As a naturalist and photographer, it was Besant’s good fortune to be born and raised in Orkney, whose richness and diversity of wildlife and habitats are contained within a relatively small area.
That this archipelago is also outstandingly scenic has afforded him stunning backdrops for his pictures of gannet and gull, skua and shag, wheeling and diving amidst atmospheric coastscapes of crashing waves and the islands’ ever-changing light.
Besant even manages to create memorably moody images of bog cotton and wild mushrooms, backlit or dramatised by sunset or sunrise.
The eery image of a young owl on the cover introduces us to a real world of wonder, all the better served by Besant’s spare use of text and captions.
