Show Navigation

Duncan Murrell - A Whale of a Time

  • Portfolio
  • About
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Testimonials
  • Facebook
  • Archive
    • All Galleries
    • Search
    • Cart
    • Lightbox
    • Client Area

Duncan Murrell - A Whale of a Time

Search Results

267 images

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
x
Refine Search
Match all words
Match any word
Prints
Personal Use
Royalty-Free
Rights-Managed
(leave unchecked to
search all images)
Next

Loading ()...

  • Chicken of the Woods or sulfur shelf (Laetiporus sulphureus) shelf fungus growing on decaying tree in temperate rain forest, Southeast Alaska, USA.Striking even from a distance, this mushroom usually grows in large clusters of overlapping bright orange and yellow shelves on conifers. Shelves can exceed 12 inches in width, and a cluster can extend over several feet. When fresh, the fruitbodies are soft and somewhat fleshy to fibrous, but later they become tougher, and, eventually, fade and become soft and crumbly. Shelf margins are rounded and plump when young, becoming wavy and lobed with age. The pores are bright yellow when fresh and fade in age. Considered choice by many, but usually only the soft young outer portions of the shelf are worth eating.<br />
This fungi was one of my regular wild foods that I foraged for to supplement the food I carried with me. It was also one of my favourites because it is so tasty and versatile for cooking. As a lifelong vegetarian it was like a meat substitute for me because it has a meaty texture like chicken, and a similar flavour. It's difficult to overcook and it absorbs flavours; I particularly enjoyed cooking it in pasta sauces with plenty of herbs. It is an ideal wild food for many reasons, including that it's bright orange colour makes it easy to locate in the forest and it has low perishability so I could carry it with me inside my kayak with my other less-perishable vegetables. The other fungus I commonly foraged for was Pacific Golden Chanterelle (Cantharellus formosus), but that is much more perishable.
    Alaska-chicken-of-the-woods1.jpg
  • This photo clearly illustrates the contrasting morphology of different plants that are adapted to surviving in a harsh of arid environment like the Baja Peninsula; the thick, waxy, prickly epidermis of the cactus contrasting with the amber peeling bark of the torote Colorado tree ( F.Burseracea – Bursera microphylla ).
    Kayaking- Gulf-of-California19.jpg
  • With such sparse vegetation and the exposed geology, the sense of perspective, space and geological time is greatly enhanced. In the foreground is an elephant tree, one of the many plants perfectly adapted to surviving the extremely arid conditions prevalent in Baja. Standing water was virtually non-existent when I was there but the eroded streambeds created by the brief seasonal flash flooding were clearly evident.
    Kayaking- Gulf-of-California6.jpg
  • With such sparse vegetation and the exposed geology, the sense of perspective, space and geological time is greatly enhanced. In the foreground is an elephant tree, one of the many plants perfectly adapted to surviving the extremely arid conditions prevalent in Baja. Standing water was virtually non-existent when I was there but the eroded streambeds created by the brief seasonal flash flooding were clearly evident.
    Kayaking- Gulf-of-California5.jpg
  • Exposed buttress roots of a tree in brackish flooded area next to the Iwahig River, with my kayak and Filipina partner in the background.
    Palawan-assorted3.tif
  • The effort to climb to the highest vantage points on the islands was well worth it for the stupendous views along the stark, dramatic coastline of the Baja Peninsula, although I quickly discovered how much caution was necessary to avoid being impaled or lacerated by the prickly vegetation. As a keen amateur botanists I was fascinated by the succulent and scrubby vegetation, so perfectly adapted to such an extreme environment with so little rainfall and almost constant desiccating saline sea breezes. There is a organ pipe cactus in the foreground and the amber flaking bark of a torote Colorado tree { F. Burseracea - Bursera microphylla ) can also be seen.
