Spring At Last
With warmer weather and the disappearance of the East wind Spring has finally arrived. On the 30th April I visited Marshside, Southport for the first time in years. I have to say it was a little disappointing with most of the Black Tailed Godwits having moved on and very few of the Avocets came within […]
Take That
Boxing Hares were not what I was expecting to encounter on Islay in late April but with the extreme weather of late no boxing had taken place so far this year as many of the hares had failed to perform! I was extremely lucky to find a group of eight that gave me plenty of […]
Route 59
Last month on the way to a film show I came across a Barn Owl that was actively hunting the roadside verges in good sunshine. It coincided with those nights of -5°C and clearly the Barn Owl was forced into hunting in the afternoon sunshine when its prey was more active. I went back several […]
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 […]