Tag: Tim Melling

Lanner Falcons are scarce breeding birds in Europe but they are more numerous in sub-Saharan Africa.  So it was a species I was hoping to see and photograph in Ethiopia but I got better than I could have hoped for.  This male was flying round at eye-level in the morning sunshine with steep nesting cliffs…

This is the White-headed Vulture (Trigonoceps occipitalis) which is rare and declining throughout its range.  It has been classified as critically endangered by IUCN, which is the highest category before extinction in the wild.  Although it is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa it is always scarce and at low density. Being a vulture it feeds on…

The song of the Yellowhammer is supposed to sound like “a little bit of bread and no cheese”.   It was Enid Blyton who popularised this rendition of the song in several of her books and poems (eg The Yellowhammer Bird in Enid Blyton’s Nature Lover’s Handbook 1944).  This is another seriously depleted farmland bird that…

Getting an Adder moving towards you takes a bit of patience as they’ll usually head for cover when humans approach.  Most people photograph them early morning when they are torpid and usually coiled, while trying to warm up.  I was on Thorne Moors in South Yorkshire when I came across five adders all basking in…

Here is a young male Crossbill with a lovely golden colour that superficially looks more like a female.  You can see small patches of the adult male red colouration coming through.  I see Crossbills quite frequently but they are usually high in the trees or flying over, so I was pleased to get this one…