Highlight of the year - walruses

Actic shorts - walrus 'wallying' from Bill Ritchie on Vimeo.

My next novel, the one I'm currently working on, is set 2300 years ago when the Atlantic walrus was much more widespread, not only restricted to Spitzbergen and Greenland. The ivory from their tusks was a highly valued material and traded around Europe. Hunting them then must have been extremely dangerous.

I wanted to meet some in the flesh, smell them and know them in the wild. During our Arctic adventure in June we got lucky. Sitting on a beach with this bunch of lazy males was definitely one of my favourite moments of this year.