Anglesey Day Out
In the years 1955 to 1959, during the Bury July Wakes week, I would find myself on holiday on Anglesey. These were halcyon days when the sun always shined and I don’t remember any rain! It was good, therefore, during our stay at Rivercatcher last week that we should have a day out on Anglesey. […]
Deeside Spring
We have just returned from a week at Rivercatcher on the river Dee in Wales following one of the driest Aprils ever recorded. Water levels were extremely low so I concentrated on filming the local birds coming to drink. One unusual sighting was of a male Grey Wagtail high in a Sycamore tree eating aphids […]
Garden Bonanza
The sunny weather and frosty mornings of the last few weeks has resulted in a big influx of feeding birds in the garden.Three species have broken records that have stood over the last fifty three years.Those have been at least seven Reed Buntings, a minimum of twelve Redpolls feeding together and on one day five […]
Bullfinches,Hawthorne Buds and Snow
Last Sunday we awoke to find the deepest snowfall that we have had all winter. Our Bullfinches that until then had been eating sunflower hearts decided that the opening buds of our Hawthorne bush were a much better food source.I opened our bedroom window and took a few photos, in poor light, as the snow […]
View To A kill
This week, on the coldest April morning for more than fifty years, I spent a magical two hours filming three hunting Barn Owls. Conditions were absolutely perfect and these were female Barn Owls stocking up with food prior to going down on eggs later this month. I was on my own on a hillside […]
Third Time Lucky
After fifty years of photographing Pennine birds there are only a handful of species that I have not got photographs of. Top of the list was the Black Necked Grebe but all that changed on a perfect morning last week. The last few years I have failed due to bad weather then Covid but […]
50 Years of Long Tailed Tits
March is the month when Long tailed Tits start to build their nests. Last week I filmed a pair collecting lichens and then bringing feathers to line their nest with. Incredilbly it is the fiftieth consecutive March that I have done this but the first time that the nest was in a Blackthorn thicket. It […]
The Night Shift
Over more than fifty years I have met many wildlife photographers but have not met one who has rose to the ultimate challenge of spending a full night in a hide filming Owls (Tawny,Little, Barn or Long Eared). Entering a hide in the evening at 9pm and not leaving it until 5am the following […]
Lockdown Surprises
It is amazing what you can find in your local countryside now that we are still facing travel restrictions. Along my local canal, among the throngs of Canada geese , I came across a Pink Footed Goose happily feeding with them..Had it come from Iceland? We shall never know. Grey Wagtails are now commonplace […]
Breeding Season Commences
Herons are usually the first local birds to start nest-building and this year was no different.In glorious sunshine early this week I paid a quick visit to Queens Park in Heywood and had a lot of action from a pair that had only just started to build their nest. The male was breaking branches off […]