About Photo-Wild

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Our Overview

The best photos of the Wildlife and Wild Places of Scotland Wales and England are from Wild Camping in a Motorhome, Campervan, or Narrowboat.... Simple.

 

Update (November 2021).…..We have now sold Willow. We understand the new owners have now resumed trading as a hotelboat. 

 

Introduction to Nick & Irene Scott:

Nick and Irene are retired Hotel Boat owner/operators from the Scottish and English/Welsh canal networks.

Now retired, we kept our much loved narrowboat Willow, but just as a private boat on the English/Welsh canal network. So we now spend much of the year either touring in our elderly motorhome or cruising on Willow. There's nothing unusual about all of that, perhaps - but we have never been huge advocates of 'sitting in a circle' in a caravan site, nor sitting on a boat moored in a marina.

Most often the best wild scenery and wildlife photo opportunities are to be found away from such sites and marinas - and 'far from the madding crowd'. Very often we need to wait at a particular location for the right light (or even weather) to get the best shots - confining ourselves to being on official sites or marinas just doesn't work for us - we need to be 'on location'.

We love our own grandchildren dearly, but not other peoples' using our motorhome as a frisbee target. Of course there are many motorhomers and boaters out there that quickly recognise these concepts.

Wild Motorhoming:

We also just prefer the wild motorhome option - 'Camping Wild': What could be nicer than pulling off a single track road beside a burn, or overlooking a lochan - during the Rut in the Highlands. With not a house in sight and waking up to the calls of the stags, challenging each other across the hills and forests - Just Magical. 

Or perhaps amid the Welsh Cambrian Mountains during July and August - with fewer midges than the North West of Scotland.

Then let's make a 'photo record' of these magical stops. 

We are scrupulous in the ethics of our wild motorhome camping (and mooring). In particular our motorhome is properly equipped with on-board toilet facilities. We dispose of all waste (human and dog) in a proper fashion and leave no litter - indeed we pride ourselves on the principle of leaving no 'footprint' of our very temporary stay at any particular location.

Our motorhome is elderly, but adapted to suit 'wild camping' with additional fresh water storage tanks, diesel heating, solar charging and enhanced battery capacity.We don't use or need an electric hook up, so why should we pay for it, by being on a formal site.

Similarly, with additional effluent storage, we need to empty sewage only once a week - so why should we require to be on a formal caravan site for the other days.

So here's a bit of a rant...

Local communities in Scotland could take a lesson from the French 'aires' - typically areas at villages where motorhomes can stop overnight free of charge or at minimal cost. Village shops/pubs/restaurants get trade and the motorhomers get toilet emptying / water facilities etc if required.

As an exercise we priced staying on a Camping and Caravan Club site at Glencoe for a week in June 2021. The club has a good reputation for value, but the cost came in at about £250/week - non club sites are likely to be much more (often charging for extras such as a wife and a dog). As pensioners, a typical tour in our motorhome might be for 6 weeks - using this example it would cost us £1500 in sight fees for the period....Oh, and I've got a wife and two dogs - remember for most of the time we don't need their charging/water/toilet facilities - which are needed typically only one day in seven...Rant over.

Of course there is also a converse rant...Those people who visit our stunning countryside and shores who leave all manner of litter, abandoned tents etc, scar the ground with barbecues and fires, and even human excrement. That applies to some such folks visiting by car/bus; some tent campers; some fishermen; and (yes) some motorhomers. Such folk don't deserve our beautiful contryside, and should stay away...

We fully comply with the 'responsible behaviour' principles outlined within the Scottish Outdoor Access Code 2005 made under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 - for more on this select 'Land Access Code'.

Of course this brings us back to our raison-d'etre - we want to experience and record the wild beauty of the more remote parts of the UK and it's wildlife - why would we spoil that with a litter footprint - and how could we do that effectively from a formal caravan site, or marina berth.

Our photography work:

Neither of us are professional photographers, although we like to think we're 'getting better all the time'. Technically, the photography displayed on the this website will be relatively low resolution, designed merely for reasonable screen display. This is deliberate for the following reasons:

• Data file uploads will generally be by mobile internet connection (3G or 4G), direct from the photographed locations - we don't have unlimited fibre broadband either in the motorhome or on the boat.
• Big data uploads would therefore be problematic particularly in some rural areas with limited internet coverage.
• Pages and blog entries may be displaying a number of photos. If the files are large, mobile web users (perhaps also on mobile data plans) will have page loading problems.
• Our general intention is to display the locations and wildlife, rather than win photo competitions.

If you would like to use a displayed photo, please ask first. We are generally non-commercial.

If you have appropriate photos of your own that you would like us to display, we will certainly welcome that as a consideration. We would, of course, display a photo credit (and web link if you wish that to be arranged).

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