Tag: Tim Melling

Tim writes: the name warbler was coined by Thomas Pennant in 1773 so what do you think Grasshopper Warbler (Locustella naevia) was called prior to that?  Well nearly a hundred years earlier in 1678,  John Ray (in the first bird book in the English language) called it “The Titlark that sings like a Grasshopper, Locustella”….

Tim writes: Green Woodpeckers are shy birds that I rarely see well. They are thin on the ground where I live in the Pennines and extremely skittish. I hear them call more often than I see them, and when I do see them it is often a flight view, or of one hiding on the…

Tim writes: have you ever thought what a daft name Spotted Flycatcher is?  Even its scientific name Muscicapa striata means striped flycatcher.  Well at least this one lives up to its name and has a few pale spots at the back of its head, which they don’t have for long.  This is a recently fledged…

Tim writes: some years ago I served on the British Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee (BOURC) which assesses and maintains the official list of British birds.  Category A of the British List is for any truly wild bird that arrived in Britain naturally.   An immature Lammergeier ranged widely in Devon during May 2016 but this has…

Tim writes: I have posted these two photographs as interesting anomalies, because most birdwatchers learn that the easiest way to tell a (non-singing) Chiffchaff from a Willow Warbler is by leg colour.  Chiffchaffs have dark legs and Willow Warblers have pale legs.  But not always.    The top bird here is a Willow Warbler with dark…

Tim writes: this is a Long-eared Owl carrying a Short-tailed Vole back to its hungry brood that were calling constantly from nearby trees. The male provisions the female while she incubates and when the young are small. But when the young are old enough to “branch” (leave the nest and clamber about in the branches),…

Tim writes: this is a recently-fledged Willow Tit that I found on 9th June this year.  It was one of a brood of four youngsters being chaperoned by both parents, although they were constantly moving so it could possibly have been five youngsters and one parent.  They were contact calling constantly as they slowly moved,…

Tim writes: I know it isn’t a perfect photograph but there is so much of interest going on here I thought it was worth sharing.  First of all I was quite pleased to capture a bird in flight feeding its begging youngster, but the fact that it is a Redstart makes it much more interesting. …

The subspecies of Yellow Wagtail that breeds in Britain is flavissima, which means very yellow, as opposed to the nominate Continental breeding subspecies flava, which just means yellow.  The two are pretty similar from the neck down but our British flavissima is also yellow on the throat, cheeks and eyebrow with a complementary green crown…