Copulation
One result of spending six hours with a pair of Kingfishers is that in addition to unusual prey items there is always a chance of filming copulation. Kingfishers usually rear two broods of young per year so while the first brood are still in the nest-chamber the adults are already thinking about the second brood! […]
Lamprey For Lunch
I have been asked many times why, after fifty one previous years I find it exciting to film a breeding pair of Kingfishers again? My answer, of course, is that no two Kingfishers are the same and that something unpredictable might happen – three days ago it did! I had been watching the female Kingfisher […]
The Last Adders
I fear that this last cold, wet Spring will be another nail in the coffin of my local Adders. Last week produced the first warm day which they require before emerging and basking in the sun. Despite a thorough search only one female was found and there were no moulted skins of males which they […]
Hunting Long Eared Owls
On a visit into the hills during the week it was good to see hunting Long Eared Owls. The incessant rain will have had a serious impact upon them and even more impact on Short Eared Owls who have no way of hiding from the conditions. Time will tell whether they are able to rear […]
Garden Magic
Is it the fact that we have not seen the Sparrowhawk for the last eight weeks or just the cold and wet weather that has produced a massive influx of birds feeding in the garden? Record counts of twelve Siskins and eight Bullfinches have added to the five Redpolls, four Reed Buntings, seventeen Goldfinches and […]
Wet Wet Wet
Three nights of pouring rain is all it would take to produce a starving Barn Owl.Unlike our other Owls the Barn Owl is unable to hunt in prolonged periods of rain, which is all we seem to get nowadays. To compensate it is forced to go looking for prey at dusk and dawn or even […]
The Search For Feathers
Every March for more than fifty years I have filmed Long Tailed Tits searching for feathers to line their nests. This year they started early and I had already found four nests by the 10th March which equals my record over all those years. Since then rain has delayed them but I did have one […]
Welsh Bramblings
One of our commonest and most colourful winter visitors is the Brambling. In some years they arrive from Scandinavia in their thousands but this winter they have been very illusive. So the half dozen that we came across in North Wales were an absolute bonus especially in the six inches of rain that fell upon […]
Kite and Crossbills
On any visit to Wales the target birds include Kites and Crossbills. Last weeks rain did not help the search but despite this we came across four Kites at Bala and one pair were collecting nesting material. Crossbills were a more difficult challenge as there are very few cones on the pine trees this year. […]
Rivercatcher Siskins
Last week we spent an extremely wet five days in the Dee valley at Rivercatcher. Six inches of rain fell in three days making it the wettest place in Britain. Remarkably instead of being a disaster for filming this extreme weather produced a bonus for Siskins. Normally they feed on seeds in the pine cones […]