The most delicious taste for a creature of one mouthful
It’s always a delight to see a Wheatear. They’re quite incredible in their capacity to migrate. They can travel many thousands of …
Fledgling Rock Pipit
I’m climbing down the shallow cliffs to the sea to take photographs of Puffins in flight when I hear the usual pipping …
Tracing the outlines
I’m tracing the outlines of a barnacle city on the rocks of Westray’s shore. The outlines remind me of looking down on …
National Ragwort Day
Ragwort is a national treasure and should be celebrated. It’s a gloriously cheerful plant of the most intense yellow and green. It’s …
Escape
It’s hard to discuss bird behaviour without projecting human values, behaviours and emotions on them. Are birds happy? Playing? Angry? I suggest …
Webbed feet
If you are wondering how Puffins catch fish, they actually fly under water. They float on the surface of the water, sticking …
Juvenile Arctic Skua
There’s a juvenile Arctic Skua overhead. I’m getting amazing views. It’s not from this year because it has very different plumage from …
Rock home
It’s entertaining to spend a day on the cliffs with a flask of tea and a local cheese sandwich on home-made bread …
Masters of the side-wind landing
Puffins still have to land whichever way the wind is blowing. That’s tricky, because ideally they would like to land into the …
What’s in a flock?
I’ve been enjoying sitting on the grass watching a flock of Dunlin feeding. Occasionally they take off, especially when an Arctic Skua …
Arctic Skua attacking a Kittiwake
I’ve seen Great Skuas attacking juvenile Kittiwakes on Westray. They pluck them out of the air and peck them to death. It’s …
Puffins
Here’s a small collection of some of my previously unposted Puffin shots from this summer. Little sweetheart: Don’t look now, but I …
…you’re sure of a big surprise
The instructions our Slovenian guide, Miha, gives us are impeccably clear. He speaks in Italian first, then checks our nationalities and speaks …
If you go down to the woods today…
We’re going to see wild Brown Bears in Slovenia. That means taking a first-class train from Rome to Venice, picking up a …
One dramatic evening
It’s a dramatic evening, already quite dark, yet this Fulmar is still flying. The sun is lighting up the high clouds with …
Working Westray #4
It’s Wednesday, so it’s time for my series on Working Westray. I’m at the harbour and Willie is repairing the hull of …
Sundogs and Skuas
There’s an Arctic Skua hunting Puffins for their fish. The weather is stunning, with interesting clouds making rainbow sundogs either side of …
Final Puffin evening
It’s time to head out to the Castle o’ Burrian to see the Puffins for a final time. The light is unexpectedly …
Juvenile Peregrine pursued by Arctic Skuas
I hear a loud Keeeeoww; a scream coming from above me. I manage to get its source in my viewfinder. It’s a …
King of the Castle o’ Burrian
It’s been great to watch the Puffins this year. This one was collecting last-minute bedding for its Puffling. The air must get …
Razorbill – with fish!
I’ve seen hundreds of Puffins with beak-fulls of fish recently, but it’s still a rarity to watch a Razorbill fly past fully-laden …
Kittisleeps
Fledgling Kittiwakes are littering the inlets and cliffs of Westray. They seem like they are playing, delighted with their wings, whirling around …
Chasing
Once species chasing another is the order of the day. Inter-species conflict is breaking out all over the island. We’ve had an …
Feeling the breeze on your belly
Why do I like birds? A large part of it is that they make you feel intensely, vibrantly, alive. Seeing individuals going …
How low can you go?
I’d like you to have a look at two of my photographs, taken a minute or two apart. They are of a …
Synchro Puffin
Synchro Puffin should be a new Animal Olympics sport. Or should that be Animalympics? Maybe not, that was a cartoon. These two …
Juvenile Puffin flypast
I’ve taken a few thousand photographs of Puffins flying past me in the past few days. Most of them have fish in …
Twinkle twinkle little Puffin
Evenings are special when the sun sets slowly over the North Sea. Puffins gather in huge floats in the bay and fly …
The Black Guillemots of Aikerness
I’ve had a few trips recently to the far north of Westray. It’s a great place to go as it’s too far …
Outbuilding Sparrows
There’s a male House Sparrow chirping insistently on a bare patch of ground. He’s fluffed up his belly and is enjoying the …