I will readily accept that many people reading this post will not believe that I saw a hoopoe last week. Sightings of hoopoes in Dumfries and Galloway are so rare that the last recorded and verified appearance was almost five years ago. But I gladly open myself to scorn and disbelief by saying that beyond Continue reading

  Over the past few weeks, the Chayne’s recently scant rabbit population has suddenly started to boom. Rabbits have been turning up in totally unexpected places, and the hayfield which usually holds just two or three sullen old hoppers now wriggles with more than two dozen keen, sparky little bunnies. My ferreter’s eye is already Continue reading

Not being a naturally gifted photographer, I can’t resist getting a little carried away when I finally manage to take pictures that I’m pleased with. I saw these two on the machair near Balephetrish on Tiree and simply had to wind down the window and press the clicker – yet another triumph for the idle Continue reading

Just a quick mention of a fantastic holiday on Tiree. Corncrakes could be heard everywhere, drowned out only temporarily by the calls of lapwings, redshank and oystercatchers, all with fuzzy chicks in the broad, sunlit machair. Basking sharks and minke whales broke through the clear, turquoise sea water, and arctic skuas prowled the beaches above Continue reading

Interesting to note the ongoing uproar around the buzzard licences granted to an English pheasant shoot which was suffering from what was deemed “unacceptably high” predation levels. It seems that licences to destroy nests were granted in April after non-lethal deterrents were shown to be ineffective, and having the good sense to keep it quiet Continue reading

Just worth including this picture, which is the first that I have ever taken of a whinchat on the Chayne. Two pairs live in an area of heather and willow scrub beside the farmhouse, and I’m used to see them everyday throughout the summer. When I first noticed them, I always thought that they were Continue reading

Cuckoos seem to be reaching a fever pitch of activity, not only up on the Chayne but also around my house a few miles downhill. Feeding my partridges in the garden this morning, I saw two flying together right over the sheep sheds just twenty yards away, and it was interesting to see that the Continue reading

As is the way with everything in my life, just when you think you have a pretty good idea of what is going on, the rug is pulled from under you. I was enjoying the annual arrival of migrants to the Chayne, mentally “ticking off” cuckoos, wheatears, spotted flycatchers and whinchats and feeling that I Continue reading

It’s always a huge pleasure to drive down to Barnard Castle, particularly at this time of year when the hills are heaving with birds. I spent three hours on Friday driving slowly around the roads by Langdon Beck, watching lapwings, redshank, dunlin, snipe, blackcock, grouse, curlews, oystercatchers, golden plovers, wheatears and skylarks. Some fields had Continue reading