Tag: Tim Melling

Tim writes: I love the eye contact in this photograph, and also that it has a moorland, not sky background.  Those intense yellow eyes seem to make the owl jump right out of the picture.  I took the photograph high on the Peak District moors in South Yorkshire.  They nest on the ground, usually among…

Tim writes: This is an adult Little Tern carrying a fish.  I thought it was a sandeel when I took it, but the body looks too broad, more like a juvenile Herring.  Little Terns are one of our rarest breeding seabirds with a British population of just 1,600 pairs, and declining.  The Arctic Tern has…

Tim writes: In Britain we call this bird Great Northern Diver, whereas in America the standard name is Common Loon.  In Britain we prefer the name Diver, because Loon has another meaning (fool) and we would not want to lumber a bird as majestic as this with such an insulting name.  But Loon was used…

    Tim writes: This is quite a historic photograph as it is a youngster from the first ever nest of Bearded Tits in South Yorkshire.  It was taken at the RSPB Old Moor reserve near Barnsley where they encouraged the birds to nest this year using a thatched “wigwam” nestbox.   I saw two youngsters…

Tim writes: Merlins are scarce breeders on moorlands, mainly in the north but they do breed in places like Dartmoor.  They usually nest on the ground among deep heather but will sometimes use old crow’s nests in trees.  I photographed this adult female dashing rapidly over the Peak District Moors.  They use this turn of…