On the 9th the Lapwings on the roof of the local Industrial estate set a new record at three hundred and twenty.They always use the same roof which in our eyes looks no different to the many others nearby but to the Lapwings it is special.

The first Autumn Woodcock appeared in Hopwood woods on the 8th with twenty Redpolls feeding in the birches on the 15th. Three Short Tailed Field Voles were seen on the 11th which should keep the Owls and raptors going for some time. A plucked Wood Pigeon found on the 15th was probably the work of a female Sparrowhawk or a Peregrine.

This summer I was lucky enough to film two different Nightjars each with two young. As the first one was popular on my gallery I have included some photos from the second for this weeks gallery. Nightjars are very special birds and this summers fabulous weather ensured that both fledged their young. Click here

With a cooler period of weather mid week we had a November record of birds feeding in the garden on the 6th. Twenty three species fed during the day including 17 Goldfinches, 2 male Bullfinches, Wren, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Jay and the first Nuthatch of the year.

I saw my first Fieldfare of the winter on the 5th which is a very late date. Less than ten miles from Castleton, as the crow flies, is Winter Hill and the Horwich moors where, in the last week, 25000 Fieldfares have been counted heading South! It seems strange that only one bird has been tempted to stay by the abundance of local berries.

Last weekend on the moors above Uppermill three Rough Legged Buzzards from Scandinavia had taken up residence. I am not normally a twitcher but on Monday I drove over to have a look. Unfortunately whilst one bird was still present it came no nearer than eight hundred yards and I had to make do with the abundance of local Red Grouse, so much for twitching! Click here

Our 100th visit to Islay since 1976 and by far the worst October weather we have ever had. Only two dry days in eight but on Islay there is always good bird-watching to be had despite the horizontal rain!
The Geese and Whooper Swans are always impressive but what was impressive on this visit were the thousands of Redwings on the island but no Fieldfares to be found, due no doubt to the continuously strong westerly winds.Back home House Sparrows are in decline but on Islay they are everywhere – we even had 33 around one feeder in the garden where we were staying.
On the best day we crossed to Jura and found an Otter plus 15 Turnstones along the shore. As usual Red Deer were everywhere and we even found an enormous toadstool. A superb male Merlin was seen to catch a Pipit and take it onto a stump to eat. He was extremely wary but I managed to obtain a record shot of him by hand holding a large lens on the side of the car.
One of the highlights of the week was seeing a flock of 68 Chough, the largest we have ever seen on Islay. Supplementary feeding of the young Chough is helping the juvenile birds survive their first Winter and the benefits are already beginning to show.
We cant wait to return next year! For photos of our visit Click here

After a visit to the Ribble at Settle a fortnight ago and no signs of any salmon I thought I would not be returning again this Autumn. However, a meeting with a fellow salmon enthusiast was to change all that after he telephoned me early one day last week to say that there were many salmon jumping the falls. When I sat beside the falls two hours later little did I know that I would not leave that spot for four hours!

Filming salmon is anything but easy. Firstly your camera will not focus on the falling water. Secondly you have no idea when and from what direction the salmon will appear. Thirdly you only have a split second to press the shutter so all in all there is a lot of wastage. This is borne out by the fact that out of 550 photos I took I have retained only 20! It was however a magical experience to sit within feet of these long distance travellers as they tried to reach the very spot where they were born. Click here

Will there ever be another breeding season like this one with young House Martins still in the nest in October and two broods of Barn Owls still in their nesting barn?

When you spend many hours observing and filming a species sometimes something happens that has never been recorded before let alone captured on film. This is exactly what happened with the Barn Owls. For six weeks only the male Barn Owl was feeding the seven young and at times he was only just coping with their ever increasing demands for food. One night when some of the young were on the wall outside the barn an older young flew in to them with a vole in its bill. It stood there for a minute as the young were looking the other way. Suddenly one young realised that the young was offering prey to it and then grabbed and swallowed the prey offered. I had little doubt that one of the young had learned how to catch prey and was responding to the hunger calls of its sibling and providing food. Has this ever been witnessed before? Click here

The colours of Autumn are shown no better than in the river systems of the Pennines and my favourite place is Whitewell in the Forest of Bowland. This weeks photo is one I take every year but never tire of the perfect setting and colours.

Migration is now well underway with the first garden Goldcrest appearing on the 7th October. Three days earlier a Redwing passed over as more Skylarks were on the move. In contrast eight House Martins were still present locally and left with the last of the warm weather.

The numbers of Salmon entering British rivers this year is extremely low and this was borne out by my visit to the river Ribble at Settle on the 10th. Not one was seen,  it would have been a wasted journey  but for a fly past of a Kingfisher.

Local foxes are now becoming more nocturnal as the woodland cover begins to die away. Only their droppings indicate an overnight presence. Click here