Tag: Tim Melling

    Tim writes: Many British birders will be aware that Semi-palmated Plover is the American equivalent of the Ringed Plover, which turns up in Britain from time to time. But maybe not so many birders will be aware that Little Ringed Plover and some races of Ringed Plover also have semi-palmated toes. You can…

  Tim writes: this is a male Common Blue resting in a sea of Bird’s-foot Trefoil, which is also its larval foodplant. This is a second brood individual photographed in late August, which is the offspring of the generation that was on the wing in June. I took the photograph at the RSPB’s new reserve…

Parrot Crossbills are restricted to the Western Palearctic, breeding mainly in Scandinavia and NW Russia.  But this population is nomadic, occasionally wandering to Britain when their pine cone crop fails.  Wandering birds occasionally stay here to breed, and it has become apparent in recent years that a population of about 100 pairs breeds in Caledonian…

Tim writes: this is a juvenile Western Sandpiper being engulfed by the foam of an incoming wave.  It was roosting on a beach when both it and me were taken by surprise by an unusually big wave.  I was lying flat on my belly at the time and so was soaked to the skin but…

Tim writes: I think Harlequins are one of the most beautiful ducks in the world.  They breed in Iceland, Greenland, northern North America and eastern Asia.  These two were floating in the surf off the Vancouver Island coast.  I have always found them to be quite unapproachable, which might explain their scientific name (Histrionicus histrionicus),…