This weeks photo and gallery are of two Hedgehogs that visited the garden a couple of weeks ago. Every night they would appear when it was almost dark, gorge themselves below the bird feeders, then quickly disappear back into the neighbouring woods. The fact that they have not been for a week must indicate that they are now in hibernation. Click here
During the last week I have seen my first Redwings of Autumn with a daily passage of up to fifty two birds. Grey Wagtails and Skylarks have also been leaving the Pennines moving in a westerly direction. On Hopwood twenty two Redpolls were feeding in Alders with six Reed Buntings going to roost together on the 14th. Despite the long period of eastern winds recently Fieldfares have yet to arrive.

This weeks photo begs the question was there ever a better bird photographed amongst that obnoxious plant Himalayan Balsam? It was a classic find deep in the heart of the Pennines as I searched for migrant thrushes. Clearly a bird on the move and I have failed to find it again since that memorable encounter.
In the last week Autumn wildlife has shown itself in abundance. Comma butterflies have been seen regularly and late Dragonflies have been active. Adders have now gone into hibernation and Autumn Crocus has already come and gone to seed.The highlight of the week was finding a Green Sandpiper feeding along the steam in Hopwood woods. It has to be the second best bird that I have ever found locally in nearly fifty years (second only to a Hen Harrier!)
Click here

Just after sunset on Wednesday last week I looked into a darkening garden and noticed a Sparrowhawk plucking and devouring a Goldfinch. I grabbed my camera and rushed upstairs and after carefully opening the bedroom window I rested a 600mm lens on the window sill at a distance of thirty feet from the still feeding Sparrowhawk. The problem came when I switched on the camera and could only get a reading of f5.6 at 1/40th of a second on ISO3200! A couple of years ago it would have been impossible to expect any decent photo on this setting. However, all the photos in this weeks gallery were taken on this setting and without a tripod!! The miracle of digital photography. Click here

A couple of weeks ago I was watching the Kestrel which features on my blog when it suddenly took off in pursuit of prey. One photo captured the moment of take-off and like most wildlife photography there were no second chances.

This weeks gallery is of Spitsbergen’s most famous sea-bird cliff at Alkefjellit. More than one hundred thousand Brunnichs Guillemots breed on this cliff and these are hunted by Arctic Foxes and Glaucous Gulls. Walruses haul out on a beach nearby.Click here

September is a good time to visit Morecambe Bay to film wading birds and this year water levels are just right. During the week I spent three hours one morning on the Bay and was treated to great action from Snipe, Greenshank and Spotted Redshank. In addition Little Egrets were everywhere and even Cormorants had mastered the knack of catching fish in front of the hides. A Peregrine flying past was the icing on the cake but too fast for a photo! Click here

This weeks photo shows a September brood of Swallows at my local Golf club. The nest has been built on metal netting that was put up to stop them nesting!! It didn’t work and several broods of Swallows have already fledged and are heading south to Africa. The Swallows had a major problem in that they were nesting in a room that was secured overnight by a sliding green door. It meant that the Swallows could not fly to their nest to feed their young when the door was closed. They got around this potentially disastrous problem by landing on the ground and squeezing under the door though a one inch gap!! There are four pictures in this weeks gallery that show how this manoeuvre was effected. Click here