Tim writes: the scientific name Apus apus comes from the Greek “a pous” meaning without foot. Swift legs are so small that it was once believed that they did not have any feet. I remember the old Reader’s Digest book of birds illustrated Swift feet showing all four toes pointing forwards. But in fact the…
Category: THE PHOTOGRAPHS: by Tim Melling, Oscar Dewhurst, Paul Leyland, Guy Shorrock, Brian Leecey
BPOTY deadline – end of November
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If you are going to enter the Bird Photographer of the Year competition then you have just over two weeks to get your entry sorted out. I’m looking forward to judging the new Conservation Documentary category (with Mark Carwardine and others). Here’s an explanation of what’s needed from Paul Sterry. And here’s the weblink –…
Guy Shorrock – Red Knot
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Guy writes: I recently went with friends to the hide tide roost at the RSPB Snettisham reserve. It has been many years since I had last been to see this spectacle, not such a high tide on that occasion, and found the whole experience quite mesmerising. The incoming North Sea had pushed tens of thousands…
Steller’s Jay – Tim Melling
Tim writes: on 31 July 1741 Georg Wilhelm Steller came ashore on Kayak Island and became the first European naturalist ever to reach Alaska. Steller, a German, was a member of Vitus Bering’s expedition which had been sent by the Empress Anna of Russia to search for North America (although unbeknownst to them, the Empress…
Chough – Tim Melling
Tim writes: in Britain, Choughs are rather rare, and have likely always been so as there are few English folk names for them. There are many ancient references to Chough but that is because this was the name originally applied to the Jackdaw. Shakespeare refers to Choughs in seven of his plays but at this…
Cuckoo – Tim Melling
Tim writes: I thought this was quite a dramatic flight shot of a Cuckoo flying past like a paper dart. I took this one in the Peak District when there were two males chasing each other on the moors. Cuckoos are suffering a massive population nosedive in Britain, but particularly those in England. All British…
Tim Melling – Cormorants
Tim writes: there are a lot of fishing ponds near to where I live which makes Cormorants rather wary. So I was really surprised when this Cormorant continued to dry its wings while I took its photograph. And this was on a stocked lake full of anglers. The microscopic structure of Cormorant feathers makes them…
Tim Melling – Grey-headed Albatross
Tim writes: this is a Grey-headed Albatross photographed at Shag Rocks, which is 150 miles west of South Georgia, where it breeds. It is a rare albatross whose world population was estimated at 250,000 individuals back in 2004, but the population is on a downward trajectory so it is likely to be much rarer than…
Tim Melling – coitus interruptus
Tim writes: I stumbled upon this macabre scene where a mating pair of Common Blue Damselflies (Enallagma cyathigerum) had become entrapped in the web of a Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus). The spider was busily dispatching the female damselfly, while the male, also entrapped by the web, continued to hold onto her. You can see the…
Tim Melling – Antarctic Fur Seal
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Tim writes: this is a young Antarctic Fur Seal on a beach on South Georgia where about 95% of the global population breeds. Usually they are with lots of other Fur Seals, and penguins too, but I managed to photograph this one all by itself. Its scientific name Arctocephalus gazella translates as “bear head” while…