Early nests

A male frogmouth sits tight on his nest, with unusually little cover above him, on a wild wet and windy day.

It has been quite a wet winter in Canberra this year and in response, several tawny frogmouths have began nesting early. Some laid eggs on the 12th August, three weeks earlier than recorded in previous years. However, in the past week or so there have been some very wet and windy days, with snow lying in the nearby hills, and heavy snowfall in the Snowy Mtns, where I have just had a great day out on the snowboard.

Other birds which had built nests did not lay, and they have been sitting nearby, probably waiting for warmer weather to return before laying. I expect things to pick up again this week as there is warmer settled weather coming in.

A female frogmouth sits in a more sheltered spot in the lee of a tree stem while her mate sits on the nest above.

Greenshank sighting

One of the adult greenshanks which we caught in Sutherland in May has been seen on the tideline of the River Stour at Mistley, south-east England. The bird was spotted and photographed by John Keep.



Here is a photo of the bird being ringed by Ruth Croger.

And a map showing the ringing and sighting areas, where this bird was seen and another which was caught at Montrose last autumn and controlled in Sutherland in May.

This colour-ringing project is being co-ordinated by several Greenshank enthusiasts and records of other birds ringed and re-sighted can be accessed via The Greenshank Migration Story website at

http://www.greenshank.info/

Many thanks to Pete Potts for organising such a fulfilling study.

Ringing golden eagle chicks


I spent Monday ringing golden eagle chicks with Ewan who is studying their habitat use. All three nests were in Scots pines and there was only one chick in each, which is unusual for the area they live in. They often rear three chicks as there is abundant prey in the area, mostly mountain hares, red grouse and ptarmigan.

Ewan climbing up to one nest which requires skilled rope-work to do so safely.

Me with a five-week old chick. The eyries are so large that there is plenty room to sit on the nest along with the bird.

Two plucked red grouse lie in the nest with the chick.

Rain

It is raining so I have taken time out. While staying with friends I noticed the rainwater droplets forming on the plants outside the kitchen window, particularly on the blue petals of the mecanopsis, Himalayan poppies. The rain stopped so I dashed out and took the advantage of the fresh light and colour saturation, which brings out the blue of the petals - that is usually washed out by bright sunlight.

Great days on the hills

The past week has been a bit mixed weather-wise in the hills. But I have managed to grab some brilliant days out on the tops. The shot below of cloud rolling over the summit of Blaven in Skye was taken while I sat out the end of a wet and windy period. I was busy checking greenshank and twite for colour-rings when I looked up and saw these fantastic patterns weaving through the pinnacles.

The next three shots were taken on a traverse of the Grey Corries two days later. Clear blue sky with fluffy clouds, no wind and easy walking once up on the high ground. The snowy peak in the far distance is Ben Nevis. There is so much variety of terrain in the Scottish hills. I'll never be bored.