Wild Shetland Through the Seasons By Brydon Thomason
£36.99, Shetland Times Ltd, hardback, 288 pages, ISBN: 978-1910997567 Shetland-born photographer Brydon Thomason’s book is a lavish celebration of the islands’ wildlife and landscapes, writes
Located between Scotland, the Faroe Islands and Norway, Shetland is an archipelago comprising around 100 islands, only 16 of which are inhabited. Its remote location, rugged landscape and rich variety of wildlife makes it an exceptional place for outdoor photography. This book, by Brydon Thomason, himself a Shetlander who grew up on the island of Fetlar, takes full advantage of the subject-matter on offer.
Thomason is a naturalist, a photographer and runs a wildlife tour company, Shetland Nature. He clearly has an encyclopaedic knowledge of Shetland’s nature as well as a great eye for a photograph.
Wild Shetland takes us on a visual journey through the year on the islands in chapters that focus on each of the seasons in turn. Images include atmospheric landscapes and seascapes, spectacular shots of wildlife in action (from otters to humpback whales) and macro studies of the islands’ insects.
The abundant bird life on Shetland forms the majority of the pictures, from bluethroats, skylarks and lapwings to gannets, black guillemots and northern goshawks. The image quality is excellent throughout, and their sheer variety demonstrates evidence of many years of dedicated work.
Accompanying the images is Thomason’s own engaging and informative text, which offers insights on the subjects pictured and puts them in geographical and historical context, while sometimes adding anecdotes from his own personal experience.
Although this book is mainly about celebrating the islands’ wildlife and wild places, in his text he acknowledges the ‘narrative of decline associated with many species’ and highlights some of the challenges and issues faced in recent years. They include the catastrophic bird flu that wiped out up to 85% of Scotland’s great skua population in 2021-22.
Wild Shetland, he admits, is a project that ‘has been on an off the shelf for more years than I care to remember’, but it’s finally here and has been worth the wait. For anyone interested in Shetland’s natural history, it’s difficult to imagine a more detailed, thorough and visually enjoyable book on the subject.