Birding in the Cotswolds

As well as meeting lots of friends, drinking lots of red wine, eating lots of fantastic food and watching horses running around in circles, I did some birding this week. The drive from near Oxford to the racecourse produced the first transect when Red Kite numbers from the car equalled Buzzards – and the Red…

Guest blog – Bookends by Tim Bidie

I am a 63 year old retired British and Sultan of Oman’s Army Officer living overseas, in Oman, running a small business advisory consultancy in Muscat, helping small to medium sized British and European Companies achieve business there. I am a salt water (mainly) catch and release fly fisherman who occasionally shoots for the pot (with…

University of Cape Town press release

  BIG GAME HUNTERS IN AFRICA URGED TO DROP THE LEAD TO HELP SAVE VULTURES! Lead bullet fragments in carcasses left by hunters are poisoning endangered African vultures, a new study has found. A third of all vultures caught and tested in the Botswana study showed elevated levels of lead in their blood, most likely…

Guest blog – Whitebeam Spring by Ian Parsons

Ian Parsons spent twenty years working as a Ranger with the Forestry Commission, where he not only worked with birds of prey and dormice, but where he developed his passion for trees. Now a freelance writer, Ian runs his own specialist bird tour company leading tours to Extremadura. For more details see www.griffonholidays.com This is…

On a course, at a meeting

I’m off to Cheltenham for three days at the races.  I know that this is a subject that leaves some readers of this blog cold, others will be annoyed that I spend my time in this way, and yet others will wish they were there too.  Any of those reactions is fine – but I’m…