On my recent birthday we travelled to the Tay Reed Beds at Errol, between Perth and Dundee to hunt for rarely seen bearded tits, also known as bearded reedlings. If lucky enough to spot one for the first time ever it would be such a birthday treat. We’d been once before in early spring butContinue reading “If you go into the reed bed today …”
Tag Archives: photography
Bonkers Bonxies and Greedy Gannets
Recently on Shetland I went on a boat trip to the sandstone cliffs of Noss, home to a gannet colony and many other seabirds. On the way past the Isle of Bressay we got close up views of the great skua, known as a “bonxie” (meaning big breasted) in Shetland. This one had its eyeContinue reading “Bonkers Bonxies and Greedy Gannets”
Tammie Norries!
Last weekend I was lucky enough to see puffins for a second time this year, this time on the Shetland Islands. Here they are known as “Tammie Norries,” probably because in the old scots language a tammie norrie is foolish looking man. They are also known as clowns of the sea, because of their clownContinue reading “Tammie Norries!”
Water Babies
Tonight, instead of watching “Springwatch” on TV we went out to enjoy the sunny evening and see what we could observe on the canal. All was quiet and I was just saying, “I hear there’s some cygnets been seen…ooaah, and there they are!” Coming round a bend towards us was a swan with a groupContinue reading “Water Babies”
Goosy Ganders
The other day we witnessed a wee gaggle of greylag geese and eleven fluffy goslings trying to reach the pond for a swim. We first came upon three adults and one gosling on the path in front of us. The adults seemed to be encouraging the youngster to go back to the group it hadContinue reading “Goosy Ganders”
London Exotics
I went hunting in the centre of London for ring (or rose) necked parakeets and then realised I didn’t really need to hunt as they seemed to be everywhere! They originally come from Africa and Southern Asia but were kept as pets in the UK. However many escaped and they are living in the wildContinue reading “London Exotics”
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”
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”
The Long and the Short of it
Always expect the unexpected. A few weeks ago we took some friends to see if we could catch sight of a barn owl at dusk. When we arrived by the barns we were excited to see an owl on top of a post. At first I thought it was our male barn owl, but thenContinue reading “The Long and the Short of it”
Sarah's Wildlife Watch 