Repeat Performance
In last years blog of the 9th October there is a photo of a roosting Long Eared Owl amongst Himalayan Balsam. I came across the roosting Owl in a remote Pennine valley and never thought I would ever find one again in such vegetation. This week I walked through this valley again and there in […]
Peterloo
In all the years I have been filming birds in the Pennines I have been disturbed on many occasions but what happened in June this year was quite unique. I had been sat in my hide in a peaceful Oak wood, deep in the Pennines, filming a pair of Green Woodpeckers as they fed their […]
Fledged Barn Owls
This weeks photo is of two recently fledged Barn Owls about to take their first evening flight. It is only a record shot taken from the car more than 400 yards away and these two were part of a brood of six that fledged from a barn just a few yards away. The significance of […]
Sparrowhawk Returns
After a gap of almost a year a Sparrowhawk has returned to hunt our feeding birds. It makes a pleasing picture at the back of the garden and this photo must be one of the best photos I have ever taken from the bedroom window! This year there has been a sudden decline in local […]
Kingfisher Disaster
For 45 years I have been filming and closely monitoring breeding Kingfishers on a small stretch of one of Lancashires main rivers. During that time there have been many successes but also a fair number of failures. Three years ago one pair tried three times to rear young and on each occasion the young were […]
The Inglorious Twelfth
Today is the start of the Grouse shooting season and as we all know the gamekeepers have been out with their guns well before the twelfth. Apart from the odd Buzzard this weeks Short Eared Owl was the only raptor seen in our recent five day visit to Speyside. The Hen Harriers that once inhabited […]
The Dive
When an Osprey dives in pursuit of prey the impact at 40 miles per hour is enough to take the bird almost completely underwater as shown in this weeks blog photo. Remarkably the Osprey can then take off with its prey, even though it is soaked through. In comparison the Sea Eagle has to pluck […]
Little Gems
I had almost forgotten what a joy it was to watch young Little owls being fed and learning how to fly. Several visits have been made to an old barn where I found a family of young owls. At times the young owls flew to within five feet of the car and provided me with […]
Oh What A Night!
After a lifetime of visits into the Pennines in search of wildlife to film I have lost track of the number of evenings when you return home having seen and filmed nothing. If you are lucky you might flush a Meadow Pipit from a nest or perhaps encounter a Twite. However, nothing prepared me for […]
House Martin Mystery
One of the most welcome signs of summer are the return of House Martins nesting under the house eaves. Unfortunately over the last ten years their numbers are down by half and no one seems to know why. In many cases the nature of our summers produces extremes of weather which has resulted in the […]