Ant Eggs For Lunch
After raptors, a day in the Pennines can be highlighted by good views of Woodpeckers, especially the Green Woodpecker, who is more often heard than seen. In nearly fifty years of filming I have still only ever filmed half a dozen Green Woodpeckers at the nest. The recent dry, warm weather was perfect for ants, […]
Islay
Although most wildlife watchers go to Islay in summer to see the raptors there is no doubt that there are a whole host of other birds that will capture the attention of the visitor. Top of the list will be the Chough as Islay has more than fifty breeding pairs plus many non-breeding birds. Wading […]
The Star Attraction
The star bird for any wildlife visitor to Islay in May and June is the male Hen Harrier. It is not difficult to encounter one hunting male each day but one day last week was exceptional. In the space of fifteen minutes we came across four different hunting male Hen Harriers. This is the most […]
The King
There is little doubt that the king of all Birds of Prey is the Golden Eagle. From a birdwatchers point of view no trip to Scotland is complete without a sighting of “the king”. In the highlands the diet of the Golden Eagle comprises of mainly Heres and Rabbits but in the Hebrides the Eagles […]
Nuthatches Nesting in a Nestbox
Most people when they buy a house place a nest-box in the garden. Within a year or so Blue Tits will have found it or perhaps even Great Tits or Coal Tits. It would always be a dream to have a pair of Nuthatches take up residence in your nest-box. This weeks blog is all […]
Dancing Adders
As a keen schoolboy naturalist living in Bury I once came across a sign on my local moors which read”Beware of Adders”.It fired my imagination to find that Britain’s only venomous snake could be found locally. I searched and searched over the years but failed to find any and it was decades later in Scotland […]
Dipper Success
This years dry Spring has been a big bonus for Pennine dippers with most now having fledged their first brood of young. This weeks photos are from one of those first broods and both adult birds were feather perfect. Spate flooding is always a problem for Dippers and it remains to be seen whether their […]
Wood Warbler Mystery
Wood Warblers are summer visitors to Britain and in the last twenty years their numbers have declined by up to 90%. In fact forty years ago I could have found them breeding within one mile of my home in Rochdale. Sadly not any more, only a handful return to the Pennines each year. The male […]
Drumming Snipe
One of the attractions of Islay in Spring are the vast numbers of wading birds that breed at places like Gruinart. My favourite is the Snipe and the male carries out a display flight called drumming. In the evening he takes wing high in the sky then descends at more than 50kilometers per hour. As […]
An Islay Spring
A visit to Islay in Springtime is a wonderful experience. The island is a mass of yellow from the gorse and the woods are deep blue from the bluebells.Add to all this ninety hours of sunshine in six days and I cannot think of anywhere better to visit at this time of year. Last week […]