Brunette squirrel.......

This was one of a pair filmed along the banks of the Rhone near Geneva in October this year. I have seen melanistic grey squirrels in New York and occasional albino ones but this is the first red squirrel I have seen with this colouration.

Images of Geneva......

Nuthatches feeding babies in Pinner, North London.

The River Pinn at Pinner Park Farm in North London has always been a good place to see nuthatches, particularly the stretch that is heavily wooded. This short clip illustrates a couple of key aspects of nuthatch ecology....they make a hole suit their requirements by plastering around the entrance with mud and due to the orientation of their toes, they can climb down a tree as well as up it. The youngsters were not far off fledging when this was filmed.

Nightjars at Thursley Common

The evening did not start in a promising way. Rain....never good for nightjars. But the sky began to clear and we waited and watched and listened until eventually, just as light faded, we were treated to a brilliant display, with at least two birds interacting and one churring from the tree above. A truly magical experience.

Water vole at Sculthorpe Moor, near Fakenham in Norfolk

This individual appeared to have an injured tail. Apparently there had been an altercation between this individual and a brown rat a few days previously.

Lesser whitethroat, Otmoor RSPB

This male was singing close to the entrance track of Otmoor RSPB in early May 2017.

This was what the blue tit was looking at......

The blue tit was actually watching a grass snake, which initially was sunning itself on the platform below and then began exploring the general area where the nest box was located.

What was this blue tit looking at......?

This blue tit at Otmoor RSPB was very reticent to enter the nest box as we watched from a few metres away. I thought it may actually have been our presence but it actually turned out to be something else.......

Chiltern Meadows......

This has been a very good year for our flowering meadows and these are just a few photographs from different sites in the Chiltern area.....

Some favourite photographs from 2016......