Last month I was due to go on a diving gannet photography day from Bridlington on the East Coast. Unfortunately the weather put paid to that trip so my plans got rearranged and I set off instead for a day at Bempton Cliffs. Known locally as the Seabird City Bempton Cliffs are home to a staggering number of gannets, razorbills, fulmars, puffins, shag, herring gull, kittiwake and guillemots. In fact this year has proved to be a record year with almost 450,000 birds counted. The gannets are the most numerous with over 200,000 visiting the cliffs from March to October to breed or in the case of youngsters get used to being a gannet as it’ll be 5 years before they breed. These Northern Gannets re

As the local little owls are a lot happier to be photographed than the tawny owl I do tend to show them more often on my blog. Hopefully I can correct that oversight with these photo’s taken recently. Now I know what to listen for in the woods finding the tawny owl is a lot easier. Whenever one of them is around the other birds kick up a real commotion trying to scare them off. I just tend to follow the noise and sooner or later spot where the owl is being hassled. Magpies and jays will swoop down to try and move them along while the blackbirds just set off their alarm call from nearby branches. They generally tend to ignore the uproar but will fly off if it gets too much. Most of the time t

This little egret was out for a quiet Sunday morning spot of fishing when the local hoodlums in the shape of three black headed gulls decided to spoil his day. At first he was ignoring them carrying on trying to feed and ducking out of the way when they got too close. But eventually he’d decided enough was enough and started to stick up for himself. As with all bully’s they eventually back down and he let them know who was in charge before wandering off and carried on looking for a spot of lunch.

Spoonbills haven't nested regularly in the UK since the 1700s, but in recent years they have slowly been expanding their range north and returning to Britain once again. These birds are regularly seen along the east coast of England, and there is a breeding colony in East Anglia. However this year has seen them breed in Yorkshire for the first time in 400 years with three chicks fledging at the RSPB site Fairburn Ings. As they generally tend to only lay 3 eggs all three hatching is a real success. Due to their rarity the spoonbill is a protected species in the UK, and the successful breeding at Fairburn Ings had been kept secret until earlier this week. This success can be put down to the e

I didn’t realise until I did a bit of reading that the Little Owl isn’t a native species but was introduced into the UK in the 19th century. They are now widespread across the country and with good eyesight and patience can be spotted almost anywhere. There are a couple of pairs I know of locally and have seen the young in past years. They feed during the day making them slightly easier to spot but when sat on a drystone wall their colouring blends them in making them almost invisible. They swoop down from elevated perches to feed on insects and worms as well as small mammals and fledglings and will stash extra food in caches for later use. Carefully scour the walls around fields and you may

When I was young there were literally millions of house sparrows. Every time we raced round a corner we'd disturb a flock of thirty or forty birds off the street and on to the rooftops. Nowadays they're nowhere near common, with a 70% reduction in numbers since the Seventies and not just in the urban areas. I'm lucky to live in an area where I see sparrows quite regularly and the local council is currently monitoring the bird to see how the population is doing. In my garden in the last week or two it's blossomed with a pair bringing their fledglings to the feeders. Sparrows lay between 2 and 5 eggs and this pair seem to have hatched the maximum and Dad has been on feeding duties most of the