    Kayaking- Gulf-of-California10.jpg
  • Madagascar day gecko  (Phelsuma madagascariensis madagascariensis) is a diurnal subspecies of geckos. It lives on the eastern coast of Madagascar and typically inhabits rainforests and dwells on trees. The Madagascar day gecko feeds on insects and nectar. This lizard is one of the largest living day geckos. It can reach a total length of about 22 cm (8.7 in). The body color is light green or bluish green. The skin between the scales often has a light color. A rust-coloured stripe extends from the nostril to behind the eye. On the back there are brownish or red-brick coloured dots which may form a thin line along the mid back. These geckos do not have eyelids, and they have flattened toe pads.
    Kayaking-Madagascar-reptiles7.jpg
  • Madagascar day gecko  (Phelsuma madagascariensis madagascariensis) is a diurnal subspecies of geckos. It lives on the eastern coast of Madagascar and typically inhabits rainforests and dwells on trees. The Madagascar day gecko feeds on insects and nectar. This lizard is one of the largest living day geckos. It can reach a total length of about 22 cm (8.7 in). The body color is light green or bluish green. The skin between the scales often has a light color. A rust-coloured stripe extends from the nostril to behind the eye. On the back there are brownish or red-brick coloured dots which may form a thin line along the mid back. These geckos do not have eyelids, and they have flattened toe pads.
    Kayaking-Madagascar-reptiles6.jpg
  • Madagascar day gecko  (Phelsuma madagascariensis madagascariensis) is a diurnal subspecies of geckos. It lives on the eastern coast of Madagascar and typically inhabits rainforests and dwells on trees. The Madagascar day gecko feeds on insects and nectar. This lizard is one of the largest living day geckos. It can reach a total length of about 22 cm (8.7 in). The body color is light green or bluish green. The skin between the scales often has a light color. A rust-coloured stripe extends from the nostril to behind the eye. On the back there are brownish or red-brick coloured dots which may form a thin line along the mid back. These geckos do not have eyelids, and they have flattened toe pads.
    Kayaking-Madagascar-reptiles5.jpg
  • Palawan-underground-river27.tif
  • Palawan-underground-river24.tif
  • Palawan-underground-river25.tif
  • Palawan-underground-river26.tif
  • Puerto-Princesa-festivals17.tif
  • Puerto-Princesa-festivals16.tif
  • kayaking-Madagascar-frogs44.jpg
  • kayaking-Madagascar-frogs45.jpg
  • Alaska-vegetation30.jpg
  • Puerto-Princesa-festivals15.tif
  • kayaking-Madagascar-frogs20.jpg
  • kayaking-Madagascar-frogs15.jpg
  • Alaska-vegetation29.jpg
  • Tagbanua-Batak-22.tif
  • Palawan-reptiles-amphibians11.tif
  • Philippines-children18.tif
  • Palawan-underground-river15.tif
  • Kayaking- Gulf-of-California77.jpg
  • Kayaking- Gulf-of-California100.jpg
  • kayaking-Madagascar-frogs43.jpg
  • kayaking-Madagascar-frogs46.jpg
  • kayaking-Madagascar-frogs16.jpg
  • kayaking-Madagascar-frogs33.jpg
  • kayaking-Madagascar-frogs42.jpg
  • Myanmar-Burma-train-travelMyanmar-tr...jpg
  • Myanmar-Burma-train-travelMyanmar-tr...jpg
  • Myanmar-Burma-train-travelMyanmar-tr...jpg
  • Myanmar-Burma-agriculture7.jpg
  • Borneo-Gunung-Mulu-rainforest11.jpg
  • Borneo-Gunung-Mulu-rainforest8.jpg
  • Mt.Kinabalo-frog-3.jpg
  • Danum-Valley-spider-5.jpg
  • Borneo-Danum-Valley5.jpg
  • Danum-Valley-millipede.jpg
  • MtKinabalo-7.tif
  • MtKinabalo-3.tif
  • Borneo-Gunung-Mulu-frog3.tif
  • Borneo-Gunung-Mulu-rainforest3.tif
  • Borneo-Danum-Valley10.tif
  • Borneo-Danum-Valley12.tif
  • Palawan-assorted1.tif
  • Palawan-underground-river9.tif
  • Palawan-underground-river14.tif
  • Palawan-underground-river13.tif
  • Palawan-underground-river44.tif
  • Kayaking-Madagascar-vegetation7.jpg
  • After spending so much time under the full glare of the sun under permanently cloudy skies I became very brown. Fortunately my skin tans very quickly. When I was a young boy spending nearly every day at the beach during the summer holidays I became so dark that people were asking my parents if they had adopted me from India. Isla Monserrat and Isla Catalina were the farthest offshore islands that I paddled out to.
