A top judge is hanging up his wig in Bermuda for a step up the legal ladder in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Puisne Judge Richard Ground -- a fixture in Supreme Court for six years -- is set to move out and up to the Chief Justice's job in the Caribbean British Overseas Territory at the end of the month.

And the skilled amateur wildlife photographer is keen to focus in on his new responsibilities -- although he admitted he will miss Bermuda and Hamilton.

Mr. Justice Ground said: "What I'll miss is the sense of being in a city which has been there for 200 years.

"There are well-established buildings and the patina history gives a place.

"The shops and the businesses altogether in one place makes it almost like it's an English market town which you don't get in the Caribbean.

"There, shopping is all in malls and you don't really walk anywhere because it's too hot.'' But -- in a paradox right out of a complex legal argument -- Mr. Justice Ground cited the built-up nature of Bermuda as one of the reasons for wanting to leave.

The nature lover said: "I'll also be glad to get back to a place which is more open and less developed. I rather hanker after a place with more open space.'' But he added: "I've enjoyed it here very much indeed. It's a very congenial place to live and there has been much to do and the work has been very challenging.'' And -- in line with the image of the stern Hanging Judge Jeffries stereotype of the English bench -- Mr. Justice Ground insists he cannot recall any funny moments from his time in Bermuda.

He said: "Being a judge is not particularly funny or amusing -- it's a serious business.'' And he said the business of the law in Bermuda was taken also taken seriously by on-Island briefs and those from overseas -- with a correspondingly high degree of professionalism.

But he singled out the billion dollar EMLICO case, over whether a giant captive insurance company declared insolvent should have been allowed to shift its legal base to Bermuda just months before the insolvency application was made to Supreme Court, and the marathon Bank of Bermuda fraud trial involving Arnold Todd and others as likely to stick in his memory for "length and complexity.'' Mr. Justice Ground -- who has dealt mostly with commercial and civil cases -- said the number of star silks, including members of the select London 1 million a year set, had pleaded cases in Bermuda.

He added: "A lot of the work grows out of the insurance and reinsurance companies and it's often international.

"There are very difficult points of law which have not been decided anywhere else and that what judges like -- to break new ground in intellectually difficult areas of the law.'' But -- despite a globe-trotting career including stints in the Cayman Islands in roles like Senior Crown Counsel and ultimately Attorney General -- Mr.

Justice Ground said he originally did not intend to spend a long time away from his London chambers.

He said, however: "I would like to be Chief Justice somewhere, so it's a step forward. It's a chance to run my own system, to make it work and implement my own ideas.

"I also don't like to stay too long in one place. A chance to go somewhere else is invigorating.

"And the Turks is a coming place -- it's a place where tourism is just taking off and it's starting to build up an offshore financial business, so it's a place I can make a contribution.

"It's a place where you can really make a mark, at least a place where I hope I can make a mark.'' Mr. Justice Ground, 48, graduated from Oxford University in English Language and Literature before opting for a career in the law.

He said most of his fellow graduates ended up in journalism or advertising.

But he said an embarrassing episode while working on Oxford University's student magazine ISIS warned him off the press -- and might even have ended him up on the wrong side of the law.

The young newshound was dispatched to cover a story of stolen ladies underwear at one of the women's colleges.

He said: "I tracked down the woman involved and knocked on what I thought was her door.

"She answered and I said `I've come to ask you about your underwear' -- but I'd got the wrong door and the wrong woman. After that, I didn't fancy a career being mortified.'' But he still manages to be a real Renaissance man -- among his list of legal publications is a book of photographs of wildlife in the Caymans, while his hobbies include an interest in Renaissance and mediaeval coins.

And he will leave behind a permanent photographic reminder of his time in Bermuda -- photographs taken here will be used in a Bermuda Aquarium biodiversity project and published in a special book.

Mr. Justice Ground said that -- in line with the old old legal saw that the devil is in the detail -- his photographic skills were improved while in Bermuda.

He explained: "It's easy to take photographs of birds because they're big -- but Bermuda has given me an eye for small things like whistling frogs.

"There's a whole micro-menagerie of beasties out there, which is fascinating.'' Judge Richard Ground