The Isle of Wight Bee-eaters - now 9 strong!

19 Aug - These superb photos from Niton, IoW, show adult Bee-eaters(1,2), adults with food for 2 juveniles(3), and a juvenile in close up(4) showing its shorter tail and greener upperparts. Have 2 pairs bred?? there are now 5 juveniles with the 4 adults....the photos are from the NT Wydcombe website. Well done to all involved, lets just hope they return next year......

A garden first......

18 Aug - I think this is the first Song Thrush I've ever seen feeding on my lawn in 9 years! A juvenile.....good to see that they must have bred successfully locally.....

Stone Curlews on the Plain........

16 Aug - A guided walk at the Winterbourne Downs RSPB reserve on Salisbury Plain, and good, though distant, scope views of an adult and a juvenile Stone Curlew - very poor photos, due to distance and heat haze - amazing camouflage when crouching in furrows. The image below shows what they really look like......

SW Seabirds......

15 Aug - A day trip on the Scillonian at short notice and bargain price, in view of all the seabirds seen the last few days as a result of ex-hurricane Bertha swinging by, and some good sightings, the most notable being 2 distant Cory's Shearwaters soaring lazily into the breeze. Hundreds of Manx Shearwaters were moving (4,5), as well as the usual Gannets (2), Fulmars (3), Herring and Lesser-black Backed Gulls (6,7) and 2 brief views of Storm Petrel, and an Arctic Skua were other notable sightings. my Great Shearwater in UK waters will have to wait for another year.....see below......

The Isle of Wight Bee-Eaters.....,

Aug 9 - We had already arranged to go to the Isle of Wight today, mainly for the Chris Packham exhibition at Freshwater. The announcement of breeding Bee-eaters near Niton was a real bonus - so first stop, via a very friendly taxi driver at Ryde where the ferry docked, was the NT/RSPB viewpoint, where during an hour or so of viewing the birds were more or less constantly in view but fairly distant, both perched and in flight. The breeding area is a south-facing valley with a suitable bank, and the birds (up to 4 adults) perch on trees and wires. We saw at least 3 birds, also in flight (catching dragonflies) and heard their lovely liquid call. Record shots JM - very distant birds! The 2 photos below, which I took near Barcelona this June, show what they really look like......

Last days of summer?

7 Aug - A fine late summer evening, 3 Swifts (2,3) still over the garden with newly fledged Swallows (4) and House Martins (5) - the Swifts will go before this weekend's forecast storm I think?.......

Lochaber overnight.......

1-2 Aug - 2 days in Lochaber, and a mixed bag of weather....on 1st, an immature Sea Eagle was a real surprise flying over the A82 at the mouth of Loch Leven, and a walk up the glen was enlivened by a family party of Whinchats. on 2nd, the weather closed in just after we got to the summit of Ben Nevis, but a family party of Snow Buntings was around the cairn and old observatory, 3 juveniles and a very smart adult male seen.