Exhibition to go ahead!

My back surgery was cancelled at the eleventh hour after I started feeling better! I was due to have the operation on Monday, but an MRI scan showed that the sequestered disc has shifted slightly and the surgeon decided that the operation was more risky than the status quo.
It's left me exhilarated - I was dreading the whole thing - and at last I can be confident that my summer exhibition can go ahead. At one point I had thought that I wouldn't be able to hold an exhibition at all this year.

The exhibition will run from June 26th to July 11th and will be open everyday between 11am and 4.30pm. In celebration of the fact that 2010 is the UN Year of Biodiversity, I'll be teaming up with a number of local wildlife experts and venues to open up the event as a 'wildlife festival'. There will be falconry displays, nature walks and much much more - so put the dates in your diary!

Barn Owl Beauty

I've been watching this barn owl in Millington pastures recently and this week captured it just as it came in to land.
It's been having a bit of a time of it lately as a kestrel has been pinching its food!

Frogs-a-frolicking!

My pond is now full of tadpoles despite a bit of a false start. The frogs all came about a month ago but then the pond froze over, so it's good to know they are now back.

Boxing Hares

It's been a busy springtime on the Yorkshire Wolds and the fields are a-run with hares boxing.

I've been photographing them in a field near Little Givendale where there are about 35 hares and after a seven hour stint one day, I got this shot just as I was about to drive home.It was quite a fierce session and this one clearly got hurt, it hobbled away with a badly injured foreleg.

Pheasant Fight

After a harsh winter, spring got off to a late start this year and I spotted these pheasants still sparring for territory this week.After taking this photograph of them I was quite amused to then watch the winner let off the customary 'croak' and flap his wings in victory.

No Place Like Home

During my visit to New Zealand last month I was struck by how similar the countryside and its wildlife was to that of this country.
It seemed to me that I had travelled 11,500 miles to find the same goldfinches and blackbirds that visit my garden in Thixendale.
I've since done quite a bit of research on the proliferation of British native wildlife in New Zealand and found out that in the 1800s British settlers brought everything from song thrushes to red deer with them. They did so for a variety of reasons, including the desire to make their new land look more like home.

To read more about what I found out please follow these links to my latest columns in The Yorkshire Post and The Gazette & Herald.

Spring Clean

I'm looking forward to the clocks going forward tomorrow as the lighter mornings and evenings mean more time for wildlife watching.
In fact spring seems to be in the air at last. I visited my badger sett this week and found that there had been some active spring cleaning going on. Five new holes have been drawn out and there were piles of old bedding everywhere - evidence that the badgers are now active again after a long dormant winter.