Oliver Aughton

06/07/2024

02/10/2023

This is just your friendly reminder from all the species in Aotearoa/NZ that can't vote this election to get out there and vote! Enrol online, takes 2 minutes. It's the most important thing you can do for your future and the future of our beautiful, fragile country.

22/09/2023

Another photo of a puffin with its catch for its puffling. They often stuff their beak with sand eels, glass eels or krill etc. The way they hold onto all that catch is their tongue! They have a very spikey tongue. As they load the prey into their beak their tongue grips it and holds it in place. Bloody awesome.

20/09/2023

I love puffins. One of the amazing things about them is that the cliffs they live on explode with life! The flowers and grasses are super abundant. I think that's because they build burrows in the cliff with two chambers. One chamber is where they lay an egg and raise a puffing and the other is their toilet! This toilet is a perfect fertilizer pod for the cliffs plants. It also means they are the most pleasant Seabird colonies I've ever been too, instead of smelling like fishy bird s**t they smell like flowers!

17/09/2023

Horned grebes inhabitant some of the beautiful wetlands in the center of iceland. As a wildlife holiday iceland is perhaps still underrated.

These two male horned grebes were scrapping at the lake edge right by our campsite. The one on the right had a nest and the one on the left was being a pest and eventually got into a scrap, the violent clash went for a full 60 seconds until the female flew out of the reeds to help the resident male then scuttled back to her hidden nest. Both males were fine post clash, but they certainly weren't pulling any punches!

14/09/2023

Some of the locations in iceland have been photographed to death, the walk up shots at these spots are like the worse overplayed radio pop song. I still wanted to visit these famous spots but I tried really hard to "remix" the photo to make it more interesting, while still capturing the magic of the place that made it popular in the first place.

This is my effort at black sand beach in Southern iceland near Vik.

13/09/2023

Like almost all birds puffins sleep or rest with their head under their wing. Up on a cliff face in the drizzle this puffin had chosen a precarious spot for a rest.

The puffins bring these cliffs alive along with other seasonal nesting birds. The puffins are only around from Late April until mid August then they are back out to sea until the following breeding season, hopefully they raise a healthy puffling each season. They only lay one egg a year.

12/09/2023

The small and the mighty. This photo is about krill. Both the puffin and the whale in this shot are here feeding on krill. We were lucky enough to be in a rich patch of krill with 8 (atleast) humpback whales feeding around us. These spectacles are amazing and protection for our oceans is essential to keep them from disappearing.

11/09/2023

My puffin photo has been a favorite of so many people. Thanks for all the messages of support. The puffins are definitely the most brightly colored and charismatic coastal birds in Iceland. They ate also some of the easiest to observe and photograph because they live in burrows at the top of cliffs.

There are several other fascinating species that occupy spots lower on the cliff. This is a razorbill. They, like the puffin, grow a temporary bill extension during breeding season. They have a neon yellow gape I wasn't able to capture this time. I love how sleek and powerful they are.

09/09/2023

The arctic fox was historically persecuted in Iceland. Often killed by farmers for threat or perceived threat to livestock. There is still mixed feelings about the fox but it seems people more and more are seeing the foxes value. One place where foxes do well is the Hornstrandir nature reserve.

In the reserve the foxes are fully protected. We had the pleasure of seeing adults protecting territories (like this female) and parents bringing a variety of avifauna back to the den for adorable pups.

09/09/2023

While in Iceland searching for wildlife we definitely were presented with some amazing landscapes. This photo was taken towards the end of a 12hour hiking day on Hornstrandir peninsula. We didn't get back to camp until after midnight, the midnight sun definitely let's you maximize your days!

I'm by no means a landscape photographer but I feel I have to try and share the beauty of this place. 😍

08/09/2023

Recently we had the absolute pleasure of visiting Iceland. This trip was a long time in the making and we weren't sure it was ever going to happen for multiple reasons. The landscapes and wildlife were other worldly. I took thousands of photos and have been agonizing over which one to post first.

I decided on this Atlantic puffin, this shot with the glass eels was a photo I knew I wanted to try and get. I had pretty limited opportunities to get it but eventually was lucky enough to get a few shots. The r5 eye auto focus chose the glass eels eye for point of focus in this shot and I love that perspective. Which is lucky cos it's the only frame I got of this bird.

Puffins are amazing Seabirds and I'll be posting more photos and info about them down the track 😊