During our recent travels around Inverness we came across a pair of Slavonian Grebe that were feeding a this years young. Such is the rarity of Slavonian Grebes today that the young in this weeks photo may be one of less than ten reared in Britain this year. Global warming is having a devastating effect on the Grebes and within the next ten years we may loose them as breeding birds. Even in Iceland, where they were once quite common, there are now only 150 breeding pairs left.
Whilst staying at the Grants Arms last week we were surprised to find that we had been upgraded to a room with a four-poster bed and a plaque which stated that in 1860 “Queen Victoria and Albert slept here” – photo in this weeks gallery! Click here

No visit to Speyside is complete without a visit to the lake where Ospreys come to fish. Unfortunately as this is situated in the centre of Aviemore the Ospreys come to fish early, very early, in the morning. I was in the hide before 4.30 am and by 5.00am three Ospreys had already left with a fish each. As the sun did not rise until 5.30am there was insufficient light to take any worthwhile photos. By 6.30am all the Ospreys had gone and there had been eight fish caught and one missed catch. Only on the last dive was there enough light to freeze the action. It is a big technical challenge for anyone following in my footsteps but , hopefully I will be back next year to take the ultimate photo!! Click here

In making forty full length cine films I was never in a position to film hunting Long Eared Owls at dusk. I did, on two occasions, film them at the nest feeding their young, through the night, involving twenty foot of scaffolding and using lights to illuminate the nest. It was a magical experience and one that is now impossible to repeat. However,I was still missing the hunting at dusk sequences and never got them as Kodak stopped making cine film.
This year everything coincided perfectly – an abundance of voles, endless sunshine at dusk and five young Owls to feed. To satisfy the appetite of the growing young both Long Eared Owls had to hunt in the evening light and provided me with the photos I had always dreamed of. Enjoy this weeks gallery as it is unlikely that I will ever see a repeat performance. click here

The warm, dry, sunny weather of this summer has provided exceptional conditions for breeding Short Tailed Field Voles. The knock-on effect is that Short Eared Owls have been breeding all over the Pennines, although some will have lost their young in the two devastating fires. However, many have been successful and this weeks photo is of a hunting male. One of his young is featured in the gallery and was very aggressive when I approached for a photograph. click here

This weeks Little owls are one of the three high Pennine Owl species, the other two being Short Eared and Long Eared Owls. The abundance of voles this year has enabled the latter two species to have a bumper year but the Little Owls have not been as successful due to the drought. Worms form a major part of the Little Owls diet and there have been very few available this summer. The result is that this pair of Little Owls only have one young this year compared to three last year. Click here
I have spent nearly fifty years hoping to film adult Long Eared Owls bringing prey to their fledged young. For only four weeks of the year do you have any chance to capture a photo and usually the weather is poor with no light at sunset to freeze the movement. Well, it all comes good to he who waits and the last week has produced results I could only have dreamed of – see the gallery in two weeks time!

In the last three weeks I have spent thirty seven hours in my hide at the nest-site of a pair of Kingfishers. Every session has been in unbroken sunshine and in forty five years of filming Kingfishers I have never seen such settled conditions. I have been waiting for the young to fledge and this weeks photo is of one of those young, just a couple of hours after leaving the tunnel. Instinct tells it to fish to survive but unfortunately that instinct has not yet kicked in and our bird plunged into the water and came out with a leaf!!
The gallery this week includes some of the photos from the last three weeks showing the adults diving and bringing fish for their young.Click here