Wednesday last week (09/01/2019) I spent a day at Pitsford Water in Northamptonshire, with James Burman. We were there to track down one, if not both, of the Great Northern Divers (GND) a.k.a Common Loon, which are currently wintering there. On our long walk around this vast body of water (starting at the Dam), we… Continue reading Common Loon at Pitsford Reservoir
Tag: Winter
Common Kingfisher on an Urban River
On Tuesday I got up somewhat early, to arrive in Leicestershire for sunrise, where I met up with my friend James Burman. We planned to have a full day to locate, observe and film (or photograph in James's case) his local Kingfishers, which frequent a river in the middle of a fairly busy town. This… Continue reading Common Kingfisher on an Urban River
Waxwing Winter
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… Continue reading Waxwing Winter
The Wild Side: WWT Welney
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… Continue reading The Wild Side: WWT Welney
Wildlife in March
Despite Snowmageddon, the Beast from the East and Storm Emma, some animals will still be going about their business as usual, if you can believe it! The videos below are of what you may see if you venture out, if not, then you got to enjoy these species in detail in the comfort of your home, and maybe would… Continue reading Wildlife in March
Canned Hilbre
⬆️ The video mentioned in the blog-post ⬇️
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 (Calidris maritima)
Purple Sandpiper (Calidris maritima)
Purple Sandpiper (Calidris maritima)
Purple Sandpiper (Calidris maritima)
Purple Sandpiper (Calidris maritima)
Other bits and bobs…
Common Scoter (Melanitta nigra)
Common Eider (Somateria mollissima)
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Wildlife in February
So, it's February and quite a lot of us are seeing signs of spring. But what wildlife is there to see? Well, here are my four short fact filled informative videos; on some cool bird species you should look and listen out for this month! Enjoy 🙂 (2012) https://youtu.be/HBS2ZJHv2dY https://youtu.be/QF7J135u3P8 * irruptions https://youtu.be/mmFgacI4mLI (2016) https://youtu.be/p-90-r2MTGw… Continue reading Wildlife in February