Hedgehogs Return
Whilst Hedgehog numbers are plummeting nationally it has been most pleasing to see this last week at least four in our small garden. Each night we have put out a handful of Hedgehog pellets and then we have sat close by to watch and listen to their antics. There is a considerable amount of grunting […]
Orange Tips and Orchids
What a fantastic three weeks of weather we have just had with the heat and sunshine producing a phenomenal number of Orange Tip butterflies. A walk on Arnside Knott near Silverdale had us admiring the masses of Cowslips and Early Purple Orchids. On a roadside verge nearby were two Fly Orchids, the first we have […]
Looking for Grubs – Part Two
While you would expect Long Tailed Tits to eat caterpillars and grubs not many people realise that Little Owls also enjoy them, together with worms, mice and voles. During the warm, sunny weather of this week I have watched a male Little Owl, for three hours early each morning. He has provided some wonderful filming […]
Searching For Grubs
Once the eggs of Long Tailed Tits have hatched the adults have to find enough food to feed up to ten young. It is an enormous task and to help them they sometimes enlist other Long Tailed Tits that have perhaps been predated earlier on. This is what has happened with the birds in this […]
Singing Wood Warbler
One of the most charismatic bird-songs of late spring is that of the Wood Warbler. They love mature Beech woods and were once to be found all over Greater Manchester. Sadly, not any more, with the male in this weeks blog and gallery being the only one in the County. He has been singing now […]
Herons Fledge Young
Its hard to believe that a pair of Herons in my local Heronry have just fledged three y oung despite the Spring that we have just had. Laying their eggs in January, in a nest fifty feet off the ground, has left them open to all the elements especially the regular snow showers that this […]
Spring -At Last
What a difference a few warm, sunny days have made to the vegetation and the numbers of migrants arriving. In Bowland, where this weeks blog photo was taken, there were Redstarts and Pied Flycatchers singing in the woodlands along the River Hodder with quite a few Common Sandpipers on the river. Swallows were back in […]
Woodcock’s Lament
This weeks photo of a female Woodcock settling on her eggs in a bluebell wood is just a past memory. It was taken as a colour print in 2005 when I spent five hours a day in my hide for three weeks waiting for the eggs to hatch. In those days Woodcock bred in most […]
Gathering Feathers
There is little doubt that the most exciting time to photograph Long Tailed Tits is when they are lining their nests with feathers. The only problem of course is that you have to find a nest at the time when it is being lined which takes less than ten days. This year , because of […]
The Speyside Gem
There is no doubt that the top bird on any birdwatcher’s visit to Speyside is the Crested Tit. Normally by late March they are nest-building and very hard to find in the forest. This year, because of the extended winter weather, some were still coming to feeders and I was able to obtain some shots […]