Adders Still Active
With warm sunny weather during the week I visited my Pennine Adder site and was surprised to find seven Adders in the area. Better still one was actively hunting with its body raised off the ground showing the orange rings which I have never seen before. I finally obtained the shot I was after with […]
Glorious Twelfth
There is little doubt that the high moorlands of the Yorkshire Dales are at their very best when covered in purple heather during August. On the 23rd I drove through thick mist in the valleys to reach the high tops before 7am. It was a magnificent morning with no wind, no traffic and Red […]
Late Summer Birds
During the last few weeks I have been filming a collection of late Summer breeding birds. These include Willow Warbler and Meadow Pipit with food, a Spotted Flycatcher with a large item of prey along with a fast flying Swift all can be seen in this week’s gallery together with a photo of a mass […]
Spotted Red
There is little doubt that of all the Scandinavian waders which come to Britain in late Summer none is better than the Spotted Redshank especially in its resplendent Summer plumage. Better still when I photographed one at Morecombe Bay this week there was no wind and I had a perfect reflection. After forty four years […]
Butterflies Galore
The big bonus from the July sunshine and warmth has been the emergence of vast numbers of butterflies. In a two hundred yard stretch of thistles by the local canal I counted sixty eight Small Tortoiseshell butterflies and this after receiving the Butterfly Conservation Newsletter which stated that they were in a 77% decline this […]
Reflections Of Summer
With more than nine hours of sunshine per day this July has been the sunniest I can remember and with the late breeding season I have never been as busy. I have spent three hours each morning this week filming a male Kingfisher as he fed young that were about to fledge. As we have […]
Little Ringed Plover’s Success
In recent years I have had a licence from Natural England to photograph Little Ringed Plover at the nest on one of the moorland reservoirs. This Spring the birds returned to breed but had a major problem in that the reservoir was completely full of water with nowhere for them to lay their eggs. They […]
Little Owl Des Res
I have to admire any builder who makes provision for breeding birds when he developes an old moorland property. A pipe was placed in the gable wall leading into a nest box placed in the roof. Immediately a pair of Little Owls decided that was the ultimate Des Res and moved in. I spent five […]
Rogue Buzzard
It is always a pleasure to film a pair of Redstarts feeding young especially when it is a late pair in July when most others have already reared young. They had chosen an old Tree Creeper nest box and had five young which were six days old. Both adults were very obliging and perched where […]
Green Woodpecker Success
After forty three years of filming birds this week I was able to film only my seventh pair of Green Woodpeckers with young. It was in fact twenty five years before I found a suitable nest site for filming so it is always a privilege to spend time with these beautiful birds. The main […]