    Kayaking- Gulf-of-California79.jpg
  • Kayaking-Madagascar-reptiles9.jpg
  • kayaking-Madagascar-frogs19.jpg
  • kayaking-Madagascar-frogs21.jpg
  • kayaking-Madagascar-frogs14.jpg
  • kayaking-Madagascar-frogs38.jpg
  • Myanmar-Burma-Buddhism35.jpg
  • Borneo-Gunung-Mulu-rainforest12.jpg
  • Borneo-Gunung-Mulu-rainforest9.jpg
  • Danum-Valley-centipede.jpg
  • Mt.Kinabalo-frog-9.jpg
  • Mt.Kinabalo-frog-2.jpg
  • Danum-Valley-snail.jpg
  • kayaking-Madagascar-frogs40.jpg
  • kayaking-Madagascar-frogs41.jpg
  • MtKinabalo-4.tif
  • Borneo-Gunung-Mulu-frog2.tif
  • Borneo-Gunung-Mulu-frog5.tif
  • Palawan-assorted5.tif
  • Palawan-underground-river10.tif
  • Palawan-underground-river16.tif
  • The Palawan water monitor, Varanus palawanensis, is a monitor lizard endemic to the Philippines. It has enough differences to be considered a distinct species from the closely related water monitor, marbled water monitor, and Varanus rasmusseni. V. palawanensis belongs to the subgenus Soterosaurus with these other species.
    Palawan-underground-river22.tif
  • Kayaking- Gulf-of-California99.jpg
  • Kayaking-Madagascar-vegetation17.jpg
  • Kayaking-Madagascar-reptiles8.jpg
  • kayaking-Madagascar-frogs39.jpg
  • kayaking-Madagascar-frogs32.jpg
  • kayaking-Madagascar-frogs37.jpg
  • Striking even from a distance, this mushroom usually grows in large clusters of overlapping bright orange and yellow shelves on conifers. Shelves can exceed 12 inches in width, and a cluster can extend over several feet. When fresh, the fruitbodies are soft and somewhat fleshy to fibrous, but later they become tougher, and, eventually, fade and become soft and crumbly. Shelf margins are rounded and plump when young, becoming wavy and lobed with age. The pores are bright yellow when fresh and fade in age. Considered choice by many, but usually only the soft young outer portions of the shelf are worth eating.<br />
This fungi was one of my regular wild foods that I foraged for to supplement the food I carried with me. It was also one of my favourites because it is so tasty and versatile for cooking. As a lifelong vegetarian it was like a meat substitute for me because it has a meaty texture like chicken, and a similar flavour. It's difficult to overcook and it absorbs flavours; I particularly enjoyed cooking it in pasta sauces with plenty of herbs. It is an ideal wild food for many reasons, including that it's bright orange colour makes it easy to locate in the forest and it has low perishability so I could carry it with me inside my kayak with my other less-perishable vegetables. The other fungus I commonly foraged for was Pacific Golden Chanterelle (Cantharellus formosus), but that is much more perishable.
    Alaska-chicken-of-the-woods2.jpg
  • If I wasn’t kayaking at sea looking for humpback whales then the Stikine River was one of my favourite place to be. What an amazing, breathtaking river that is, which provides a valuable natural highway for wild animals from the interior and opens out onto a spectacular river delta. When I remember Alaska, it is somewhere that I always return to in my dreams, to feel the vastness of open vistas that Alaska provides.<br />
The Stikine River is a river, historically also the Stickeen River, approximately 610 km (379 mi) long,[1] in northwestern British Columbia in Canada and in southeast Alaska in the United States. Considered one of the last truly wild major rivers in British Columbia, it drains a rugged, largely pristine, area east of the Coast Mountains, cutting a fast-flowing course through the mountains in deep glacier-lined gorges to empty into Eastern Passage, just north of the city of Wrangell, which is situated at the north end of Wrangell Island in the Alexander Archipelago.
    Alaska-trees-waterfall1.jpg
  • Myanmar-Burma-Buddhism42.jpg
  • Myanmar-Burma-agriculture38.jpg
  • Palawan-underground-river41.jpg
  • MtKinabalo-15.tif
  • Borneo-Gunung-Mulu-rainforest1.tif
  • Borneo-Danum-Valley6.tif
  • DanumValley-15.tif
  • DanumValley-12.tif
  • Borneo-Danum-Valley11.tif
  • Borneo-Danum-Valley-frog6.tif
  • Kayaking-Madagascar-vegetation8.jpg
  • kayaking-Madagascar-frogs49.jpg
  • kayaking-Madagascar-frogs35.jpg
  • kayaking-Madagascar-frogs8.jpg
  • Borneo-Gunung-Mulu-frog4.tif
Next