Four Parishes Arts Society - April 2009

Talk by Mike Mokler, Tuesday 10^th March 2009

Well known tour leader, wildlife photographer and writer

Mike opened his talk giving a brief history of the places he has visited and the work undertaken in his quest to photograph birds and animals in both hot and cold climates.

He started his talk by showing a great variety of birds in Finland.  Photos such as beautiful black and white Cranes on the snow covered frozen lakes doing their mating “dance” – reminding one of ballerinas in Swan Lake, with an audience of crows watching, followed by a photo of the Ravens chasing the Cranes away.

Photos of spectacular Golden Eagles attacking their prey whilst Ravens waited on the side for the scraps.  Wonderful close up photos of Buzzards and Goshawks in flight, and of Hooper Swans on the lakes.  Not only photos of birds but red squirrels and, at very close quarters, a European Brown Bear.  The photos of the Bears were taken from inside a very small hide where Mike and his friend had had to wait for several hours to get the shots they needed.

Mike then took us to Norway showing us a photo of a majestic white-tailed Sea Eagle being attacked by Seagulls.  Then on to Spitsbergen, where he had photographed the biggest glacier in the world with many waterfalls pouring down its side due to Global Warming.  Pictures of polar bears with nowhere-to-go as the ice flows had disappeared too early, due, once again, to Global Warming.  More delights, a beautiful plump Reindeer, a grey and white fox with 9 pups happily playing in the snow and a very beautiful Bearded Seal as well as Walrus.

From Norway to N. Japan where it gets very cold and then on to S. Japan.  He told us some amusing ancedotes of life in a Japanese hotel.  The monkeys in N. Japan looked as if they had fur hoods on because of the cold but they were compensated by being able to bathe in the hot springs that abound there.  There were photos of Sika Deer, a Red Fox stealing fish and the most outstanding was a photo of two huge Eagles in flight, each of a different species, one with a fish in its mouth and the other chasing it to get hold of the fish.  Mike had several shots all taken at different angles, and in the final one, the falling fish but he told us that the chasing eagle had swooped round and caught it.

Mike showed us many more wonderful photos and he backed up the evening’s entertainment with stories of his adventures whilst photographing these unique birds and animals, making it an enthralling evening.  We look forward to inviting Mike back to show us more of his outstanding photography in other climes.