Birds & Fowl

As an old canal barge awaits some attention these geese go sailing by. I see them coming before they are framed by this natural red reflection box but just a few more moments and.....got em! * Canadian Geese at Ashton-u-Lyne Canal Basin * Enjoy full screen

Seen at our local Ashton-u-Lyne canal basin. As usual best view full screen.

When walking around these cliffs, one cannot hold back from taking hundreds of photos of the birds here. Spoiled for choice as to what to share on Ipernity I give you these four which were some of my favorites. They are, from top left: Razorbills, Guillemot looking backwards, Puffin and Guillemot pair. Everyone's favourite of course is the puffin. Enjoy large

Enjoy this North facing view from the end of the the Fowlsheugh Nature reserve at Crawton Cliffs. You get a better idea of the sea-bird population with the PiP maybe. These are mostly guillemots at this time of year. Enjoy large. PiPs

Guillemots by the thousands. They thrive on jellyfish. A city for birds here, here and all around here at the Fowlsheugh Nature reserve for a few hundred metres. These share the cliffs with their razorbill cousins (both part of the Auk family) and gulls. At times this is also the home to many of our puffins.. In excess of 170,000 birds inhabit Fowlsheugh at the peak breeding season between April and late July. This value places Fowlsheugh as the second largest seabird colony in Britain Enjoy large.

Oh it’s good to be alive some days and even if it is a pretty ugly fence that I am dancing on, I know my mummy has a big juicy worm for me. I wish you all, a great weekend, Herb Best BIG whilst playing this: The Birdie Song

Another walk on the outskirts of Braemar in Scotland brings us to its duckpond. As it borders on wild countryside many wild animals and birds frequent it. This heron flew away moments later after swallowing its caught fish. Enjoy full screen.

A stranger in my part of North West England but common elsewhere is this endearing bird with its very distinctive call. Seen on our way to Burgh Island, Devon. Saxicola rubicola - A small, dumpy chat, the stonechat is a little smaller than a robin. It has a big head and short tail. It can frequently be seen sitting on the top of gorse bushes, flicking its wings and making a call like two small stones being hit together. Stonechats inhabit heaths, bogs and conifer plantations.

A remarkable scene taken at the wildlife water reserve of 'Penninton Flash' in Lancashire. Remarkable because it is very unusual to see these normally solitary birds grouped like this. The collective noun for a collection of herons is 'A siege of herons'. They were not all our usual British Grey herons but a few different varieties. As can be seen, a few other water fowl there too. I am in a bird watching hide taking this, surrounded by guys with 500mm lenses. PiP

Seen in my local valley here in Oldham

A fence full of ‘Common Gulls’ (Larus canus) that we see often in Britain. A smaller gentler version of our even more numerous 'Herring gull'. I liked not only the birds on here but also the gentle curve and light of this fence. This taken on the Rochdale Canal at Littleborough. I wish you all, a great weekend, Herb

A wonderful side-trip brings us to these cliffs, south of Aberdeen. The spectacular cliffs at Fowlsheugh Nature reserve are packed with more than 130,000 breeding seabirds during the spring and summer months. These include guillemots, razorbills and kittiwakes, along with some puffins and fulmars too. You see here, only a tiny part of these cliffs. See PiP Better full screen!

As we stay at home in self-isolation on this beautiful Spring day, our local robin is as 'free-as-a-bird'. His song up here in one of our higher garden trees is quite exquisite and is thankfully answered back in the distance by another of his kind. A sight to remind us of the beauty of our world in these dangerous and sad days of C19. I wish all of you in the same or even worst position than us to keep this sight in mind. We will get over this and enjoy the freedom like these birds again soon. PiP

Seen from my dining room window a couple of days ago. (at least I think its a mistle thrush as opposed to the very similar Song thrush) I think this and its mate have built a nest in the tops of our big Laurel tree. The mistle thrush (Turdus viscivorus) is is a pale, black-spotted thrush - large, aggressive and powerful. It stands boldly upright and bounds across the ground. In flight, it has long wings and its tail has whitish edges. It is most likely to be noticed perched high at the top of a tree, singing its fluty song or giving its rattling call in flight.) As you view this-take a moment to listen to its lovely song here (click play on the right side). See Pip for alternative close up view.

Another look at one of our garden bird visitors. This time taking a drink from the newly waterproofed dry fountain bowl in our garden. This one I am quite sure is an adult male. Scientific name: Chloris chloris. ~ The fountain - a relic from our last house which had a fish pond with this working wedding present fountain, the centre of attraction. We had Koi and such-like as well as a visiting heron :) Enjoy full screen.

Another shot in our garden to the bird bath within our dry-fountain. In practice, we have two robins here in the garden and I believe this one has a nest within the ivy, honysuckle and clematis trellis, shared with a blackbirds nest too. Technically this is a 'European Robin' with the scientific name: Erithacus rubecula Nice full screen

Another look at our garden house sparrows (Passer domesticus) enjoying themselves sat on the rim of our bird-bath. Filled with water they can bathe or drink as they like. The old fountain is no longer connected up to a water source so I have to manually fill the reservoir every few days. See Pip over left bird for another view. Nice full screen

A beautifully lit scene of the cliffs near Seaford showing these Kittiwakes that have been nesting here. Originally in my Panoramio gallery of 2009 Enjoy full screen on black.