Do you know the Puffin Man?

Working from his base in West Wales, Andy is a professional wildlife and landscape photographer and videographer with over twenty years experience, both above and below water. He has an intimate knowledge of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and gives an after dinner talk at St. Brides Castle each Tuesday where he showcases the best locations and describes how he captured his images.

A former full-time university lecturer, he now combines his love of photography and his passion for passing on skills to others in a series of photographic workshops where he provides hands-on expert tuition to small groups who are guided in taking creative control of their camera to capture memorable images. Whether a complete beginner, enthusiast, aspiring professional or seasoned photographer, he provides comprehensive tuition to suit all levels in a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere.

A number of locations are used in the Park, including a bespoke workshop at St. Brides Castle just for Bondholders throughout the year. This utilises the rich environment of the extensive Castle gardens, woodland and nearby beach and cliffs.

Other venues include Skomer Island (Wednesdays, April to October), a truly world class destination famous for its close encounters with puffins and seal pups. Workshop participants have pre-booked, guaranteed places on the first ferry crossing of the day and privileged use of the library in the Warden’s House to review images on a computer.

For those who fancy a unique underwater wildlife encounter, Andy leads small groups on photographic snorkelling workshops to explore the Skomer Marine Nature Reserve, one of only three in the whole of the UK. From May through to the end of July, the highlight of the excursion is capturing puffins, razorbills and guillemots (photographically, of course) whilst they elegantly “fly” underwater.

Continuing on the seabird theme, Andy runs evening boat trips on Thursdays and Sundays from May to September to Grassholm Island, an RSPB National Nature Reserve. Situated 11 km due west of Skomer Island, Grassholm is home to more than 78,000 breeding gannets and, once in the vicinity of the island, fish are thrown from the boat to see plunge-diving gannets at close quarters. The return journey is timed to coincide with witnessing the tens of thousands of shearwaters that congregate at sea before they return to their burrows on Skomer and Skokholm Islands under the cover of darkness. Common dolphins are likely to be encountered and possibly whales.

One of Andy’s favourite locations is the National Trust’s Stackpole National Nature Reserve where workshops are held all year round. This is an exceptionally diverse wildlife location offering one of the best chances to photograph a resident family of otters in the UK. The Bosherston ponds are at their best when the lilies are in flower from the end of May. Other subjects of interest are herons, mute swans, damselflies, dragonflies and butterflies.

On a different tack, Andy also runs workshops in seafood foraging. What can be more evocative than reliving childhood memories of exploring rock pools and peering under boulders searching for weird and wonderful creatures? This interest stems from spending every holiday in a caravan within walking distance of the fabulous limestone reef of the south Gower coast.

From the age of five, he was taken under the wing of “Big Andy” who took him crabbing with a hook in the myriad of crevices exposed at low tide. At 11, he was given his first fishing rod and spent many balmy summer evenings catching mackerel on the spring tides.

A prawning net was soon added to his foraging tools and he was captivated by all the other creatures he caught in it from baby conger eels to bizarre looking scorpion fish. He has spent the past 36 years passionately collecting all kinds of edible marine life.

His favourite is spider crab which he catches by free-diving with a wetsuit, fins, snorkel and mask. His love of cooking came from his Chinese-Malaysian friend whose family descend from the Nyonya people of the Straits of Malacca, famous for dishes such as fish-head curry.

During the workshop, a wide variety of tasty plants and animals can be discovered at low tide around the picturesque harbour and beach at Solva. Depending on sea conditions, a boat trip provides the opportunity to catch mackerel and haul a lobster pot.

The latter part of the morning is taken up with food preparation and cooking at Café 35 – very much hands-on with plenty of opportunity to learn new skills and discuss mouth-watering ideas.

“Eat the fruits of your labours for lunch!”