sarahthurlbeck

Feeder Firsts

We’ve had some new visitors to our garden feeder this winter, smaller than the goldfinches and tits, wee redpolls. They have a maroon streak on their heads and pinkish breasts. I’ve never ever seen them in the garden before. There was a group of three feeding from the feeder and on the ground. We’ve alsoContinue reading “Feeder Firsts”

Chilling Out

Happy Christmas! It’s cold and dreich outside but the wildlife just gets on with it. As long as there’s water and food most can survive the cold. There seems to be an abundance of robins and not just those pictured on Christmas cards. They add a splash of red to the winter landscape and theirContinue reading “Chilling Out”

On Return Tickets

The whooper swans have flown in from Iceland to spend the winter here. Down in an English nature reserve they have seen thousands, however I was pleased to see seven at my local Hogganfield Loch. There are a couple of young ones in the group whose grey plumage is gradually changing to white. Whooper swansContinue reading “On Return Tickets”

Some American Wildlife

I was fortunate to be able to visit the states of Colorado and Utah during the first fortnight in October. Here are some photos of wildlife observed during the visit. Firstly I came across Mule Deer, I guess so called because of their large ears. They were not too timid so I was able toContinue reading “Some American Wildlife”

Going Nuts

Autumn is approaching and squirrels are actively collecting and stashing nuts. I’ve been watching both greys and reds busy doing this. I photographed this cheeky grey squirrel in Northern Ireland. Here its looking hopefully at me, hoping I might have some nuts to give. Of course I was a big disappointment and it jumped offContinue reading “Going Nuts”

Blackbirds Feeding

I’ve been watching this male blackbird feed its youngster in our back garden over this past week. Young blackbirds are a warm brown colour and beautifully speckled at this time of year. Later on they will moult all of their juvenile feathers to replace them with the black of the male or dark brown ofContinue reading “Blackbirds Feeding”

Fabulous First Fledgling

Last night we had a long awaited fine evening and we saw from the owl cams that the fledglings were out! So we headed over to the barns and sure enough our bairns were practising flying the lengths of the barns. The light inside the barns was too poor to capture them in flight butContinue reading “Fabulous First Fledgling”

Campsie Characters

The countryside around in the lee of the Campsie Fells is my “local patch”. On a recent walk up the Campsies I could hear a sound like two stones chapping together coming from the ferns. This was a stonechat, very common around here. A less common sight and sound for me is the linnet, withContinue reading “Campsie Characters”

Fabulous Fox Cub Foursome

I was walking by the river Kelvin today hoping to catch sight of a kingfisher. None was seen but I was delighted to spot four cavorting fox cubs in a field on the other side of the river. What an absolute joy to watch them at play, chasing, leaping, wrestling and rolling. They were aContinue reading “Fabulous Fox Cub Foursome”

Bigger Barn Owl Bairns

The blurry photo below shows the first of our barn owl bairns to venture out of the box last week. This was perhaps his or her first sighting of a human being, myself, at 10pm. I had crept around the corner of the barn as I had seen on the the security camera footage thatContinue reading “Bigger Barn Owl Bairns”