Category Archives: General

On the face of it the evening of the 23rdMay looked like any of the other twenty before it – sunny, warm, calm and perfect for a hunting male Long Eared Owl. I was set up under my camouflage cloth by 6.30pm and shortly after the male Long Eared Owl flew out of the forest and set off over the moor in search of Voles. All I had to do was await his return and hope that he flew past me on his way back to the nest where the female was waiting with four large young. What happened next made all those hours of waiting worth while!
At 7.30pm the female left the nest and alighted on top of the tallest pine, calling continuously for food.This was the moment I had been hoping for as I knew that if the male Owl came back now with a vole there would be a food-pass, perhaps within camera range. I only had to wait a couple of minutes before I spotted him coming off the moor, low over the ground, with his vole. I focused on him as he came closer but on which fence-post would the food-pass occur? She flew in to him, I guessed correct and in a second I had my ten photos that I had never seen on film before. It never happened again!!

In the Pennines nine out of ten items of prey caught by Long Eared Owls are Short Tailed Field Voles .Just occasionally a Rat is caught and provides a much more substantial

Once again another Spring has passed with superb weather and endless hours spent filming the Pennines most exciting Owls – Long Eared and Short Eared – the good news is that both species have had successful breeding seasons this year.This weeks photos show several different fledged Long Eared and a Short Eared. Over the next few weeks I will include photos of different hunting male Long Eared Owls including a rarely seen food-pass between male and female Long Eared Owls.

Two of Scotland’s rarest breeding water birds can be found on secluded lochs in the Highlands. Last week not only was I able to film a pair of Black Throated Divers feeding two young but the same morning I came across a pair of Slavonian grebes also with two young. Both species were filmed from the car on public roads and so a licence was not required.
While I was in the Highlands I have always wanted to find a plant called Twin Flower It grows in the Caledonian pine forests and last week was perfect timing as we found over a thousand in one secluded spot.

One of the attractions of Islay to the wildlife enthusiast is that you can never predict what wildlife  will present itself to you. One minute it is a gathering of Black Guillemots, a passing Hen Harrier carrying nesting material, groups of Roe Deer, but best of all a pair of Shelduck with 22 young. www.facebook.com/gordonyateswildlife

On the 13th June last month I had a brilliant four hours in my hide on Islay filming a female Hen Harrier as she flew to her nest with prey. It is something I have done before under Special Licence from NatureScot and is a privilege I have always valued. It was only when I got home and checked my diaries that I found on the 13th June 1973 I filmed my first ever Hen Harriers nest on North Uist. In those 50 years I have spent many hours filming 65 pairs of Hen Harriers which must make me the most experienced Hen Harrier photographer in Britain!!
Sadly the Hen Harrier today is under more threats than it was in 1973 and I would urge every reader of my blog to do what they can to help in its protection.