For the last three years I've watched a nuthatch preparing its nest in the same hole in a tree in my local park. And it's back again this year getting it ready to welcome the next generation. Apparently nuthatches never go far from the area they were born in so they may be the same parent or one of its offspring from a previous year. They use mud to reduce the size of the hole to protect the eggs and young from predators such as magpies or woodpeckers. This wasn't the only one I saw at the weekend enjoying the sunshine and the start of Spring. Down in the wood I watched a pair flitting from one potential nest site to another like a pair of newly weds selecting a home. There were three possib

A beautiful day in Yorkshire today with the sun shining and Spring definitely in the air. I don't generally take much notice of squirrels but one caught my eye today as I wondered what she was carrying. At first I thought she'd found something to eat but it was furry and I'm fairly sure they're vegetarian. Focusing in with my camera I realised see she was carrying a baby and she moved her way from tree to tree before stuffing the baby into a hollow in a tree! It didn't take long before she set off again and while she sat having a quick scratch high above the youngster investigated their new home. I kept my eye on mum as she moved back to where I'd seen her emerge with the first youngster and

When I first started visiting my local nature reserve a lot of the regulars mentioned Redpolls and how they were a regular visitor in the colder months. Well I never saw any for the first two years as they seemed to forget about visiting us. When I did finally see my first one I thought for a moment it was a sparrow with a very sore head! They are a greyish brown sparrow sized finch with a very distinctive red cap and the males often have a breast speckled though with pink and red. They are partial migrants moving South in small flocks as the colder weather takes hold, then back North as Spring arrives. I guess the one on the reserve this weekend was heading back North. They are generally fo

After the arrival of a first batch of young rats it looks like she's been at it again! So after a bit of research into how fast they can breed I've taken a decision to stop feeding the birds until the rats have moved on. I'm sure once the free food dries up they'll have to find a new source. If they continue to breed it's more likely that the landowner will bring in another more final solution than my not feeding the birds! It didn't help when a colleague in the office was putting out blueberries, chunks of bread and even cheesy Wotsits for them. We've had words and she finally agreed that it was the right decision. So for a while the birds will have to look after themselves I'm afraid. I've

Admittedly its a captive otter at the London Wetland Centre, but I never knew they climbed trees!

I've been after a decent picture of a Goldcrest for quite awhile. As you may know they are Britain's smallest bird and don't sit still for a second so are a tricky little devil to get a photo of. There's a couple on my local nature reserve and I've even spotted one near the feeders at work but to date nothing to write home about. At the weekend I was down in London so decided to spend the day at the London Wetland Centre in Barnes. It was a mucky grey day so I wasn't expecting much. I watched two kingfishers getting in the Spring mood but they were a long way away and the parakeets just stayed high in the trees. Half way round I spotted two chaps staring into a conifer and I just knew they'd

Like the Reed Bunting I blogged about recently the Siskin is another bird you're going to find tricky to spot for most of the year. They are one of our smaller finches with a long, narrow bill perfect for extracting seeds from plants and trees and spend most of the year in woodlands and conifer plantations. Their distinctive yellow, green and black plumage means they are very hard to spot once the leaves are back on the trees. However in winter they are a regular visitor to garden feeders especially enjoying niger seed and peanuts. For the first time this year I've had a couple visit the feeders set up at work and at the weekend this striking male kindly posed for me.

Spotting and photographing a Jay was very high on my to do list when I started wildlife photography. My local nature reserve soon became a favourite haunt as it was very much a hot spot for them and the feeder set up meant they could easily be snapped stuffing their beaks with peanuts. They were regular visitors during the winter months until this year when they hadn't been seen in the feeding area at all and people were beginning to ask where they were? We've had a very mild winter this year so it looks like they've been finding enough to eat or their stashes of peanuts and acorns hidden away for leaner times were seeing them through. This weekend though they were very obvious by their nois