andrew
I’ve noticed a worrying and increasingly frequent trend recently. Often, when there is a bad news story (and there are many of those) about a species that is in decline and struggling, there seems to be a concerted attempt to find another species to pin that decline on. The usual format is species...
andrew
I’m a big fan of colour-ringing as it makes identification of individual birds easier in the field and can lead to more sightings and useful data on migration and movements. I found this colour-ringed Turnstone in Shetland in May and submitted the sighting. When the project owner got back to me it...
andrew
Redshanks have an old country name of “Warden on the Marsh” because of their habitat of being one of the first birds to alarm call when they sense danger. They do like to stand on fence posts and keep watch. ﾿...
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
The other day I was fortunate enough to come across a group of summer plumage purple sandpipers on a Shetland beach. The purple sandpiper (Calidris maritima) is a medium-sized wader of the sandpiper family Scolopacidae. It is larger, stockier and darker than a dunlin, with a downcurved beak and...
andrew
This Sunday, 7th May, is International Dawn Chorus Day, a day to celebrate the natural wonder of bird song. This first dawn chorus days, were small events held in Birmingham in the 1980s. Since then the event has grown and now has a worldwide following. Each year the Wildlife Trusts, RSPB and...
andrew
The Eurasian whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) is the subject of this week’s Wader Wednesday. Here are a few facts about an often overlooked bird.* Often called the May Bird as that is when it passes through UK on migration to northern breeding grounds* UK’s breeding pop restricted to Northern Isles...
andrew
One of the best things about living in Shetland is the sheer volume of amazing scenery and wildlife on my doorstep. I really enjoying getting out and exploring new parts of the islands when I am not at work. As an ecologist by trade, its hard to not spend my days off doing the same thing (surely a...
andrew
Its that time of year again when the on site checks for ground nesting birds are coming into full swing. Today I went back to a location where I found nesting ringed plover last year. Even knowing where the birds previously were, it still took me a while to locate them this year. Ground nesting...
andrew
Today is World Curlew Day. Here are a few interesting (and sometimes depressing) facts about curlews. Curlews are called “the whaap” in Shetland dialect Females have longer bills than males Red listed in UK Europe’s largest wading bird 48% decline in breeding birds in UK between 1995 and 2015...
andrew
Today is World Wetlands Day, a day to raise global awareness about the vital role of wetlands for people and planet. Today, is 52 years since the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar. In the last 50 years, 35% of all the world’s wetlands have...
andrew
In anticipation of World Wetlands Day tomorrow, this week’s Wader Wednesday is a few wader chick pictures to remind us all of some of the things we are trying to protect. ﾿ ﾿ Lapwing...
andrew
For Wader Wednesday this week, it’s the incredible bar-tailed godwit. Last autumn one of these birds broke the world record for the longest known recorded continuous migration flight, when a juvenile flew from Alaska to southern Australia in 11 days and one hour. The flight was recorded at a...
andrew
Cold weather and snow might stop ground nesting birds like waders from actually nesting but it doesn’t necessarily mean they will wait for warmer weather to pair up. Here is a pair of oystercatchers I filmed in Moray a few years ago, they are showing courtship behaviour even though it was -7C at...
andrew
The lapwing (Vanellus vanellus), once a common sight across the UK, but now in decline and UK red-listed.Initial declines were due to egg collectors which resulted in the Lapwing Act in 1926 which banned lapwing eggs from being collected, after which the species showed good signs of recovery.Later...
andrew
Getting the chance to compare winter plumage greenshank and redshank together at the same time was a nice treat today. Its not often they are this obliging and stand so close together for photographs. ﾿...
andrew
Had the opportunity to spend a few days in Norfolk during December, which meant a spot of birding and visiting some of my favourite places like Cley and Welney. It was noticeable that there were less wintering ducks and geese around than in previous years, which may be a knock on effect of the...
andrew
Musselburgh also known as Levenhill Lagoons is one of my favourite places to go in the central belt. Positioned just outside Edinburgh on the south side of the Firth of Forth its conveniently placed for a visit by birders and winter waders, ducks and geese alike....
andrew
Some photos of the waders encountered at Sandness beach, Shetland including dunlin, turnstone, ringed plover, sanderling and a bonus red-necked phalarope feeding on the shoreline. red-necked phalarope ringed plover and turnstones summer plumage sanderling ringed plover juvenile...
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
Today was one of those days where I just couldn’t believe my luck. I was out checking the ground-nesting birds and their nests around site when I came across one of the nests actually hatching. I grabbed a quick video because both of the oystercatcher parents were getting (even more) stressed and...
andrew
One of my favourite winter birding trips is a visit to the coast at Embo, near Dornoch. The beach is always a good spot to find wintering waders such as sanderling, turnstone, oystercatcher and ringed plover. A bonus is that the nearby pier usually holds good numbers of purple sandpipers if you...
andrew
The common sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) is a summer visitor to the UK, found mainly in upland areas of North of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland you will often see them near fast-flower rivers and burns and around the edges of upland lochs. They have a characteristic...
andrew
A trip over to Skye yesterday, which is always a nice place to visit. The bonus was we caught up with the long-staying Lesser Yellowlegs in Broadford Bay on our way through Skye. These North American birds typically breed in open woods and meadows interspersed with bog and marsh, but can be found...