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 […]
Decline Of The Whinchat
Since returning from Islay all week has been spent checking nest sites and searching for new nests. It has become apparent that the Whinchat has now disappeared from many of its Pennine haunts for no obvious reason. In fact I have not seen a local Whinchat all season. This weeks photo and gallery album (click […]
Seabird Summer
Our third week on Islay and no visit to the Hebrides is complete without filming some of its seabirds. During the week I checked out some of the regular sites for Fulmars knowing those amongst the Sea Thrift would look even better this year in view of the lateness of the flowers. I was not […]
One Hundred Hours Of Sunshine
In the last seven days Islay has been the sunniest place in Britain on two days and we have had well over one hundred hours of sunshine. During this visit I have been concentrating on Hen Harriers and having spent seventeen hours in my hide, with temperatures of up to 23°C it has been somewhat […]
A Late Islay Spring
How great it is to be back on Islay which is still catching up on a late Spring. The bluebell woods are better than ever with outstanding carpets of bluebells and primroses. Normally we would be too late for this display but this time the timing of our visit is perfect. As you travel around […]
Ten Days To Go
I have just spent most days this week filming my regular pair of Kingfishers who have now about ten days before this years first brood of young fledge. Last Year, of course, they tried three times to rear young and on each occasion the young drowned in the nest chamber due to flooding. So […]
Dipper Success
This week’s photo is of a Dipper I filmed last month that has fledged its first brood of young and is now incubating a second clutch of eggs. It appears that despite the cold Spring that we have had it does not seem to have affected the local Dippers. In the hIlls there appears to […]
Heavenly Dotterels
The top of Pendle Hill is about as close to Heaven as you can get in the Pennines.To be stood there at 6.30am in full sunshine, white frost and no wind with a Dotterel only fifteen feet in front of you is truly a magical experience. On the 2nd of May I trekked to the […]