On The Post
After last weeks sunshine on Islay it was back to normal at home with more rain and a cold North East wind. I came across a pair of Oyster Catchers that had finally laid their eggs in a shallow depression on the top of a post. It was no chance finding as ten years ago, […]
Sixty Hours Of Sun
After last year’s poor weather on Islay we have just had a week on the island that produced well in excess of sixty hours of sunshine. It was like the Islay of old with spectacular sunrises and sunsets and the only rain falling during the night when we were asleep. April on Islay is a […]
Garden Excels
This week’s photo is of the male Brambling that fed for one day only last week. The snow fall stopped him migrating back to Lapland but it couldn’t stop his plumage coming to its Summer best when he will have an all black head. The only birds missing from the garden this Winter have been […]
Winter Returns
After last week’s heatwave it is typical that Winter should return with a vengeance and one inch of snow covered the garden on the fourth. As a result of the harsh weather we had a superb male Brambling visiting the garden on that day and the following day a female Brambling. (photo next week). It […]
Earliest Swallow
On the 22nd March whilst driving down the M6 at Preston a Swallow flew across the road in front of my car. It was the earliest Swallow I have ever recorded by at least a week and heralded the arrival of a fantastic week of Summer weather with temperatures of over 20°C each day. There […]
Winter’s Best
This Winter has not been the best for numbers of birds so I couldn’t resist the temptation to include two of my favourite photos I took of a Hawfinch. I waited a lifetime to capture on film this elusive bird and I have some amazing clips of the Hawfinch breaking open Hornbeam fruit with its […]
Ptarmigan Surprise
A five day non birding visit to Speyside somehow produced the Ptarmigan photo. We had decided to walk up to the restaurant at the top of Cairngorm mountain taking our two Golden Retrievers with us. Unfortunately half way up the climb we took the wrong path, making the climb much longer than it should have […]
Redpolls Galore
During the week I paid a return visit to a friend’s garden near Huddersfield in an attempt to film the Redpolls that he was feeding. Four niger seed feeders were attracting up to fifty Redpolls including the superb male shown in the photo. Unfortunately they hardly ever perched away from the feeders to provide the […]
Breeding Season Commences
In fifty four years of recording breeding seasons this year has produced, on 1st March, the second earliest Long Tailed Tit’s nest. (the record is 24th February 1999). On 2nd March in the Rossendale valley another pair of Long Tailed Tits had just started their nest in a hedgerow holly. Nearby there was a small […]
Round In Circles
Another week on Islay and only four hours of sunshine. The Glaucous Gull was taken through the video camera where I do not require sunlight – perhaps as well! One of the attractions of Islay, apart from the qeese, are the Chough and it is of course the Scottish stronghold for this species. During the […]