Blown Away
One of the bonuses of being out there in the wild is that even when the birds don’t perform the weather can. This photo of a Pennine sunset was the only highlight of a night waiting to film hunting male Long Eared Owls. The birds failed to perform but after an evening shower the pink […]
Migration Continues
This weeks photo shows two of the fifty three Black Tailed Godwits that passed through Islay last week. It was taken as a still photo through the video camera and is only one million megapixels but the results never cease to amaze me. The wader passage on Islay continued into our second week with a […]
The Ultimate Challenge
We have just had a week on Islay and succeeded in filming Ravens feeding their young. For those of you who do not know Ravens are one of the most difficult birds to film at the nest as they are very intelligent and extremely wary. Whilst they are not popular with farmers from a photographers […]
Easter Disaster
This male Long Eared Owl in the photo was found roosting by his incubating female on Easter Saturday and looked quite proud to be protecting her while she incubated the eggs in an old Magpies nest. Their world was turned upside down the next day when youths pitched three tents under their nesting tree and […]
Lekking Blackcock
Further to last weeks blog the real reason to visit the Northern Dales was to wait for a perfect morning to film lekking Blackcock. Well it came along and I entered my hide at 4am in total darkness.By 5am the valley was alive with the calls of Waders and by 5.15am the first Blackcock flew […]
Wader Extravaganza
Good weather has returned this last week and I have spent two days in the Northern Dales filming waders including the Snipe on the blog. It was amazing at dusk and dawn to see and listen to displaying waders that included Woodcock, Snipe, Redshank, Lapwings, Oyster Catchers and Curlew. Many of our local hills had […]
Can You Spare A Feather?
A wild and windy week but it has not stopped the Long Tailed Tits gathering feathers to line their nest’s with. All six nests that I have found are now at this stage and when you consider that some one counted more than two thousand feathers inside a Long Tailed Tits nest they have some […]
Good To Be Nesting Again
High pressure all week and I have been actively checking nest sites to the north of Rochdale in perfect conditions. A pair of Long Eared Owls is always good to see and the female must soon start incubating in an old crow’s nest amongst the pines. A search for Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers failed to produce […]
Breeding Season Begins
After the harshest Winter for years I have finally found two pairs of Long Tailed Tits building their nests in Hopwood woods – only seven days later than last year. On the 12th a Pipistrelle Bat was active at dusk as eighty Fieldfares went to roost at Pilsworth – the biggest flock I have seen […]
The Villain Returns
This male Sparrow Hawk on the bird bath was one of twenty species in the garden on the third March. A pair of Bullfinches also fed and there was a welcome return of the Willow Tit. On Hopwood a Woodcock was still present plus a drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker. A yaffle from a Green Woodpecker […]