Tim writes: Grandalas (Grandala coelicolor) are one of the most beautiful birds I have ever seen. The males are an electric blue colour with jet-black wings and tail, while the females are brown and scaly with a white wing bar. They breed high in the Himalayas (c4000-5500m), way above the tree line but in winter…
Tag: Tim Melling
Tim Melling – Red Panda
Tim writes: I have just returned from a trip to Sichuan in China where I managed to photograph this wild Red Panda crossing a track between bamboo thickets. They live in high altitude forests (2000-3000m) where they feed mainly on bamboo. In autumn they venture out of the bamboo thickets to feed on rosehips. I…
Tim Melling – Linnet
Tim writes: there has been a widespread Linnet decline across Europe since 1980 but the decline in Britain started in the late 1960s. It has always been a bird dependent on arable land but changes to farming practice have taken their toll. Increasing specialisation from mixed farming resulted in many “agriculturally-unnecessary” hedgerows being removed, depriving…
Tim Melling – Golden Plover
Tim writes: I really like smaller images of birds that show them in the context of their habitats. This Golden Plover was taken on remote blanket bog high on the Peak District moors where they are common breeding birds. You can see the Hare’s Tail Cotton-grass and Bilberry that is so characteristic of their breeding…
Tim Melling – Roseate Tern
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Tim writes: on 24th July 1812 Dr Peter McDougall was with two friends on the Isle of Cumbrae in the Firth of Clyde. They went out to two small islets in Millport Bay where terns were nesting. One of the party shot a tern and McDougall noticed it differed from other terns in having more…
Tim Melling – Common Sandpiper
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Tim writes: The “kitty-needie, kitty-needie” song of Common Sandpiper is a familiar summer sound on northern rivers and reservoirs. Most breeding waders are resident in Britain, with their numbers bolstered by a winter influx from the north and east. But Common Sandpiper is a summer visitor that migrates to sub-Saharan Africa for the winter. It…
Tim Melling – Lesser Whitethroat
Tim writes: Not your classic full-on bird portrait but this is the kind of view you tend to get of Lesser Whitethroat. This was really difficult to capture through a tiny gap in the foliage. They usually skulk about in bushes unless you catch them singing in the spring. This one was collecting insects to…
Tim Melling – Small Blue
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Tim writes: this is Britain’s smallest butterfly, the Small Blue, which is about the size of the nail on my little finger. In Britain their only larval foodplant is Kidney Vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria) but they only feed on the flowerheads. The female carefully selects a flower head of kidney vetch, tasting with her feet and…
Tim Melling – Turtle Dove
Tim writes: the name has nothing to do with marine reptiles but is onomatopoeic, imitating the bird’s tuneful purring call. The call is the way most birds are located as they often remain hidden among foliage in the tall hedgerows in which they often nest. They are generally associated with arable farmland as they feed…
Tim Melling – Silver-studded Blue
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Tim writes: this is a male Silver-studded Blue butterfly showing its silver studs in the black pupils around the hindwing margin. The second photograph shows the upperwings. It occurs primarily on lowland heathlands but a few colonies also occur on limestone. Its caterpillars feed on a variety of plants including gorse, heather and rock-rose, but…