andrew
July has been a busy month with a lot of survey work across the Orkney Islands. It has been a great opportunity to get to see a lot of the islands I hadn’t previously visited, although at times the logistics of Orkney Ferries or Logan Air were a bit of a challenge.Don’t feel sorry for me though, I...
andrew
Puffins! Aside from being quite photogenic and capable of making even a bang-average photographer look half decent, there’s more to know about these colourful members of the auk family.Puffins (Fratercula arctica) are sometimes called “sea parrots” or “clowns of the sea” because of their...
andrew
I’ve found hundreds of nests over the years, but I still get a buzz each time I discover a new one. Here are a few nests I have found so far this year. ﾿ ﾿ Oystercatcher...
andrew
The curlew nest I have been monitoring has hatched. Still wading (no pun intended) through a lot of camera footage, but here’s a short video of the new family in the morning sunshine. It’s been a roller coaster ride with near misses by wandering sheep and geese almost trampling the nest, but...
andrew
I am fortunate enough to be staying in a house in Shetland that backs onto rough grassland, marsh and upland areas. The area is so wet in places that even the sheep don’t venture across it. However, this unremarkable area has good botantical interest and has several waders species breeding on it....
andrew
One of the best bits of my job is looking for and monitoring nests. The site I am on currently has lots of waders along the edges of the work area so I have spent the last few weeks observing the adult birds and locating wader nests. I even got the chance to move an oystercatcher chick out of...
andrew
To you or me this might look like the vent pipe on an excavator. To a cavity-nesting bird like a starling, it looks like a perfect nesting spot. Finding a starling nest in machinery isn’t uncommon on construction sites. Fortunately, this was spotted before any nesting activity progressed too far,...