Halcyon Days
Each summer for the last 47 years I have had the privilege and pleasure of filming breeding Kingfishers. I have sat covered up in the middle of some of the Pennines most beautiful streams awaiting the arrival of that halcyon bird ,the Kingfisher. It gives me the same excitement now as it did all those […]
Little Owl Success
This year my local Little Owls have produced two young and one of these is this week’s blog photo. Global warming is not very kind to our Owls and regular periods of heavy rain can be fatal for for breeding Owls. Both pairs of Short Eared Owls that I was watching in the hills have […]
Winter Bonus
In March one of the winter storms resulted in a collapse of the bank along a local stream. It resulted in the exposure of a ten foot high vertical sandy bank which was immediately discovered by Sand Martins upon their return in April. Now, three months on, twenty pairs of Sand Martins have reared two […]
Wader Disaster
This weeks photo is of a Common Sandpiper on Islay and this species has had a very successful year this year unlike most of Islay’s other waders. The glorious Spring weather that we all enjoyed was a disaster for such waders as Lapwing and Snipe. Whilst their eggs hatched OK the young were unable […]
Where Eagles Fly
Whilst most people visit Islay to see its Harriers,Chough and Geese it is becoming increasingly popular with the Eagle fraternity. Mull might be the most popular island for Eagles but Islay is rapidly catching it up with Sea Eagles now a common sight as you travel around the island. The one raptor that is […]
Harrier Magic
One of the attractions of Islay in early summer is the good numbers of breeding Hen Harriers. Wherever you go around the island you might expect to encounter the immaculate hunting males, even on the Golf Course! All the females are on nest duties so if any of those are seen they are probably […]
Corncrakes and Whiskey
We have now returned from our summer visit to Islay and once again the number of calling Corncrakes are down on previous years. Cold weather has not helped but this recent steady decline was blamed on the withdrawal of Government subsidies that paid the Islay farmers to leave their fields until after the 1st August, […]
Escort Duties
The last few weeks I have spent many hours on the moors looking for Long Eared and Short Eared Owls. Whilst sat still waiting I have seen good numbers of Red Grouse. The male Red Grouse does not incubate the eggs but twice a day he escorts the female while she feeds before returning to […]
Bluebells and Woodpeckers
Last week I spent a glorious couple of hours sat in a local bluebell wood whilst filming a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers feeding young that were about to fledge. The blog photo of the bluebells also shows in the top right-hand corner the Alder tree with the Woodpeckers nest-holes. Feeds of the young […]
Bluebells and Roe Deer
This Spring’s warmth and sunshine has produced fantastic carpets of bluebells. May is the time of year when Roe Deer give birth and I have spent some time following female Roe Deer hoping to find their fawns amongst the bluebells. I finally stuck lucky but, unfortunately, the Roe Deer and its fawn were not in […]