Tag: Tim Melling

Tim writes: while walking on the Peak District moors this morning I came across some Star Jelly, which I have only seen once or twice before. I took this photograph on my phone but I thought it was too interesting to keep to myself. I hope you agree. So what is Star Jelly? Well it also…

Tim writes: I was walking in an area of felled forestry plantation near my home and I heard a funny noise that sounded like a cross between a squeak and a growl.  I stood still and watched and this female Stoat appeared from an old brash pile just a few metres away.  I stood and…

Tim writes: “To the gentleman in the velvet waistcoat” was apparently a popular Jacobite toast.  It refers to the mole that raised the hill at Hampton Court upon which the horse of William III (William of Orange) stumbled which subsequently led to his death.  He broke his collarbone but he became ill when complications arose,…

Tim writes: there does not seem to be a collective noun for Swifts other than the prosaic “flock”, and the implausible “scream”.  It seems surprising that so many birds have special collective nouns yet the highly gregarious Swift has none.  That’s probably because such terms were used by hunters (or collectors) and nobody in their…

Tim writes: Wood Warbler is by far the rarest and most beautiful of the three Phylloscopus warblers that breed in Britain.  Willow Warbler has about 2.2 million pairs, while Chiffchaff has about 1.1 million, whereas Wood Warbler only has around 6000 pairs, and that is likely to have fallen as the species is in steep…

Tim Melling: I was recently watching and photographing Starlings in the garden and was surprised to see how much time they waste squabbling over the abundant food.  They even squabbled over the bird baths which can comfortably fit five Starlings together.  It seemed to be mainly the “teenage” Starlings that did most of the fighting…

Tim writes: Pied Flycatcher is quite a scarce bird in my local area so I was quite pleased to find one near Holmfirth.  I mentioned it to a friend, who went to look and found three.  As the weather was good I decided to go back and try for a photograph and this was my…

Tim writes: Yellowhammer was one of the first bird songs that I learnt as a child.  It is usually rendered “a little bit of bread and no cheese” but only the cheese bit chimes with me.  It was Enid Blyton who popularised this rendition of the song in several of her books and poems (eg…

Tim writes: I know that this isn’t a contender for bird photograph of the year but it does show something interesting. It shows that ducks moult all their flight feathers simultaneously, so they are completely flightless for a time. Most birds moult their flight feathers gradually, one pair at a time so that they are…