During a quick visit to my local Sand Martin colony last week I counted at least twenty holes in the course of completion.
Almost as soon as they arrive in the UK Sand Martins start to excavate their tunnels. With an early start this year they may even have time for a second brood. Let’s hope so!

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Is there anything better, in last weeks fantastic weather, than filming a pair of Kingfishers as they feed their young in perfect conditions? I filmed the male bathing in a rockside pool while the female got ready to lay her second clutch of eggs.No danger of flooding yet this year and as I sat there in my hide immersed in their sheer beauty I was reminded that only a matter of yards away 52 years ago I filmed my first ever breeding pair of Kingfishers. I wonder if these birds are related to them?www.facebook.com/gordonyateswildlife

From a human point of view close contact with a pair of Adders may prove fatal but from the male adders point of view he may spend days courting a female.The male in this weeks blog photo approached the female for several days before they got together under a protective stone. He had already fought off an intruding male and it was this action that I was waiting for. In the wildlife world there are few people in Lancashire who have witnessed and filmed the dance or fight of two male Adders and that is now off my bucket list!!

With fantastic evenings this last week it was great to visit the Pennine hills to watch the Short Eared Owls. Sadly, fires on some moors have destroyed the breeding habitat so we can only rejoice in the prospect of rain to come to enable the Shorties to breed successfully.

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When you have been photographing birds for more than 60 years there are not many birds that turn up on a Pennine reservoir that you have not seen before. However, in late February, on a reservoir near Burnley,an immature Red-Necked Grebe appeared after a long flight from probably Germany.It liked the water that much that it was still there in early April when it began to moult into breeding plumage. A chance visit the other morning and with the wind in the right direction it provided me with photos of a bird that I had never seen before.         www.facebook.com/gordonyateswildlife

With Spring days upon us now is the time to re-visit old Barn Owl breeding sites and hope that luck is with you. Some of the males only come out at dusk and fewer still will hunt at first light which is the best option for a photograph. Like all wildlife photography your results are directly proportional to the time that you put in and of course sods law always works against you. In perfect conditions he will not perform whereas on foul days he will fly over your heads!! Good luck! www.facebook.com/gordonyateswildlife