Swallow Birding

Heath Fritillaries

Orgy of HEATH FRITILLARIES at Hockley Wood, Essex on Tuesday.

Common Nightingale giving it large!

Pretty ropey weather down at Abberton Reservoir this morning. Redhead SMEW, 3 RUFF, 5 GOOSANDER, 3 MARSH HARRIER, RAVEN, ROCK PIPIT and 3 GREAT EGRETS best of the bunch.

European Nightjar

Wobbly video of 'churring' EUROPEAN NIGHTJAR taken during our trip to Suffolk on Tuesday night.

Hummingbird Hawkmoth

So pleased to see a HUMMINGBIRD HAWKMOTH in our Stanway garden this evening. It's been a while since one of these beauties graced us with a visit.

Loganair plane landing at Barra Airport

Loganair flight from Glasgow landing at Barra Airport (the only airport in the world that has scheduled flights landing on a beach!)

EURASIAN PYGMY OWL

FINLAND - LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN We have spent the last three days birding the area around Oulu in Northern Finland and what a great time we are having. Highlights have included GREAT GREY, PYGMY, LONG-EARED, SHORT-EARED, BOREAL and URAL OWLS which our group have enjoyed good views of us but so far, Hawk Owl has eluded us. Other goodies included CASPIAN TERNS, COMMON ROSEFINCHES, WHITE-TAILED EAGLES, PIED FLYS, BLACK GROUSE, HAZEL GROUSE, lots of EURASIAN WOODCOCK and more. Non avian species have included RED SQUIRREL, MOUNTAIN & BROWN HARES, NORTHERN DAMSELFLY, RUBY WHITEFACE, EUROPEAN SWALLOWTAIL and NORTHERN WALL BROWN to name but a few. Today we head Northeast to Kuusamo for 3 nights where we hope to see more great species. Here is some footage of a rather smart PYGMY OWL from yesterday.

GREAT GREY OWLS

FINLAND - LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN Great to be back in Finland and what a start to our tour! This amazing female GREAT GREY OWL with two chicks wowed our group this afternoon and we have caught up with some great species such as ORTOLAN BUNTING, CASPIAN TERNS, GARGANEY, HORNED GREBE, SHORT-EARED OWLS, BOREAL OWL, COMMON ROSEFINCHES and COMMON CRANE amongst others.

Fishing Northern Gannets off the Isle of Noss, Shetland

SHETLAND SUMMER BIRDING Sunday 29th & Monday 30th May 2022 An amazing past couple of days with weather varying from bitterly cold to blue skies and sunshine but the wildlife has been utterly brilliant. Highlights included 3 RED-NECKED PHALAROPES, feeding MINKE WHALE, RED GROUSE, thousands of seabirds at the colonies at Sumburgh Head and the Isle of Noss, SHETLAND BUMBLEBEE, displaying EURASIAN WHIMBREL, WHOOPER SWANS, RED-THROATED DIVERS, ARCTIC & GREAT SKUAS. It wasn't difficult for our group to choose their favourite moment and these fishing NORTHERN GANNETS were something that would stick in our memories for a long time!

Calling EUROPEAN STORM PETREL

SHETLAND SUMMER BIRDING Saturday 28th May 2022 A great first day of our Shetland tour with some great wildlife including RED-NECKED PHALAROPE, ARCTIC TERNS, SANDERLING and other waders in pristine breeding plumage, GREAT & ARCTIC SKUAS and our first OTTER of the trip. We concluded the day with a cracking visit to the Isle of Mousa where hundreds of EUROPEAN STORM PETRELS flitted around us and we could hear them calling from the Iron Age Broch. Apparently likened to a fairy being sick, what do you reckon?

LEAF-CUTTER ANTS

Our group were mesmerised by these LEAF-CUTTER ANTS as they headed to their nest in a large tree. We're coming to the end of a fantastic tour and with another couple of days to go, we are hoping to add some new species to our lists.

FIERY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD

Didn't expect to be videoing this FIERY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD from just 3 inches away using my phone!

Mantled Howler Monkeys

These MANTLED HOWLER MONKEYS have been waking us up at 4.15am the past few mornings. Apparently the sound has been used in lots of films that feature Tyrannosaurus Rex. #uselessfactoftheday

Common Starlings in the Somerset Levels

Somerset Levels - Winter Birding Spectacular Friday 25th - Monday 28th February 2022 Some video of the 250,000 COMMON STARLINGS coming into roost.

Feeding Northern Gannets, Cleveland

Some footage of feeding NORTHERN GANNETS off Marske Beach, Cleveland last week. Never seen them feeding so close to shore before. Amazing scenes!

Waders at Fingringhoe Wick

Lovely day mooching about at Fingringhoe Wick EWT & Abberton Res looking at plants, insects and birds. Lots to see including PURPLE EMPEROR, SOUTHERN MIGRANT HAWKER, WILLOW EMERALD, SMALL RED-EYED DAMSELFLY, PURPLE HAIRSTREAK, EUROPEAN TURTLE DOVE, EURASIAN BULLFINCH, MANDARIN DUCKS, WESTERN CATTLE EGRET, GREAT EGRETS, LITTLE RINGED PLOVER, EURASIAN HOBBY, BEEWOLF and lots more. Here is some video of COMMON GREENSHANK, SPOTTED & COMMON REDSHANKS at Fingringhoe Wick.

Abberton Reservoir Eurasian Spoonbills

Managed to get out early this morning before it got too hot and spent some time with the Abberton Reservoir EURASIAN SPOONBILLS. They certainly have grown in the past couple of weeks! Other highlights included 6 CATTLE EGRET, GREAT WHITE EGRET and 3 MANDARIN DUCK. Took lots of images and video but here is some of the adult coming back with food for 2 hungry mouths.

European Turtle Dove at Wrabness EWT reserve

Our Birding groups this week were overwhelmed with our views of EUROPEAN TURTLE DOVES at Wrabness. This has to one of the best places in the UK to see this rapidly declining species.

Eurasian Spoonbill at Abberton Reservoir

Busy week leading trips but couldn't resist popping down to Abberton Reservoir to see the breeding EURASIAN SPOONBILLS. Not the best of videos but the adult can be seen defending it's nest from a..... Wood Pigeon. Superb news with 2 chicks being seen at the moment and constitutes the first breeding record for Essex.

EURASIAN SPOONBILLS, Suffolk 7th July 2020

Our first EUROPEAN NIGHTJAR evening on the Suffolk coast was very successful with at least four birds seen and many heard plus a supporting cast of WOODLARK and DARTFORD WARBLER. Earlier in the afternoon we were privileged to witness nine EURASIAN SPOONBILLS feeding in water meadows adjacent to the Deben Estuary. Here is a video of them which I hope you enjoy.