My 5 favourite photographs: Number 1

A juvenile golden eagle learning to fly

After I graduated for the first time in summer 2006, I got a job as a guide on a wildlife tour boat in the Firth of Lorn on the west coast of Scotland which I absolutely loved. That part of the world is amazing for wildlife, and is a great place to see dolphins, whales, wild goats, deer, seabirds and of course, eagles.

The summer I worked there, we were lucky enough to have found a pair of nesting golden eagles which we could visit without causing them any disturbance. So we got to see this eagle family almost every day over about three months, and watch their chick grow from a tiny fluffy hatchling into a into a demanding young eaglet which was really cool. By the end of the summer, the chick was doing pretty well, and was providing us with a near-constant source of amusement as it learned how to bird! I took this photograph with my boss's camera right before I left the job at the end of the season, and shows the eaglet attempting to land on the clifftop after a short (and not-very-graceful) test flight. The photo is hardly a masterpiece, but for me, it's a reminder of one of the best wildlife experiences I've had in Scotland in a place I absolutely love.

Shortly after, I decided to buy my first DSLR camera and I've been photographing ever since...