Redstart
There’s a flashy Common Redstart on Dartmoor. The Old English word steort means tail. Redstarts are Red Tails.
Nestbuilding Gannet
Gannet nests aren’t really nests. They’re a messy accumulation of sea plants, used for marking nesting territory as much as any other …
Razorbill
It’s normally Puffins I see over the west Westray waves. This time a Razorbill is coming fast and low over the waves. …
Hello Mr Punch
What is it that makes Puffins so immensely comical? What features in their faces do we see human attributes in? I don’t …
Turquoise
Turquoise is called turquoise because it was imported through Turkey. The Atlantic Ocean on the wild west Westray coast is as turquoise …
A Stonechat consolation prize
I don’t normally ‘twitch’ for birds. If there’s a rarity somewhere I’ll usually go about my business as normal, without driving off, …
A symbol of endurance and wonder – the Bar-tailed Godwit
The Remarkable Life of the Bar-tailed Godwit The bar-tailed godwit is a long-distance migratory bird. It is known for making the longest …
More Oak Apples
Are there more Oak Apple Galls this year, or am I spending more time under oak trees looking upwards? Probably the latter, …
Mandarin
A male Mandarin Duck is always a cheerful sight. They are a constant reminder of just how much thought goes into choosing …
Redstarts
Redstarts are a joy to watch. Whenever I’m lucky enough to find a pair and see them feeding their chicks, I can …
Sunbathing Stonechat
Sunbathing is appealing to birds. This stonechat is lapping up the sunshine here on Dartmoor. It could be sunbathing because it’s a …
Performing background checks
It might come as a surprise that I nearly always select the background of the photograph before I select the bird. I …
My favourite fledglings
A trip to Dartmoor at this time of year is a great opportunity to see Stonechat fledglings. They’re slightly uncoordinated and unaware …
Pale Blue Eyes
Eurasian Jackdaws, Corvus monedula, have pale silvery-blue eyes due to the structure and pigmentation on their irises. But why do they have …
Common and very, very blue
The Common Blue Damselfly, Enellagma cyathigerurm, is flying and perching now, skimming low over freshwater ponds and lakes or dodging the air …
The tinkling of gold on a grey day
Sometimes it’s just too dull for bird photography. Then I find a Goldfinch and even the greyest of grey days tinkles with …
The chick appears
Back in Somerset I’m delighted that the Great Spotted Woodpeckers have successfully raised a chick so it is large enough to appear …
A male Blackcap screaming from the treetops
Sunny intervals. Bright between light showers. I love this time of year, apart from the hay fever. Here’s a remarkable photograph of …
The class system is rife whenever we describe nature
I’m frequently baffled by the birdsong people appreciate. I hear people using words like mellifluous to describe the song of the Blackcap, …
Jumping pond skaters
There are Pond Skaters on Ducklington Lake. It’s a beautiful place, even if you do have to indulge in wild parking on …
How many notes in a call?
Collared Doves make a three-note call. “Coo-COO-Coo”. Woodpigeons make a lower pitched, more gravelly five-note call. “Coo-COO-Coo Coo-Coo” Neither of them are …
Red Kite hunting
We’re having a walk around Farmoor Reservoir in Oxfordshire. It’s Oxfordshire’s largest body of open water. We have Anna the dog with …
Ground-nesting Herons
One of the things I thought I knew was that Grey Herons are colonial nesters in large heronries in trees. I’ve seen …
Tumble and glide
Jackdaws are fascinating to watch. They fill the fields here in Oxfordshire with their calls, scurrying and bounding across the ground and …
Olde Forde House again
I’ve already sketched Olde Forde House. It’s a lovely place to spend an hour wandering the gardens, despite the noise of the …
Just when you think you’ve taken all the Robin photos you are ever going to…
Just when you think you’ve taken all the Robin photos you are ever going to, along comes this one: How could I …
More Red Kites
Each morning here in Oxfordshire, over breakfast, after we’ve let the eleven chickens out of their bedtime quarters into their expansive run, …
Streptopelia decaocto
There’s a Collared Dove cooing in the garden. Coo-COO-Coo. Again and again. Those three syllables again and again. Coo-COO-Coo. The Collared Dove’s …
Three flavours of warble
Yes, I know you’ve seen it before. This Common Whitethroat, Curruca communis, is singing again in the garden of my friend’s house. …
The flame-coloured sun worshiper
It’s summer and it’s sunny. In the garden here in Oxfordshire, as we house-sit for friends, there are insects aplenty. Many are …