West Galloway SOC - Birding in and Around Stranraer

Another interesting film from the seasoned pro at SOC meetings, this time concentrating on his travels around the Hebrides and Arctic regions.

Labels: arctic, film, gordon yates, hebrides

A good attendance for the February meeting of the local branch of the Scottish Ornithologist�s Club saw Gordon Yates pay his 20th visit to the club with his latest film about the snowy owl. He detailed his travels to bring this film to fruition. First port of call was Spits Bergen where he only got a fleeting glance of one snowy owl.

He then headed for North East Greenland where he filmed many of the waders that spend the winter at Loch Ryan, at their short summer nest sites. He also showed grey and red necked phalaropes where the females a brighter coloured than the male bird and the male incubates the eggs and rear the young.

He moved to Churchill at the north of Manitoba, Canada. The Churchill river runs into the Hudson Bay and Gordon filmed polar bears in this area.

His next flight to the North West tip of Alaska to a mining settlement called Barrow, which is surely one of the most inhospitable places on earth. One resident had many nest boxes around his house which were occupied by Snow Buntings. At long last Gordon was rewarded with fantastic footage of the fearless Snowy Owl in action with its determination to defend its nest and young against all daring to go near.

Gordon had a good selection of framed prints of polar bear and spectacular photographs of birds with a very special print of a camouflaged Jack-Snipe.

A good turnout at the next meeting will have the president of the S.O.C. Chris Waltho talk about Eider: A Clyde Perspective, all welcome.

By Alan Johnstone

Labels: gordon yates, snowy owl