Hugh Harrop of Shetland Wildlife & TUB I’m beginning to catch my breath after an amazing two week stint on Shetland in June followed by a frenetic filming and writing schedule – which hasn’t ended just yet! I want to thank Hugh Harrop for being such a great mate and a good geezer all round […]
The coast at Scatness Immature Common Crossbill, Baltasound, Unst Redshank Great Skua at sea Common Tern in Lerwick Arctic Hare
Gannet at Noss Gannet Grey Seal Atlantic Puffin (Hugh Harrop) Golden Plover Common Crane with busted wing Immature male Scarlet Rosefinch
Northern Lapwing Oystercatcher Northern Fumar Common Starling Little Stint A pair of Red-necked Phalaropes A female Red-necked Phalarope
Had a nice Sunday morning strolling around the shingly expanses of Dungeness, Kent. There wasn’t a great deal around bird-wise but that was cool. It was nice to take a break from the tons of writing that I have been doing recently. A pair of Linnets The lighthouse An expensive beach hut A curious male […]
Some views of the glorious countryside at Castro Verde….. Male Stonechat Alentejo list Cattle Egret Little Egret Great Egret Grey Heron White Stork Mallard Griffon Vulture Black Vulture Golden Eagle Iberian Imperial Eagle Booted Eagle Bonelli’s Eagle Short-toed Eagle Black-shouldered Kite Black Kite Marsh Harrier Montagu’s Harrier Common Buzzard Kestrel peregrine Red-legged Partridge Moorhen Coot […]
I really love the Alentejo Region of Portugal. Set between the Algarve in the south and Lisbon in the north, it really is a relatively undiscovered jewel. I was there for just two days for meetings sandwiched in between tons of birding. Saw some great stuff including a Golden Eagle at its eyrie with two […]
Long-eared Owl A fantastic seven days wandering the Pannonian Plains. I can’t wait for next year’s spring tour. Give me a shout if you fancy coming with me! Tour list Black-necked Grebe Great Crested Grebe Little Grebe Great Cormorant Pygmy Cormorant Little Bittern Night Heron Squacco Heron Little Egret Great Egret Grey Heron Purple Heron […]
The vista White Stork Black-necked Grebe Common Buzzard A very blurred Barred Warbler
Hot, idyllic days so far Quite a few Marsh Warblers Tons of Collared Doves Stacks of Bee-eaters A male Syrian Woodpecker amongst tripods and a dead female Red-footed Falcon A poor Rook chick that fell out of its nest in the rookery with our guide, Milan Ruzic Spotted Flycatchers abound There’s plenty of Red-backed Shrikes […]
I’ve been so cold for so long this year in the UK. Indeed, ever since last October I have barely felt the rays of the warm sun on my back. This is mid May and it really does look and feel like March. Today was relatively dull with a quite fresh wind blowing. Wednesday was […]
Yellow Wagtail Black-throated Diver Great Crested Grebe Red-necked Grebe Cormorant Bittern Little Egret Great Egret Grey Heron White Stork Mute Swan Whooper Swan White-fronted Goose Bean Goose Greylag Canada Goose Barnacle Goose Shelduck Mallard Gadwall Shoveler Wigeon Teal Garganey Pochard Tufted Duck Scaup Eider Common Scoter Velvet Scoter Long-tailed Duck Goldeneye Goosander Red-breasted Merganser Capercaillie […]
Female Red-breasted Flycatcher Male Northern Wheatear Goldfinch collecting nesting material from a building site White Stork Sedge Warbler Female Common Redstart Crested Lark Pied Flycatcher Pied Flycatcher Common Whitethroat Barn Swallows
Lying on the Latvian coast with the Baltic Sea to the west and the Gulf of Riga to the east, Cape Kolka looks well placed for receiving migrants destined for Scandinavia further north. Perhaps 90 miles north west of Latvia’s capital Riga, it has to be one of Europe’s hidden gems when it comes to […]
Correspondence for this blog has been rather slack recently due to me being pretty exhausted at night after long days in the field. But I will be plastering this blog with loads of images from Latvia in the coming days. For the past couple of days we have been based at Kolka Cape to the […]
Found four Whiskered Terns today with a bunch of Black Terns, Black-headed Gulls and a Little Gull just outside Riga representing the first record for over 24 years – yowza!! We also watched a Black Kite drift over nearby – rare visitor! One of the four Whiskered Terns Male Starling Tree Sparrow Pied Flycatcher Black […]
Arrived in Riga, Latvia this afternoon for a week of birding, talks and interviews in a country that I know absolutely nothing about bar the fact that it is the hen party/stag night capital of Europe. Was taken around a reserve near the coast seeing and hearing such delights as Bittern, Savi’s Warbler, Thrush Nightingale, […]
I’ve been very lucky over the past few days whilst strolling around Central London. No, I didn’t find a stash of cash on the floor nor was I basking under a hot sun – when is that going to happen again? No, I’ve seen some great urban birds. A week ago whilst walking along Southbank […]
Today was a good day at The Scrubs. We recorded our first spring Pied Flycatcher since 2006 and this female was the first since 2005. Cute bird!
Life on the ocean wave is all very well but there comes a time in your life when you have to return home to survey the scene. Home for me is the patch – Wormwood Scrubs. Winter at The Scrubs ended last week whilst I was watching Glaucous Gulls off the coast of Norway. We […]