Hurricane Ophelia has hit the UK and brought with it dust from the Sahara Desert and debris from forest fires in Spain and Portugal. The dust has caused shorter wavelength blue light to be scattered, leaving longer wavelength red light to shine through it. Ophelia originated in the Azores where it was classed as a […]
A juvenile Long-tailed Skua has been site faithful to the golf links at Goswick in Northumberland. The bird has been frequenting the greens and the fairways of this stunning golf course, particularly the 4th, 7th and 8th holes. We visited the course yesterday (Sunday 15th Oct 2017), an epic 12 hour day and just under
Arctic Warbler is a vagrant but annual visitor to Britain. It is a less than annual visitor to the east coast of Yorkshire, so when one of these leaf warblers turns up close to home, it is well worth the effort to go and see it. The species breeds in northern Scandinavia, eastwards to Siberia
My annual visit to Shetland began this year on the 22nd September, finishing on the 30th September 2017. The usual format of travelling up to Aberdeen on the Friday, stopping off at Black Dog for some sea watching before catching the overnight ferry to Lerwick. At Black Dog I found a juvenile Long-tailed Skua; a
Missing the Leach’s Petrel bonanza of last week on the Wirral, due to work commitments, I failed miserably on Friday 15th September. The wind had abated and birds had all moved through. A consolation was a Cattle Egret at Burton Wetlands Reserve and a juvenile Black Tern at New Brighton in the mouth of the
I paid another visit to RSPB Frampton Marsh in Lincolnshire this morning. There were huge numbers of waders on the scrapes as it was high tide. At least 300 Ringed Plover; 400 Dunlin; 3 Little Stint (including a moulting adult); 12 Curlew Sandpiper (all juveniles); 8 Greenshank; 12 Spotted Redshank, 1 Sanderling; scattering of Ruff,
The coastal hotspots at Spurn and Kilnsea on the East Yorkshire Coast are as good a bet as anywhere to produce migrants during the autumn months. This weekend was no exception, as it was the 5th Migration Festival weekend, so with such a lot of people in the area, birds were bound to be found.
I visited Tiree, one of the Inner Hebridean Islands, for the first time, during the last week of August. A beautiful place with some spectacular beaches and scenery. The island of Tiree is known as “The Land Below the Waves”. It has been inhabited since Mesolithic times, 9,000 years ago, when the last Ice Age
