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”
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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”
Beaucoup de Beavers
Last October we tried to spot the Knapdale beavers near the Crinan canal but had no luck. They’ve been introduced back into the wild in Scotland, including at Loch Lomond. Recently in Pitlochry I saw lots of evidence of beavers, mainly sharp angular toothmarked gouges on riverside tree trunks and pointed stumps of trees. AContinue reading “Beaucoup de Beavers”
Barn Owl Bairns
All is well in the barn owl box, although due to a technical hitch its only this last week or so that I’ve been able to check in on it. At the start of May Marny left the nest for a few minutes to reveal six white eggs. Also a lovely juicy mouse for breakfast!Continue reading “Barn Owl Bairns”
Great Crested Grebe Chicks!
Today we returned to Hogganfield Loch and were delighted to see that the great crested grebe chicks had hatched and were riding along on their Mums’ backs. Two lots of chicks were on their parents’ backs far off in the middle of the loch but we saw that one lot were being kept close toContinue reading “Great Crested Grebe Chicks!”
The Waiting Game
May is a month of waiting. Nests have been constructed, eggs laid and now the parent birds sit it out and wait. Let’s hope this moorhen’s nest on a branch over the river Tyne at Haddington survives any deluges of water. The swan has her nest on an island in the middle of the river.Continue reading “The Waiting Game”
Sarah's Wildlife Watch 