golden oriole - mc wood azure-winged magpies - mc wood

Golden oriole

Seen at the Finca Santa Marta near Trujillo, Extremadura, Spain, this is as much a portrait of the ancient cork oak as the bird.


Image 308 x 240mm.


Azure-winged magpies in olive grove

Seen at the Finca Santa Marta near Trujillo, Extremadura, Spain.  Family parties of these birds forage among the contorted branches of small olive trees and meadows full of flowers such as tassel hyacinth.  In a landscape which gets baked in the summer heat, a single stem of reed was growing in the damp pocket of the hollow olive trunk.


Image 340 x  260mm.


golden-headed quetzal tanagers at bellavista - mc wood golden plover - mc wood harlequin ducks, iceland - mc wood

Harlequin Ducks west of Grundarfjordur, Iceland

These beautiful ducks gather in small parties on the coastal creeks after breeding up river.  The glistening white markings on the males break up their shape against the dark grey volcanic sands and rocks.


Image 222 x 326mm.



moorhens - mc wood Moorhens at Milton This mat of backlit water-lily leaves is a favourite foraging patch for a pair of moorhens at a local pool, just north of Cambridge. Image 390 x 250mm. long-tailed tits - mc wood tree creeper - mc wood Long-tailed tits A regular visitor to my garden and allotment - in fact a young one recently landed on my shoulder, called a few times to its companions, then realised I’m not so inanimate after all. Image 352 x 265mm.

Tree Creeper

Seen exploring the sinuous bark of an old willow, at one of my regular haunts north of Cambridge.


Image 310 x 212mm.


Galapagos finches Showing the variety of bill structure, with a list of the species below. Image 280 x 280mm. Stone barn near Petra, Lesvos A watercolour of this small building and its parched setting, seen at the end of summer. Not a bird in sight, but you can hear the black-headed buntings and subalpine warblers in the background. Image 280 x 205mm. Toucan barbets, Ecuador Seen near Bellavista Lodge, at the top of a cecropia tree. One of the notable endemic species of this part of the Andes. Image 335 x 240mm. Wren (The Violin-maker’s shed) This shed on a neighbouring allotment seems to lean more sharply every week, and would probably collapse if the whole family of wrens landed on it. Image 355 x 260mm.

All images © MC Wood.

Goldfinches Regular visitors to my garden and allotment, easily identified by their distinctive calls as they pass overhead. Image 350 x 262mm.