MarineCreatures Video Archive

Over more than 30 years working as a marine biologist and marine ecologist, I have been fortunate enough to spend time in some extraordinary places and encounter animals and environments that I could once only have imagined seeing.

From sea turtles nesting on tropical beaches and hatchlings making their first run towards the ocean, to sharks, rays, dolphins, dugongs, manatees and jellyfish underwater, much of my career has been spent watching animals in their own environments and trying to understand the world they live in.

These videos are part of that journey.

They come from fieldwork, research, expeditions, conservation projects, diving trips, education, filming and simply being in the right place at the right time. They span places including Dominica, Belize, Egypt, the Southern Philippines, South Africa, Ireland, Scotland, England and many other parts of the world where my work has taken me.

Some of the footage is recent. Some of it goes back many years. Some of it is polished and some of it is, frankly, a bit rough around the edges. There are old cameras, shaky shots, wind, waves, poor visibility and moments when the animal did exactly what it wanted rather than what would have made a better film.

But that is the reality of working with wildlife.

Sometimes you have only a few seconds to observe what is happening, grab the camera and record it. Sometimes the best encounter happens when you are wet, cold, exhausted, underwater, standing on a beach at night or miles from anywhere. And sometimes you simply miss the shot.

I have learnt a huge amount from these encounters. Not just facts about individual species, but lessons about behaviour, survival, habitats, human impacts and the remarkable resilience of marine life. I have also learnt that the more time you spend watching an animal in its natural environment, the more you realise how much there still is to understand.

The videos here are therefore not intended to be a replacement for scientific papers, professional wildlife documentaries or carefully produced television programmes. They are something different.

They are a personal record of things I have seen, places I have visited, animals I have encountered and experiences I have been lucky enough to have.

Some were recorded during scientific or conservation work. Others were captured simply because something extraordinary happened in front of me.

I have put them together because I want to share those experiences.

I hope they give you a glimpse of what it is like to encounter marine wildlife in the real world — sometimes close up, sometimes unexpectedly and sometimes under conditions that are far from perfect.

Most importantly, I hope they make you curious.

Curious enough to look more closely at the sea.

Curious enough to learn more about the animals living in it.

And perhaps curious enough to go out and explore some of these places and environments for yourself.

You don't need to be a marine biologist to become fascinated by the ocean. You just need to stop, look and pay attention.