled up.  Out got a group of Japanese tourists and they  began to photograph each other in front of the lovely flowers and waterfall.  I spoke no Japanese but through hand signals, managed to offer to photograph a man next to his wife in the scene.  He handed me his little camera, pointed at a button on it and said 'press'.  Once I had taken a couple of photos for him, the man took his camera and insisted that I stand next to his wife for a photo.

Over the coming days and weeks I intend to update the pages on my web site but this will take some time I guess.  If you have any suggestions for what you might like to see, please contact me and let me know.  I also hope to put regular posts on my Blog with some of my favourite images and memories.