Ben Locke

There are certain families of animal that I’ll always make an extra effort to see. As far as mammals are concerned, all of them hold my interest, but there are a few families in particular that interest me, and cats … Read more

The Blue Whale is the sort of creature that captures the imagination of every child. I remember having a book when I was young that illustrated the size of a Blue Whale with a diagram of ascending larger things… man, … Read more

I already have an ‘in search of…’ page dedicated to nightjars and their allies, so it would have made sense to include this as an addendum to that page. The Pennant-winged Nightjar, however, deserves a page of its own. If … Read more

There were many different species that I planned to see in South Africa. Seeing some of them was virtually a certainty without even trying. Some required a bit of research, and one in particular required determination and a lot of … Read more

The Scottish Wildcat is clinging on to existence. Current estimates vary but suggest there are as few as 35-400 pure individuals left, making it quite possibly the rarest mammal on the planet. Like many other species, they are prone to … Read more

The concept of having a ‘favourite bird’ is a strange one, but if pushed, I would have to say that the Nightjar, or any number of its allies around the world, is mine. We only have the one species of … Read more

Wild Boar were once widespread throughout the country, but became extinct in the wild some time during the 13th century. Hunting was responsible for their eventual demise. In more recent years, Wild Boar were increasingly imported from European stock to … Read more

During a trip to the west coast of Scotland and its islands, I planned to try to see Basking Sharks. After the Whale Shark, the Basking Shark is the world’s second largest fish. Colossal but gentle giants that grace our … Read more

The Capercaillie is always amongst the most wished for bird for anyone heading north to see the Scottish specialities. Most of those species can be quickly and easily ticked off – Crested Tits, Osprey, White-tailed Eagle, Golden Eagle, Twite, Ptarmigan, … Read more