Archive for December, 2017

Another hectic year comes to a close and it is now time to choose my favourite ten photos from the thousands that I have taken this year. It is never an easy choice but top of the ten must be the male Long Eared Owl hunting at dusk. I have always dreamt of this photo and he finally flew past me and gave a perfect stare in my direction.
The first three months of the year were all about Waxwings – my favourite bird. I concentrated on flight shots and was very happy with the two photos in the top ten.
The Kingfisher season started well with food presentation and copulation in March but sadly cattle destroyed both nests and the Kingfishers may now move to another site.
On Islay both male and female Hen Harriers used a post put out for them – another first for me and a Golden Eagle hunted the sea-cliffs without knowing I was there to capture the ultimate photo when it landed. Speyside produced more fishing Ospreys with very little light at 5.00am!!
The target birds for 2018 are still Bittern and Marsh Harriers so I must make time to visit Leighton Moss or some of the Yorkshire reed-bed reserves.Click here

No not Santa Claus or his Reindeer but much more illusive, a Jack Snipe, covered in jewels – well droplets of water actually!
It is a rare event to encounter a Jack Snipe before it flies off and in the last fifty years I have achieved this feat only five times, the last time being ten days ago. The plumage of the Jack Snipe is designed so that the stripes down its back and across its head blend in with the boggy vegetation where it feeds. In this weeks gallery I have included two distant shots of the Jack Snipe to illustrate the effect of the stripes in relation to their surroundings bearing in mind that this latest Jack Snipe was the easiest to see of the five that I have found!! click here

It is seven years since we had weather as severe as last week. Deep snow and severe frost can make some normally wary birds more approachable and one of those species is the Fieldfare. A phone call from a good friend in Cheshire to say that he had many Fieldfares in his garden, eating crab apples, had me travelling down there the next day. It was to prove to be one of the most magical winter’s day filming that I have ever had.
During the day I filmed all five of our Thrushes for the first time in over fifty years! All the Fieldfares had different plumages and I was even treated to some Redpolls , including a stunning male looking resplendent in the winter frost. Enjoy this weeks extensive gallery.Click here

Every winter tens of thousands of Pink Footed Geese spend winter on the Lancashire mosslands. This year there are record numbers due to an abundance of food because the local farmers have been unable to harvest their root crops in all the recent months of wet weather.
Last week, at long last, we had four days of sunshine and I was able to visit this waterlogged area. Pink Footed Geese were moving from field to field and provided some good photos, although close-up feeding shots were out of the question as they were very wary. Kestrels were in abundance and a solitary Barn Owl was asleep on a fence-post. On one occasion a Short Eared Owl was seen hunting but I left before its main hunting period at dusk. Click here

For the first time in at least the last fifty years there has been a massive migration of Hawfinches into the UK. Unfortunately for people in Manchester most of these Hawfinches have flown over and not landed! The main reason for this is that we have very few of their favourite Hornbeam trees in Manchester.
To have any chance of any photos I have been to a large estate in east Yorkshire where Hornbeams were in abundance. Even so I only obtained a couple of shots of a female in the top of the Hornbeam as shown in this weeks blog. I spent lots of time un?er a camouflage cloth looking at Hornbeam leaves on the ground waiting for Hawfinches to drop down to feed. It never happened but a raging blizzard did descend. As I looked through the lens I spotted something red in the snow that turned out to be a Red Campion in flower! See photo in gallery which must be more unique than one of a Hawfinch!! On the way home I was treated to a spectacular sunset.click here