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

  Great Egret I spent an amazing 3 days last week leading a short tour on the Somerset Levels for Naturetrek tours. The weather was very cold & frosty with blue skies and bright sunshine although it never reached above 4 deg C. Water levels have dropped a bit since my last visit before Xmas although some of the hides at RSPB Ham Wall are still unreachable due to flooding and the necessary health & safety checks.. We visited several different reserves and open areas including RSPB Greylake, RSPB Swell Wood, West Sedgemoor, RSPB Ham Wall, Shapwick Heath etc and ticked off 7 ..read more

 An example of the Short-eared Owl's ability to alter the size of its pupils to suit the light. The eye in the sun has the pupil contracted whereas the one on the shadow side is still dilated. Nature has it sorted ..read more

  Great white Egret I spent a few days last week co-leading a short tour on the Somerset Levels for Naturetrek tours. The weather was very poor on the first full day but greatly improved on the second.  The levels have once again experienced widespread flooding this winter as rainfall has been exceptionally high. We visited several different reserves and open areas including RSPB Greylake, RSPB Swell Wood, West Sedgemoor, RSPB Ham Wall, Shapwick Heath etc and ticked off 66 different species including many classic Somerset Levels specialities such as Bittern, Common Crane, Cett ..read more

  There has been a big influx of Short-eared Owls into Britain and below I quote Birdguides website...... ************************** Short-eared Owls arrive in bumper numbers It looks set to be an excellent winter for Short-eared Owl in Britain, following an influx of the species in October. Birds were reported from well over 300 sites on BirdGuides during the month, with many sites hosting multiple individuals. This follows a run of consecutive poor winters for the species – and it looks likely that the 2023-24 will see large numbers in Britain. The first major signs of an influx c ..read more

Northern Gannet  I was pleased to be asked by Naturetrek to lead a series of pelagic trips out of Falmouth with AK Wildlife Cruises. They took place on 23rd & 24th September, 30th Sept & 1st October & 7th & 8th October. All 7-8 hour trips. A couple got called off due to stormy weather but the majority went ahead and were very successful. Many of the larger Shearwaters that had been so prolific this summer had already passed through but we still managed to catch up with a few Greats, Sootys, Balearics & Manx. Great Shearwater Sooty Shearwater ..read more

Red-footed Booby on Bishops Rock lighthouse I was fortunate to spend 8 days on the beautiful Scilly Isles leading a Birdwatching tour for Naturetrek along with co-leader Pete Stevens. We entertained 14 clients and got to visit all the inhabited off-islands during a week with fantastic weather marred only by a few showers towards the end of the week. It was remarkably warm on all days.  We were based at the Mincarlo guest house just along the bay from the harbour at Hugh Town on St.Mary's the largest of the islands.   The view from the garden at the Mincarlo Most o ..read more

Having been out to St.Mary's the week before and watched the happy faces of the birders that had been out to the Bishop's Rock to see the Red-footed Booby it played on our minds for most of the next few days and as soon as there looked to be a clear weather window I booked tickets on the Scillonian for "Part 2". Wikipedia. The Red-footed Booby (Sula sula) is a large seabird of the booby family, Sulidae. Adults always have red feet, but the colour of the plumage varies. They are powerful and agile fliers, but they are clumsy in takeoffs and landings. They are found widely in the tropics, and br ..read more