About a month ago a juvenile Osprey arrived near Wadebridge and started to hangout near Target pool, visible from the Camel Trail  1 mile marker just beyond Pendavey bridge on the Wadebridge - Bodmin section of the disused railway line that is now a major tourist attraction. The bird looked to be roosting in the tall oaks above the river but having watched it intently recently I think it's roosting elsewhere and only flying in at first light to perch up and preen. Because a similar Osprey used the same trees last autumn it was automatically assumed it was the same bird but ..read more

  Common Dolphin I've been leading a few pelagic boat trips for Naturetrek Wildlife Holidays in the past few years and these 2 single day trips were packed full of wildlife! We were aboard the "Spirit of our seas", a brand new catamaran skippered by CK, Captain Keith and out of the Falmouth deep water estuary and into Falmouth Bay. "If it's out there Keith will find it!". Very knowledgeable crew members were Fen on the Saturday & Alex on the Sunday, Thanks guys! Spirit of our seas. On both tours we encountered Harbour Porpoise just close in the bay with Mediterranea ..read more

 Nightjars... What special birds! Masters of camouflage! For many years I've enjoyed going out to watch & more often hear them in the forests & heathland of mid & north Cornwall. Until now all of my photographs have been grab shots of them perched at the top of a tree or whizzing past my ear!   All that changed this year when I found my first bird at roost on the ground!  With its eyes closed and just an occasional flicker showing it was still alive I watched it intently thinking 'does he know I'm here' or is he so confident in its ability to stay motionless an ..read more

  I'm sure the presence of nesting Kittiwakes in a town centre like Bridlington isn't seen as a favourable asset by many people. But for us who had come up to Yorkshire from Cornwall to photograph seabirds it was all part of the wildlife experience. We are used to Herring Gulls nesting in our Cornish towns and are familiar with the downside of their mess, constant noise and the antics they get up to securing food and protecting their young. I'd come across Kittiwakes nesting on buildings before up in Norway but aren't really aware of them doing so in Cornwall. I've also seen images of th ..read more

  One of my favourite birds when in Europe is the White Stork! Being able to see their huge nests in every village, every farm, on rooftops, electricity poles & telecomms mast is so pleasing. To think that people put themselves out to engage with these fantastic birds is fantastic.  To the Polish people Storks are a symbol of good luck, their arrival in spring heralds the onset of spring which, after the long, dark Polish winter is no small thing! So I've photographed these birds from many angles and in many poses.  This was my second visit to Poland and I stressed to our ..read more

European Bison at sunrise Our trip to Poland with friends from the Cornwall Wildlife Trust Photographic Group was a great success and I'm pleased with many photos. I thought I'd share a few at a time as and when I get around to processing the many images. A 4am.start was essential to find the European Bison or Wisent when it was out of the forest and grazing in the meadows at sunrise. The Bialowieza Forest straddles the Polish border with Belarus and this is where the bison are found. They are the largest animal that ever lived on the European continent but were hunted out by the end ..read more

Purple Heron I'm a bit late getting this blog written as it's been a busy time with lots of photographs to edit. This was my second time leading on the Scillies for Naturetrek and it was a fantastic week with super weather and friendly guests. We managed to visit all the inhabited off-islands, tied in with wildlife watching trips to the Western rocks, Bishops Rock lighthouse, Annet & Mincarlo. The auks were actively breeding with views of courting, mating and nesting Puffins, Razorbills & Guillemots. We walked along beaches, lanes, fields and rocky tors but all at a reasonab ..read more

European Shag     It was touch and go as to whether our March seal survey on Looe island would go ahead as the wind was due to gust strongly from the South West in the afternoon and whilst it can be ok to ride a wave back into harbour it's difficult for the boatman to get out to pick us up from the beach. Fortunately mid-evening on the Monday evening we got the email that the survey would be going ahead so we were at West Looe to catch the boat at 08:15 which necessitated a 6 am breakfast at home in Wadebridge. There have been some massive spring tides this week and the A3 ..read more

  Cattle Egrets at Westhay Drove I finished my latest Naturetrek 3 day tour of the Somerset Levels last week with a final successful tour with my co-host Chris Wilkinson. The weather held out for us with good spells of sunshine and only a hint of misty drizzle late on one afternoon and heavy rain whilst we had breakfast on the first day which quickly turned into sun & blue sky by the time the plates had been cleared away! Whilst water levels had been dropping since the floods before Xmas a few heavy downpours had raised levels once again, especially in the flooded arable fiel ..read more

  Common Snipe at RSPB Greylake Once again I had an amazing 3 days last week leading a short tour on the Somerset Levels for Naturetrek tours with Chris Wilkinson. The weather was dry for most of the tour with little or no wind and the temperatures quite mild. Water levels had dropped a lot since my last visit 2 weeks ago although the Avalon hide at RSPB Ham Wall is still unreachable due to flooding of the access path. We visited several different reserves and open areas including RSPB Greylake, RSPB Swell Wood, West Sedgemoor, RSPB Ham Wall, Shapwick Heath, Sharpham Drove etc ..read more