Redshank

Catch The Runner!

Redshank (Tringa totanus)

The Redshank has a straight, black-tipped red bill and red legs, as the common name suggests. It has a marbled-brown back and a white, black-spotted underbelly. The males and females are similar, and the juveniles have yellow-brown legs. Length 27 to 29cm.

To feed they probe mud and sand with their medium-sized bill for molluscs, worms and crustaceans. The nest in a hollow in the ground often with a grass canopy formed above it where the female lays 4 eggs in 1 brood from April to July. They can live for up to 10 years.

They breed in saltmarshes, wet pastures, marshes and near lakes, but during the winter on the coast on estuaries and lagoons. They maybe observed all year round.

Widespread and frequent on many coastlines, with up to almost 40,000 breeding UK pairs, and 120,000 wintering birds in the UK. The RSPB has given the Redshank an amber status due to declining numbers due to loss of salt-marsh habitats, and in areas where farmland is drained.

Photographs of Redshank (Tringa totanus), taken April 2013, Llandudno, Wales. © Pete Hillman 2013. Camera used Nikon Coolpix P500.

11/1611/16 by Peter Hillman Categories: Animals, Animals (Vertebrates), Birds, Landscape Photography, Nature Photography, Wildlife PhotographyTags: Bird, Birds, Coast, Llandudno, Nature, Nature Photography, Redshank, Tringa totanus, Wales, Wildlife, Wildlife Photography 2 Comments

Catching The Morning Light

Photograph of Pencilled Crane’s-bill (Geranium versicolor), taken October 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens.

10/16 by Peter Hillman Categories: Garden, Garden Flowers, Nature Photography, Plants, Wild FlowersTags: Colour, Flower, Flowers, Garden, Garden Flowers, Geranium versicolor, Light, Macro, Macro Photography, Nature, Nature Photography, October, Pencilled Crane’s-bill, Pink, Redshank, Wildlife, Wildlife Photography 11 Comments

Persicaria maculosa

This annual produces masses of red, pink to pinkish white flowers up to 4cm long on tall thin stems. The spear-shaped leaves generally have a dark patch in the centre, but not always. The plant can grow up to 80cm tall.

It flowers June to October, and it is found on wasteland, cultivated land, gardens, and damp habitats like riverbanks and floodplains. A native species, and common and widespread throughout.

Photograph of Redshank (Persicaria maculosa), taken August 2016, local pond margin, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens.