Winter Migration – Canned Wildlife

Waxwing Winter

Dec 27, 2018May 24, 2020Posted in BBC, Birds, Countryside, Encounters, Local, TV, VideoTagged BBC Midlands Today, Birder, Birding, Birds, Bromsgrove, Countryfile, Countryside, Encounter, Film, Interview, Migration, Nature, Ornithology, Outdoors, The Wildlife Trust, Waxwings, West Midlands, Wildlife, Winter, Winter Migrants, Winter Migration, Winterwatch, WorcestershireLeave a comment

Six years ago it was a similar mild and wet December, I happened to be looking on Twitter when I saw a tweet announcing that there was a large flock of Waxwings, at the Midlands best garden centre, Webbs of Wychbold in north Worcestershire.

It had been several years since the last irruption of Waxwings and it wasn’t a bird many people had seen, I had never seen any before and so like many people from all over the West Midlands region (and maybe further afield), I descended on Webbs of Wychbold.

Of course I took my trusty video camera along with me, it would have been madness not to get footage of these beautiful birds! Journalists at the local BBC Studios in Birmingham got wind of ‘something going on’ and so I decided to inform them of what it was and sent them a copy of the video I made (below).

BBC Birmingham loved my video, so I met up with Environment Correspondent, Dr David Gregory-Kumar and his lovely producer and cameraman, to be part of a news package on the Waxwing irruption (below).

Today I found out the collective noun for Waxwings is a museum or an earful. 😆

Many thanks,

Adam 🙂

The Wild Side: WWT Welney

Nov 17, 2018May 24, 2020Posted in Birds, Conservation, Encounters, Nature Reserve, VideoTagged Adam Canning, Adam L. Canning, BBC Wildlife, Bewick's Swan, Countryfile, Documentary, Earth on Location, Film, Flight of the Swans, Floodlit Feed, Journalism, Migration, Nature, Norfolk, Ouse Washes, Sacha Dench, Wetlands, Whooper Swan, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, Winter, Winter Migrants, Winter Migration, Wintering, Winterwatch, Wisbech, WWT WelneyLeave a comment

Two years ago my friend Jamie Wyver and I visited the wonderful Welney Wetland Centre, near Wisbech in the east of England (Norfolk). We were there filming for episode five of our TV series, The Wild Side, which was commissioned and broadcast by Cambridge TV (now called That’s Cambridge). The main subject of course, was the beautiful Bewick’s and Whooper Swans, as they migrate there each year in their thousands from Artic Russia and Iceland. You’ll see in the last part of the episode (below), I was given the amazing opportunity to perform a floodlit feed!

For more episodes of The Wild Side click here.

Thanks 😀

Canned Hilbre

Feb 27, 2018May 24, 2020Posted in Birds, Coast, Encounters, Exploration, Film, Nature Reserve, VideoTagged Adam Canning, Adam L. Canning, Birding, Calidris maritima, Cheshire, Elliot Montieth, Gay Birders, Goniochromism, Hilbre, Iridescence, Island, Isle, Merseyside, Migration, Natural History, Nature, North West, North Wirral, Ornithology, Outdoors, Purple Sandpiper, Sea Ducks, Sunset, The Wirral, Video, Waders, Winter, Winter Migrants, Winter Migration, Wintering, WinterwatchLeave a comment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bllkIi4unV8

⬆️ The video mentioned in the blog-post ⬇️

Elliot Montieth

Joined up with midlands naturalist Adam L. Canning for a trip over to Hilbre Island, Cheshire yesterday for a winter fix of waders and sea ducks. A total of 7hrs was spent on the island with Adam, resulting in a number of notable species: Purple Sandpiper, Common Scoter, Rock Pipit, Brent Goose (ssp. hota), Common Eider and an unseasonable Northern Gannet to name but a few.

The perfect lighting gave way for some ample photographic opportunities of the wintering Purple Sandpipers on the island, I’ve uploaded several onto the blog. Hopefully you’ll be able to make out the purple iridescence which gives them their name.

Purple Sandpiper_edited-1 Purple Sandpiper (Calidris maritima)