Seabirds

Seabirds are not just subjects in Rachel Bigsby’s photography, they are its soul.

Guided by an indescribable connection to their lives at the edge of sea and sky, Rachel captures their world with honesty, reverence, and bold creative intent. Her award-winning portfolio is a celebration of natural artistry: intimate, inventive, and profoundly evocative.

Blending ethereal minimalism with dynamic energy, her images challenge the boundaries of traditional wildlife photography favouring patience over spectacle, and instinct over imitation. Rachel’s style is unmistakably her own, inviting us not only to see seabirds, but to feel them.

Two Northern Gannets court on a narrow sandstone ledge near the base of the towering cliffs of Noss, Shetland. Their necks intertwine gracefully, forming a symmetrical shape against a dark hollow in the rock. The surrounding sandstone is streaked with white guano, creating natural curves that frame the birds. The scene is captured from a small boat below, timed precisely during a moment of alignment in the choppy sea swell.

Badgers

Though widely recognised for her seabird work, Rachel Bigsby is one of the UK’s leading Badger photographers, a title earned through years of quiet devotion and powerful storytelling.

Through fresh spring greens, carpets of ancient bluebells and the golden hush of high summer, Rachel Bigsby has returned, again and again, to the same quiet corner of the British countryside. Beneath the roots of timeworn trees, among tangled bracken and dappled light, a Badger clan stirs. They are creatures of myth and shadow, often spoken of, seldom seen. But to Rachel, they are neighbours, familiar, trusted, revered. For over six years, she has followed their rhythms. Waited through dusk’s slow descent. Sat still beneath birdsong and rain. Learned their paths not through maps, but memory. And in return, they have let her in. Her images are the quiet rewards of that trust, moments of emergence, of play, of pause, bathed in the tones of an English summer: vibrant green, dusty gold, the soft silver of twilight fur.

As an ambassador for Badger Trust, Rachel’s work extends beyond the lens. She is a voice for the species, raising awareness, educating, and actively campaigning for their protection. In 2022, she shared the magic of her Badger clan with the world through Sir David Attenborough’s 'Wild Isles' series, her footage offering a rare window into their lives. Her imagery continues to reach millions via the BBC’s The One Show and the front covers of RSPB, Badger Trust, and Countryfile calendars. More than a portfolio, this is a deeply personal chapter of Rachel’s practice, an enduring commitment to the wild, and to the quiet beauty that can only be seen by those willing to wait.

Polar Wildlife

In the stillness of the ice, where the wind speaks in whispers and light paints the snow in silence, Rachel Bigsby turns her lens to the polar regions. Here, at the edge of the world, she meets some of nature’s most powerful and vulnerable icons. Her images are intimate, sculptural, and reverent. Through each frame, she offers a quiet counterpoint to the cliché, revealing softness in strength, and fragility in power. This body of work continues Rachel’s signature approach: patient, poetic, and precise.