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There was a lot of excitement in the BBC Wildlife office when we heard from Shetland-based naturalist and tour guide Brydon Thomason about the recent amazing encounters he and his colleagues Richard Shucksmith and Peter Hunter had with five humpback whales off the Scottish coast. We were close to our press deadline, with a lot of pages finished, but when we saw the superb pictures and read the account we had to pull out all the stops to make space and share the story (p46). The fact that the trio’s encounter later resulted in a first for Britain made it all the more thrilling.

The second exciting event to occur in the preparation of this month’s issue was the arrival of the Blogger of the Year Award results from our independent judges. The worthy winner garnered the most votes from our panel of four for her informative and humorous blog about wildlife she observes at home and abroad. Her identity is revealed on p50.