Moving Out
It is not often that you are able to catch up with young Short Eared Owls after they have fledged. This year they have been so successful that I have been able to obtain film of some young long after they have left the nest. The Owl in this weeks blog is three months old […]
Butterfly Bonanza
After some very poor summers for Butterflies this year has been absolutely perfect with long periods of sunshine and heat. Whilst walking through the Caledonian pines in Speyside a few weeks ago a shaft of light attracted over a dozen Scotch Argus butterflies and I stood there with them all flitting around my head! […]
Facing Extinction
During our recent travels around Inverness we came across a pair of Slavonian Grebe that were feeding a this years young. Such is the rarity of Slavonian Grebes today that the young in this weeks photo may be one of less than ten reared in Britain this year. Global warming is having a devastating effect […]
Gone Fishing
No visit to Speyside is complete without a visit to the lake where Ospreys come to fish. Unfortunately as this is situated in the centre of Aviemore the Ospreys come to fish early, very early, in the morning. I was in the hide before 4.30 am and by 5.00am three Ospreys had already left with […]
Dream Fulfilled
In making forty full length cine films I was never in a position to film hunting Long Eared Owls at dusk. I did, on two occasions, film them at the nest feeding their young, through the night, involving twenty foot of scaffolding and using lights to illuminate the nest. It was a magical experience and […]
Shortie Success
The warm, dry, sunny weather of this summer has provided exceptional conditions for breeding Short Tailed Field Voles. The knock-on effect is that Short Eared Owls have been breeding all over the Pennines, although some will have lost their young in the two devastating fires. However, many have been successful and this weeks photo is […]
Fancy A Frog
This weeks Little owls are one of the three high Pennine Owl species, the other two being Short Eared and Long Eared Owls. The abundance of voles this year has enabled the latter two species to have a bumper year but the Little Owls have not been as successful due to the drought. Worms form […]
A Steep Learning Curve
In the last three weeks I have spent thirty seven hours in my hide at the nest-site of a pair of Kingfishers. Every session has been in unbroken sunshine and in forty five years of filming Kingfishers I have never seen such settled conditions. I have been waiting for the young to fledge and this […]
Catch-Again
My recent Hen Harrier food -pass photos have always been popular so this week I have included another series from our recent visit to Islay. The weather during our three weeks was fantastic with just one storm that produced high winds and half an inch of rain. This week’s gallery also includes photos of Black […]
Corncrakes and Whiskey
This weeks blog and gallery is dominated by one of Islay special birds, the Corncrake. Twenty years ago there were only eight calling birds and the future of the summer visitor looks bleak. Scottish Natural Heritage stepped in with various grant monies and brought this bird back from the brink to more than one hundred […]