The thirtieth species to visit the garden this Winter proved to be a new bird in the form of a male Pheasant. Where it has come from is a mystery as none have been seen in the forty three years we have lived in the area. Its life expectancy is probably not that long if the local Fox has anything to do with it!

In the last week some time has been spent in the annual search for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and Woodcock but so far to no avail. As I didn’t find the nest of either last year perhaps the odds are in my favour this year?

It was good to sit in a hide at a Kingfisher site during the week. The aim was to film copulation and although this did occur during my visit it was too far away from the camera to film.

This week’s photo is of a male Long Eared Owl roosting close to its female who was down on eggs in an old Magpie’s nest. This pair always run the gauntlet of disturbance from campers and Easter this year is going to be a particularly bad time for them with it being so late.

On the 17th March two young Tawny Owls fledged from a nest box in Castleton making them the earliest I have ever recorded in the last fifty years. The first egg would have been laid on or about the 15th January and it begs the question did the owls know when they laid their eggs there would be very little snow after that date? I have often thought that birds can predict the weather ahead and this early laying re-enforces this theory.

During the week I have filmed a pair of Long Tailed Tits building a nest in a fork in a tree. This type of Long Tailed Tit’s nest is not that common and I have only ever seen one like it before,

In the hills a female Long Eared Owl was incubating eggs on the 19th, which is five days later than last year. Another pair were together and ready to commence breeding and a Woodcock was still present in an area of bracken and hopefully may stay to breed.

A search for Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers failed to locate any at an old breeding site in Yorkshire and this species is now in serious decline. This wood did in fact produce Bluebells in flower and Sycamores in leaf!

We have just returned from spending five days in the Cairngorms where we hoped to film some good snow scenes for a future DVD. What we had was fifteen inches of snow as we arrived and five days of breath taking Winter scenery.

At the ski center car park, high up Cairngorm, Snow Buntings were feeding and provided us with some good film. The snow was waist deep and made it impossible to venture up the high slopes in search of Ptarmigan.

Some time was spent searching in the old Caledonian forests and finally we found Crested Tits at three localities, with film being taken, despite their incredible speed. It was also good to see the forests full of Red Squirrels and not a Grey Squirrel in sight!

On the lochs that were not frozen we watched Goosanders and displaying Goldeneyes. At Loch Garten the cameras were being put into position on the Osprey’s nest in readiness for the male’s arrival in the next week. We stayed at the Grants Arms in Grantown on Spey and would thoroughly recommend it to any visiting bird watchers.

It has taken forty three years but finally a male Blackcap has appeared in the garden to feed. So the apples I put out to attract the Waxwings have proved useful after all! Three days this week we have had more than twenty species feeding including a record four Reed Buntings on the eleventh.

The breeding season is now well underway and during this week I have found the nests of Long Tailed Tit, Tawny Owl, Wood Pigeon and three Dippers, two of which were already incubating eggs. When will the first Summer visitor arrive?

On Hopwood a Woodcock was present plus one solitary Redwing. Both might soon be on their way to their Scandinavian breeding grounds.

We have had more than twenty species of birds in the garden, on any one day, on two occasions this week. On the 3rd March they peaked at twenty four different species, a garden record. Amongst these were a record five Siskins along with three Reed Buntings, a Willow Tit, Nuthatch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Sparrowhawk and all the commoner species.

Frogs are now spawning in many places with over a hundred together on Hopwood where this weeks photograph was taken. Also on HOpwood on the third March was a Green Woodpecker searching for ants on the ground and a Woodcock was also seen.

A visit to the moorland plantations showed Long Eared Owls in their breeding sites but there was very little evidence of voles this year. The upland reservoirs have still got good numbers of Goosanders and Goldeneye. More than fifty Fieldfares were present in one forest and Siskins are everywhere. A constant stream of Skylarks are now returning to the hills and it promises to be an early Spring.

The severe weather of December on Islay delayed the flowering of the Snowdrops but this worked to my benefit as they were at their best during our last week there. After I had taken the still photo of the Snowdrops the scene was made even better when I was using my video camera as a Roebuck walked through them only twenty foot in front of me.

During our stay we have had the worst weather we have ever had during February on Islay with only one good day. Even in poor conditions we have watched Peregrine, Kestrel, Sea Eagle, Sparrowhawk, male Hen Harriers and a pair of Golden Eagles.

Although many of the small birds have left the island the highlights have been the sheer numbers of Crossbills. Many family parties were feeding on the cones and some of the males were scarlet in colour.