Archive for February, 2019

Any visit to Islay would not be complete without time spent with their special member of the Crow family – the Chough.
Despite inclement weather and strong winds I was able to spend time with forty seven Chough at Ardnave Point. Supplementary feeding has helped juvenile birds to survive to adulthood but even with this help out of the flock of forty seven birds only nine remained from last years young and ten from the previous years birds. It is clear that without help the Chough would be in a very precarious position.
The very mild weather of late has also had its effect on Islay with Daffodils in flower everywhere and on one day a temperature of 17C was showing in the car! The next two weeks blog will feature many other photos taken during our visit.Click here

All winter I have been waiting for some severe weather to have any chance of filming Jack Snipe. I have several bogs that don’t freeze up in severe frost and occasionally Jack Snipe will remain in situ if you approach cautiously. This happened last week when late one afternoon I spotted a Jack Snipe but there was too much vegetation in the way to obtain a photograph. As it was only one hour before darkness I took a gamble that it would still be in the same bog the following day and it was. It had moved only two feet overnight despite the temperature dropping to Minus 8C! This time it was more in the open and I was able to take my photos. In fact if you look closely you will see that its tail is covered in frost! It will probably be the only Jack Snipe I photograph this winter but what an illusive little wading bird they are.Click here

Well not quite a true Snowy Owl but a Barn Owl hunting in the snow. When this winter started I never thought that I would be in a position to photograph local Barn Owls during the day let alone take photos of one hunting in the snow. Nothing is predictable in wildlife and you never know when they will revert back to nocturnal hunting and my photo opportunities are gone. More recent photos of the Barn Owls are shown in this weeks gallery.
When you are involved in wildlife all your life all sorts of unscripted events occur out of the blue as happened this week while I was waiting for a Barn Owl to appear. I had been sat in a hedge under a camouflage cloth for more than an hour when a brown bird arrived from my right and alighted by my foot. I gingerly looked down and was met by the stare of a Woodcock that flew off as quickly as it had arrived!! Click here

This winter we had our first snowfall on the 18th January making it the latest arrival date for more than fifty years. At long last we have had some classic sunny, frosty days and it was good to be out with the camera, some of the results of which are in this weeks gallery.Click here