THE Bude branch of Cornwall Wildlife Trust welcomed Adrian Langdon, who gave a brilliant talk on his many visits to these two great National Parks in a motor home with his wife Linda.

Adrian is a well known naturalist and award winning photographer and this was self evident in the many photos he showed of not only wildlife but also the magnificent scenery, which acts as a back drop to the birds and animals he has photographed.

Adrian likes to immerse himself in the outdoor life 24/7 and has had many instances of setting up camp for a couple of days and having elk wander up to the motor home, he feels that sometimes just sitting quietly and allowing nature to come to him can give him some of his best shots.

Spring is the best time to go if you are a keen birder and the group was lucky that Adrian had combined photos from spring and autumn so they had a full range of all the wildlife that can be seen at both ends of the year.

Yellow headed blackbirds, grackles, golden and bald eagles were just a few of the many superb bird pictures they were shown along with rutting elks in the autumn.

Bison are one of the most dangerous animals as, despite their size, they are very fast and powerful but Adrian had some beautiful shots of these enormous beasts with their young. They saw bears both black and grizzly, yellow bellied marmots, mule deer and pronghorn antelopes. There were too many photos to mention but throughout the talk Adrian’s humour, knowledge and enthusiasm held the audience enthralled.

The next meeting will be on Monday, February 19 at 7.30pm at Stratton Primary School when Nick Dixon will be talking on The Peregrine Falcons of St Michael’s Church, Exeter.

In view of the high profile plastic pollution currently has and in order to reduce their carbon footprint the Bude group has changed to compostable cups for the after meeting refreshments.