Author Archives: sarahthurlbeck

Whooper swans visit each winter from Iceland. They are larger than mute swans and have bright yellow beaks with black tips. Mute swans are not so appropriately named, after all they do honk and hiss. However whooper swans DO live up to their names and very loudly at that! Here are a couple of whooperContinue reading “Whoopers and Whistlers”

We’d hardly stepped out of our back gate when we saw these three roe deer wandering down the lane towards possible oncoming traffic. So we retreated back to our garden and hoped they would come back up the lane and into safer heath and woodland. Thankfully they did just that. We’re so lucky to haveContinue reading “Winter Locals”

I walked down the main path in Mugdock Wood yesterday which was busy and noisy with people and dogs. I could hear jays squawking and a woodpecker chooking but thought they would not be coming anywhere near this main path. So I walked off some rough, less trodden paths to the sides. At first IContinue reading “Bonny Bramblings”

One bird we were not expecting to see on Madeira was the Osprey. It is a rare visitor to the island. So when my husband tried to point one out to me I thought he must be mistaken. But no, one was fishing in the river running into the sea in the town of Machico.Continue reading “Surprise Sighting!”

We were very fortunate to have a week’s winter sun in Madeira at the end of November and one day I joined a “Madeira Wind Birds” tour run by naturalists Hugo Romano & Catarina Correia-Fagundes. The aim of the tour was primarily to try and spot birds endemic to Madeira, that is, birds unique toContinue reading “Birdwatching in Madeira”

Aberlady Bay nature reserve in East Lothian is one of my favourite places to go either early in the morning or at dusk. In autumn there is the spectacle and incredible sound of thousands of geese taking off at dawn or coming in to land at dusk. However there are other great sights all yearContinue reading “Aberlady Bay Highlights”

Fast forward two months after seeing the long eared owls at dusk and I finally managed to photograph “our” barn owls at dusk. This was after a few attempts. Barn owls have specially adapted feathers with a comb like edge which make them softer and silent in flight. So there is no sound to warnContinue reading “Owls at Dusk 2”

In June we parked our campervan next to the barn where we’d put up the barn owl box in January and I watched for an hour at dusk, hoping to glimpse a barn owl. Alas not a thing to be seen so we went a lovely sunset walk. We were lured to some hedges whereContinue reading “Owls at Dusk 1”

In January some friends who have large derelict barns on their property invited us over to help construct a Barn Owl box. We got the instructions from “The Barn Owl Trust” website. The box was made and positioned high up on the edge of one of the barns. This spring my friends thought that atContinue reading “Barn Owl Chicks”

A few weeks ago I spotted the first cygnet for our local swan pair. The pair had been sitting on the nest for about six weeks and it was on a rainy afternoon that I saw one peeking out, whilst its siblings either hadn’t yet hatched or they were keeping tucked in, sheltered from theContinue reading “Cygnet Season”