It’s Your Choice
A sail through the Arctic pack-ice, at midnight in search of Polar Bears, is on many peoples bucket list. This weeks photo of a female Polar Bear, suckling her young, was only photographed by me, although there were fifty three other people on the boat with me. The reason is quite simple – it was […]
Redwings And Haws
There is no doubt that Hawthorne berries are a favourite winter food source for Redwings. During the last week the light has been appalling but I managed to find a small number of Redwings feeding on haws on one of the busiest roads leading into Manchester. They were disturbed by passing traffic every minute or […]
Islay Magic
In the last few weeks we have seen photos of the main species that make Islay such a great place for the wildlife enthusiast. This weeks gallery highlights Islays many other attractions that a visitor will see from Seals, Deer, Hares to Waders and of course the rarest member of the Crow family – the […]
Fallen Apples
When you visit Islay in November and you have been more than one hundred times you do not expect to photograph a species that you have never filmed before. However, that is exactly what happened this November as I sat in my hide facing three Apple trees that had just shed their apples.Up to a […]
Wild Swans And Geese
One of the reasons for going to Islay in late Autumn is to marvel at the thousands of Geese and enjoy the passage of Whooper Swans. As this was our 108th visit we have seen it all before but it was just as exciting as our first visit in 1976. In fact it is […]
Octopus For Lunch
Generally in wildlife encounters there are no second chances. Thirty years ago, in the Sound of Islay, I filmed an Otter as it came ashore with an Octopus in its mouth. Unfortunately I did not have a clear view of the feed so there was no lasting photo to remember it by. All that changed […]
White-Tailed Grey Wagtail
For only the third time in the last fifty years our garden was visited last week by a Grey Wagtail. It was a female with a difference – it had a white forked tail! What produced this unusual plumage is not clear but at least it will be readily recognisable should it return. Click here
Teaspoons
While in Yorkshire the other week filming the Hoopoe I took the opportunity to see another new bird for me in the form of the Spoonbill. Young had fledged at a nearby lake and i soon caught up with a fledged young and an adult. I was told by a passing local birdwatcher that young […]
Jack Snipe Arrive
To me the most exciting and challenging migrant of Autumn is the Jack Snipe. It becomes quite easy to encounter Redwings and Fieldfares but to come face to face with a Jack Snipe is a different ball-game.This Autumn I found my first on the 9th October and up to yesterday I have seen 26 – […]
Howzat
Who would have thought that I would ever spend an hour on a Cricket pitch in Yorkshire photographing a bird that I had never seen before but that is what happened last week. The spectacular bird involved was a Hoopoe, that should have been in Spain, but for some reason decided the grubs in a […]