Latest Ever Breeding Season
With two months of freezing easterly winds it is not surprising to find that very few birds are nesting. So far I have found only one Long Tailed Tits nest – that being in gorse on Hopwood. Following the exceptionally mild Winter of the 1980 I found twenty five Long Tailed Tits nests before the […]
April Waxwings
With frost every night this last week and a strong East wind it was no surprise to encounter a late flock of sixteen Waxwings on the 5th. They were in a tree above a bush that had its berries eaten more than a month ago.As I watched they were eating, on the ground, those berries […]
Forest Birds
We have just returned from six days in the Spey Valley with snow flurries most days but good sunshine and a temperature of -6°C on Friday. Walks in the Caledonian pine forest produced good sightings of Crested Tits with plenty of photos taken. In addition a Goldcrest fed on the ground below the feeders put […]
In Form
Last week I mentioned the Mountain Hares and I now show one in its form and the other about to run. During the week the East wind has continued to blow and the Waxwings have been held up. There were ninety four in Rochdale on the seventeenth, sixteen near Hollingworth Lake on the eighteenth and […]
New Bird For The Garden
After forty five years of feeding birds in the garden on the fifteenth a new bird fed all afternoon – it was a Tree Creeper. Luckily it came several times to eat the bits off the fat balls that were on the ground and I managed to take a photo. IT was a one day […]
Waxwings Still around
What a Winter it has been for Waxwings with good numbers of them waiting for the strong East winds to drop before returning to their breeding grounds. On the sixth I watched twenty seven feeding in Newhey and better still on the ninth seventy three fed all day on berries in Milnrow. I have to […]
Raptors Galore
One of the attractions of Islay in Winter is the abundance of Raptors present. Hen Harriers in particular can be encountered anywhere on the island and to see three or more in any one day is not unusual. This Winter Sea Eagles and Golden Eagles have been very active and not many birdwatchers leave the […]
Well Choughed
A week on Islay with two superb Winter days and the rest dry with a cold South East wind. I came to concentrate on flight shots of `Chough and I have had two great days with shots like the one featured on my blog. During the week we have seen two Otters and both eluded […]
Solway Farewell
This week I have made my final journey to Stranraer, Dumfries,New Galloway and Moffat to show my films. On the drive to Stranraer I saw nine Buzzards, four Kestrels, one Kite and a Barn Owl still hunting after 9am. By the roadside near Newton Stewart there was a flock of thirty Whooper Swans and at […]
Siberian Gem
I finally took some decent photos of the Chiff-Chaffs along Wince Brook in Middleton this week with the Siberian race clearly much lighter and with a pronounced eye stripe. Both birds were photographed only five minutes apart and there are at least four normal Chiff-Chaffs present along this semi polluted brook. Everyone who sees them […]