Author Archives: Gordon Yates

There have not been many years when I have had the pleasure of filming three different pairs of Long Eared Owls. While the Spring weather, in general, has been awful one of those pairs did manage to rear five young with their success more dependant on the availability of voles rather than the weather.

Now is the time during your walks in the Pennine forests to listen out for a sound that you will only ever hear at this time of year. It is the hunger calls of recently fledged Long Eared Owls and resembles that of a creaking gate. I have spent most of early summer filming in these forests , so this week we will concentrate on the young owls and next week the adults.

I had already checked out this superb Kestrel nest-site earlier in Spring and as no Kestrels were seen I presumed that it was not being used this year. It was, therefore, a pleasant surprise to see five young ready to fledge when I passed by the other day. Unfortunately, when I returned to film the day after two of the young had already flown and only one feed by the male occurred before the other three went – for once a good result story.

It is a sad reflection on our recent visit to Islay when the best weather we had was on the sail back to the mainland! It was sublime – but what was on show was even better – thousands of Manx Shearwaters and Gannets,
2 Minke Whales, 2 Great Northern Divers, 1 Black Throated Diver and even an Otter showed for us! Some of Islay’s other wildlife is in this weeks gallery.

Any visitor to Islay in summer is bound to be impressed by the number of sightings of Hen Harriers.The prolonged cold, wet weather with northerly winds has produced the latest breeding season in the last fifty years. Most of the females were still incubating eggs and I even watched a male sky-dancing. The result of this is that virtually all Harrier sightings were of hunting males. Sadly the other effects of the cold and wet weather were numerous nest failures of not only Harriers but also Eagles throughout Scotland
– another climate – change disaster!!

Not only is the Sound of Islay a good place for Otters it is brilliant for Black Guillemots. Last week we came across three places that were home for a dozen pairs, at least, of these birds. As they are the latest sea bird to start breeding there was plenty of activities to watch and film.