WILDWATCHER: February 2014

Wednesday, 26 February 2014

A wee Chaffinch from today #Highland #Scotland

Twitter: @Wildwatcher_Eve | Facebook: Eve Russell Photography

Tuesday, 25 February 2014

Black Grouse and a few new bird sightings for me!

Yesterday was a rather early start (3am!) with a trip to North Wales. I spent a full day with Alan & Ruth from the Biggest Twitch and John. We arrived at a particular location around 7am for Black Grouse, as soon as we arrived the birds were out lekking. We spent over half an hour - possibly longer as time fly's when your enjoying yourself, watching these guys was amazing! Certainly a highlight of the day.

Afterwards and throughout the day we stopped off at a few different locations seeing what was around and we had a lot of spectacular sightings & some of them being a few new ones for me!

Sightings...

Dipper 3
Ravens 5+ pairs easily
Black grouse 40-ish males and a few females
Red grouse 1
Kestrel 3
Crossbills 4
Grey shrike 1
GSW 1
Pheasant 9
Grey wagtail 1
Bullfinch 2
Stock doves 4
Buzzard 24
Squirrel 3
Red Kite 6
Lapwing
Fieldfare 2
Rooks 30+
Mistle thrush 1
Greenfinch male 1
Siskin female 1
Shelduck 3
Sparrowhawk 1
Hawfinch 1
Farmland goose 1
Curlew 2
Greylag & Canadian geese 50+
Mute swans 2
Pied wagtail 1
Goldeneye 2
Redshank 2
Snipe 1
Tufted duck 2
Pochard 4
Crested grebe 3
Heron 8
Shag 7
Wigeon 10+
Teal 10+
Red breasted mergansers 4
Shoveler 1
Scaups
Jay 3
Little egret 1
Oystercatcher 4
Little grebe 1

I probably have missed a few more off the list as well.

It was a fantastic day, lots of Buzzard sightings and a few unexpected Red Kites which I didn't expect so see at all! As I usually only see these when I'm up in Highland near The Black Isle.

New sightings for me were the Grey Shrike and Hawfinch (stunning little birds).

You can read more here from The Biggest Twitch diary... www.thebiggesttwitch.com/diary/once-more-to-the-moors

Highlights for me - The Black Grouse, Red Kites and Hawfinch.

Many thanks to Alan & Ruth for a great days birding!

Eve :)

Twitter: @Wildwatcher_Eve

Facebook: Eve Russell Photography

Thursday, 20 February 2014

Red Grouse taken in the heather moorland #Highland

Monday, 10 February 2014

Red Rocks on the weekend

On Saturday morning just after 8am I decided to quickly drive to the Red Rocks before meeting up with a friend at Sweet Pea Cafe.

The light was particularly nice and I thought I could get a few nice shots as the colours in the sky were good. When I arrived, it was extremely windy and quite hard staying still to take photo's... I only spent a quick 10mins photographing as I didn't have much time left before meeting my friend. By the end of this quick 10mins I couldn't feel my hands and that was even with wearing gloves! so I couldn't get back in the car quick enough to put the warmth on so I could feel them again!

Here are a few of the shots... the first one particularly is my favourite with the sunrise reflecting onto the green.

Thanks for looking!Eve :)

You can also find me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WildwatcherEve

and

Twitter: @Wildwatcher_Eve

Wildwatcher Collections new website

Those who know me and who have followed my blog, and also on Twitter/Facebook, will know I have been developing the 'Wildwatcher' name to Wildwatcher Collections by creating my own illustrated designs that have been printed onto products such as notebooks, tea towels and greetings cards etc.

I have started off with just a few designs of a Stag, Badger and Mountain Hare (being the main three) amongst a few others.

So, here are some of the new products...