Global Warming?
When you walk around a moorland reservoir on the 5th January the last bird you expect to see is a Common Sandpiper. This bird should now be enjoying the warmth of Africa not the ice and snow of the Pennines. Whether it will survive the extremes of winter weather forecast for the end of next […]
All Steamed Up
This weeks photo shows Lapwings that appear to be deliberately roosting in the steam outlet from our local Industrial estate. It is another example of how Lapwings are taking full advantage of our central heating system in cold weather. There have been as many as three hundred Lapwings on this roof and they are perfectly […]
Happy New Year From Both Of Us
Another hectic year comes to a close and it is now time to choose my favourite ten photos from the thousands that I have taken this year. It is never an easy choice but top of the ten must be the male Long Eared Owl hunting at dusk. I have always dreamt of this photo […]
A Visitor From Lapland
No not Santa Claus or his Reindeer but much more illusive, a Jack Snipe, covered in jewels – well droplets of water actually! It is a rare event to encounter a Jack Snipe before it flies off and in the last fifty years I have achieved this feat only five times, the last time being […]
The Winter Thrushes
It is seven years since we had weather as severe as last week. Deep snow and severe frost can make some normally wary birds more approachable and one of those species is the Fieldfare. A phone call from a good friend in Cheshire to say that he had many Fieldfares in his garden, eating crab […]
Pink Feet
Every winter tens of thousands of Pink Footed Geese spend winter on the Lancashire mosslands. This year there are record numbers due to an abundance of food because the local farmers have been unable to harvest their root crops in all the recent months of wet weather. Last week, at long last, we had four […]
Hawfinch Eruption
For the first time in at least the last fifty years there has been a massive migration of Hawfinches into the UK. Unfortunately for people in Manchester most of these Hawfinches have flown over and not landed! The main reason for this is that we have very few of their favourite Hornbeam trees in Manchester. […]
Ninety Minutes Sparrowhawk
Usually when a Sparrowhawk appears in the garden it is a quick fly-through that scatters all the feeding birds. The young male in this week’s photo did just that but then stood around in several places for more than ninety minutes. He was, of course, waiting for birds to return to the garden feeders but […]
Jack Snipe Challenge
There are now so many people taking digital photos of birds that whatever photo you take someone somewhere has got a better photo. You have now got to create your own challenge and keep at it until you have a decent shot. To find a Jack Snipe is never easy but to photograph one in […]
Top Stag
The Red Deer stag in this week’s blog stands proud in the Islay landscape. He has had a hectic time during the last few weeks and he can now rest, until next season that is. The fact he came to look at me may also mean that he now knows the season for shooting Red […]