Natural Selection

I haven’t been doing a very good job of getting these done, and I am conscious the quality of the pictures in this one are a bit mixed but hopefully someone will enjoy reading this instalment. Jane came on this trip and it was a lovely week weather wise. I particularly remember sunbathing on the…

There was a lot of coverage of Skerries in the autumn of 2017. A group of Scarborough birders had found a Yellow-breasted Bunting, a bird it was thought at the time might never be seen again in Britain. It was so unexpected that some birders chartered the island ferry on a day it didn’t normally…

Bluethroats have been arriving in Shetland in small numbers today. I haven’t had time to do a Best Stays piece tonight, so I’m doing a short photo gallery of some Bluethroats I’ve seen over the years. Some readers may not be familiar with this Robin like species, it should be clear where they get their…

On the back of a quiet trips in 2009 I decided to go in the peak of the autumn season. I was staying at Hillside Cottage by the airstrip. The regular crew of Mike McKee, Chris Turner, Marek Walford and Trevor Warwick were at Rocklea. We travelled out in atrocious conditions where the swell was…

The title is a nod to the Classic Days series from the journal British Birds a number of years ago. Coincidentally the 1989 compilation of these stories of great birding experiences includes one by David Fisher from Out Skerries in August 1975. I’ve never day tripped the islands like Shetland birders do, so I’m going…

Before I go on to some ‘great stays with Skerries birds’ type of posts I am going to reflect on some of the changes on the isles in the fifteen years I have been visiting. I know this isn’t really nature writing, so apologies to those who come here for that content but hopefully it…

Second home may be pushing it a bit, but every year since 2007 I’ve spent some time on Out Skerries in Shetland. I will be there in a couple of weeks for a few days, if the internet is up to it I will blog about it but I suspect it won’t be so I…

You’d think with the war in Ukraine, price increases and so on there would be plenty to report on. Sometimes admittedly it can be difficult to find a local angle on current affairs. There’s really no excuse however for the Lancashire Evening Post suggesting that an endangered Mauritius Pink Pigeon had probably been spotted in…

At lunchtime today I had a very quick check of Devonshire Rock Gardens and North Shore golf course. There is a public footpath that crosses the course, and whilst you can’t linger it’s worth a fast paced look. I’ve had a couple of Hooded Crow together in the past, a Chough that wandered the Fylde…

The love life of zoo animals isn’t normally of great interest to me, but as I was in Dalton yesterday I decided to check on the report that the free flying storks were nesting. Sure enough a pair could be seen from the A590. The image above is through my telescope. I don’t know how…