Tim writes: Chinese Mountain Cat (also known as Chinese Desert or Steppe Cat) is a rare and little-known species that is endemic to a small area of western central China on the north-east edge of the Tibetan Plateau. They occur at high altitude (2800-4100 m asl) in grasslands and are mainly nocturnal and wary. I…
Category: THE PHOTOGRAPHS: by Tim Melling, Oscar Dewhurst, Paul Leyland, Guy Shorrock, Brian Leecey
Tim Melling – Forest Musk Deer
Comments Off on Tim Melling – Forest Musk Deer
Tim writes: Forest Musk Deer (Moschus berezovskii) is a highly elusive, little-photographed species of deer that is classified by IUCN as “Endangered”, mainly due to hunting for its musk glands, used in Chinese medicines and for perfumes. There appear to be very few (correctly identified) wild photographs of this species on the whole internet and…
Tim Melling – White-crowned Forktail
Comments Off on Tim Melling – White-crowned Forktail
Tim writes: Forktails are a small family of seven species that inhabit mountain streams in Southeast Asia. They are in the Old World Flycatcher family (Muscicapidae). The White-crowned Forktail (Enicurus leschenaulti) is the largest of the family at 28cm and it is familiar to many birdwatchers as the logo of the Oriental Bird Club. They…
Tim Melling – Wallcreeper
This must be one of the weirdest ever Wallcreeper photographs. They breed on remote cliffs, usually at low density, and that largely grey plumage makes them difficult to spot, unless they fly to reveal their red, black and white wings. In all my years of birdwatching I haven’t seen very many Wallcreepers, but each of…
Tim Melling – Brown Parrotbill
Tim writes: Parrotbills are a small family of south and southeast Asian birds that have taxonomically puzzled ornithologists for years. They used to be in a genus Paradoxornis, which means “puzzling bird” because nobody knew where they belonged in terms of bird families. The confusion was exacerbated because it was long thought that the Bearded…
Tim Melling – Chinese Monal Pheasant
Tim writes: this rare pheasant is endemic to China, centred on the Sichuan Province. It is the largest and most highly-glossed of the three species of Monal Pheasant. I have tried twice previously to see this elusive species without a sight or sound of one. But this year I saw six males and three females…
Brian Leecy – Short-toed Eagle
Mark writes: Brian photographed this Short-toed Eagle in Spain in September last year as it was planning to cross the Straits of Gibraltar towards Africa. I thought it was a very striking image and loved the look in those big yellow eyes, and the angle that the tail was held. Look too at the underwing;…
Tim Melling – Thomas’s Pika
Comments Off on Tim Melling – Thomas’s Pika
Tim writes: Thomas’s Pika (Ochotona thomasi) is yet another mammal with barely any published photographs. It is a Chinese endemic, being restricted to isolated forested peaks within a relatively small area. It was only described new to science in 1948 but that was mainly due to its similarity to other Pika species. In fact we…
Tim Melling – Przewalski’s Nuthatch
Comments Off on Tim Melling – Przewalski’s Nuthatch
Tim writes: Przewalski’s Nuthatch (Sitta przewalskii) is a scarce Nuthatch that only occurs in mature pine forests in southeastern Tibet and west central China. It was formerly considered just a subspecies of the White-cheeked Nuthatch of the western Himalayas but recent molecular work has confirmed it as a good species. In addition, the ranges of…
Tim Melling – Ruff
Comments Off on Tim Melling – Ruff
Tim writes: Ruff is one of only two British birds where the males are routinely called by a different name to the female (Reeve), the other being Blackcock and Greyhen. Ruffs and Reeves were both first noted in print in 1634 and were identified as such in Ray’s 1678 work, which was the first bird…