The Reward
This weeks photo is of a male Kingfisher presenting the female with a Stoneloach. If you look closely at her bill it is covered in earth. She has just spent ten minutes digging out their nest-chamber and as a reward the male has caught the fish for her. It is her reward for all the […]
Searching For Feathers
For forty seven of the last forty eight years I have´started the breeding season by filming Long Tailed Tits. This year was no exception and it is always a delight to be able to watch Long Tailed Tits at close quarters as they search out feathers for their nest. Great distances are covered as they […]
Wagtails and Slurry
Filming wildlife can take you into some spectacular situations. In the last couple of weeks for instance I have been surrounded by the beauty of Islay and Speyside. All that changed last week when I found myself filming from my car, that was positioned next to a pile of slurry left by the farmer. While […]
The Punk Rocker
There is no doubt that the Punk Rocker of the bird world is the Crested Tit. Unfortunately for us if we want to see them we have to travel to the Spey valley in Scotland. The old Caledonian pine is their home and in March, if the weather is mild, they start to excavate their […]
Waxwings Are Still Around
It is now nearly four months since Waxwings arrived in our area and I never expected, upon returning from Islay, that there would be some still with us. During the last week I have filmed seventeen in Hollinwood as they fed on the berries of a single Cotoneaster. It was an industrial site and disturbance […]
Hunter and Hunted
As promised last week this weeks photo is of an adult Sea Eagle hunting Shelduck on Loch Indaal, Islay. The Shelduck, on this occasion, did escape the Eagle but on many other occasions the roosting Barnacle Geese were not so lucky. The Sea Eagle success benefits the local Buzzards and larger Gulls such as Greater […]
Forty Shades of Grey
When you visit somewhere over forty years for the one hundred and fifth time you do not expect to film a new species. Last week on Islay I was filming a group of sixty Sanderling when from nowhere a solitary Grey Plover walked into the picture and commenced feeding with the Sanderlings. It was an […]
Waxwings and Apples
It is almost impossible to believe that last Autumn’s phenomenal berry crop has now been exhausted with Waxwings now searching for an alternative food source. Last week a solitary apple tree in the centre of Manchester was spotted by three Waxwings. I spent a couple of days filming them,then the next day they were gone, […]
Synchronised Lapwings
If I want to see Lapwings locally it is unlikely that I will find any in green fields.Instead I go down the road to my local Industrial Estate where on one occasion this winter there was a flock of more than three hundred present.As they are on the roof they are elevated nicely for photography.It […]
The Welsh Twister
No visit to Wales is complete without a search of its vast pine plantations for the bird with that incredible twisted bill, the Crossbill.Amongst British birds it is unique with a bill specially designed for extracting seeds from pine-cones. In Wales Crossbills lay their eggs in mid February so that in January there is plenty […]