Strategy report · Updated Jul 12, 2026
What's working for @adamthomasphotography on Instagram.
Adam Thomas | Wildlife Photographer
25.6K followers · 98 posts
“Puffin Paparazzi 📸 North Wales, UK Sony Creator @sonyalpha @shimodadesign - “THOMAS10””
Engagement rate
79.27%
Per post, last 90 days
Posts per week
0.9
Niche avg 3.0
Average likes
20.2K
140 avg comments
Post mix
Last 90 days · 98 posts indexed
01
Top-performing posts
The three posts pulling the most engagement in the last 90 days.
reel 1688.33% engagedCan I get a hoya? Red deer style. 🦌 Unfortunately when recording footage of the red deer at @tattonpark on the weekend I forgot to plug in my microphone, so I thought this might suffice!
reel 561.04% engagedEveryone deserves to see this! Atlantic puffins on Skomer Island.
reel 30.10% engagedOh good morning! 🌅 A puffin makes an early morning appearance from his burrow. 📍Skomer Island
02
Content pillars
AI-clustered themes the account posts about, with example posts pulled live from Instagram.
03
Posting rhythm
Cadence and timing patterns over the last 12 weeks.
0.9 posts/week
Niche benchmark · 3.0/week
Best days
Saturday · Sunday · Friday
Best hours
6-9am · 7-9pm
04
Signature hooks
Caption patterns the account reuses across high-performing posts.
Right when I was about to [leave/give up], [rare thing] happened.
Used 4×
Right when I was about to leave, it appeared. A Short-eared Owl rising from the grass and hunting through the final light of the day.
Just as I was about to pack up and head home, one lifted silently from the grass.
You wait for hours for a moment like this… and it happens when you're about to walk away.
Things nobody tells you about [place/experience].
Used 2×
Things nobody tells you about visiting Skomer Island... I wish someone had told me these before my first trip.
I've bought into the hype before. Gear that looks great in promos, then annoys you the second you actually have to rely on it.
Everyone deserves to see [subject/moment].
Used 2×
Everyone deserves to see this! Atlantic puffins on Skomer Island.
Oh good morning! A puffin makes an early morning appearance from his burrow.
The difference [time period] makes is unreal.
Used 3×
Finally managed to get back out this weekend, and the difference a few weeks makes is unreal.
I'm back in the Dingle and it's a completely different world. Bluebells have taken over the forest floor.
The woodland feels completely different now. Bluebells covering the forest floor, soft spring light filtering through the trees.
This is why [practice/patience/effort] matters.
Used 3×
This is why patience matters.
Some days wildlife photography rewards patience.
Getting back to why I picked up a camera.
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Strategy summary
What's working, what to fix, and what to ship next.
TL;DR
This account has a rare and proven viral engine. Post 16 reached 430k likes and post 6 reached 143k likes, both simple reels built around a single compelling animal moment with almost no production complexity. That is the strongest lever here. The problem is the account is not feeding that engine consistently. At 0.9 posts per week against a healthy benchmark of 3, the feed goes quiet for weeks at a time, letting algorithmic momentum bleed out between spikes.
The seasonal carousel content around puffins, red deer, and red squirrels performs solidly in the 250 to 5,000 like range and drives meaningful comment depth, particularly posts 23, 27, and 9. The "patience rewarded" hook pattern appears in at least four posts and reliably generates engagement by framing an ordinary outing as a near-miss story. The location guide format, seen in post 12, sits on top of an underused save-and-share mechanic that could be replicated across every major location the account visits.
The biggest structural leak is cadence. A second leak is the gap between viral reels and the feed content that follows them. Post 6 brought a massive audience, and the next post was a low-engagement carousel 24 days later. New followers arrived to a quiet account and likely churned.
Working
5- Single-animal reels with no narration and a strong visual payoff drive outsized reach, as posts 6 and 16 prove.
- The patience-rewarded story hook, used in posts 9, 11, and 20, consistently lifts comment counts above account average.
- Seasonal series like the red deer rut and red squirrel content build returning audiences who expect the next chapter.
- Personal vulnerability posts like post 26 generate the highest comment-to-like ratios, signalling strong trust with core followers.
- Location tip reels like post 12 attract saves from trip-planning audiences, extending reach beyond existing followers.
Risks
5- Cadence is the biggest leak. 0.9 posts per week means viral spikes have no follow-up content to capture and convert new followers.
- Post 6 brought 143k likes but the next post came 24 days later. Build a content buffer before high-traffic location trips.
- Gear content (post 1) underperforms relative to wildlife content. Keep it rare and always anchor it to a field story.
- Post 3 has zero comments, suggesting some carousel posts are published without a strong enough hook in the first caption line.
- Early morning timestamps appear on high-performing posts like post 5. Midday posts in the dataset tend to underperform.
Ship next
5- Raise cadence to 3 posts per week immediately by batching content from each location trip into at least 3 separate posts.
- After every viral reel, publish a follow-up carousel within 48 hours to capture the influx of new profile visitors.
- Build one new named series, similar to Meet the Reds, around puffins or owls to anchor a repeating content strand.
- Add a save prompt to every location guide and tip reel, as post 12 already earns this format organically.
- Test publishing wildlife reels between 6am and 9am on Saturdays to align with the early-morning engagement pattern seen in post 5.
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