The latest Birdwatch dropped through my letterbox on a rainy day when there looks like there won’t be much play in the test match. So I was able to thimb through it this morning to have a first look.
I was impressed that Andrew Barker, in the letters section, had the confidence to correct Ian Newton on his statement on grouse moors in the previous month’s edition.
And I thought that Bill Oddie had lost quite a lot of hair until I spotted, with a birder’s keen eyes, that Rob Sheldon had written the final piece in the magazine this month – and it’s well worth a read Mr Johnson, as it is about the environmental damage caused by HS2.
Dominic Mitchell writes about a certain vulture in the Peak District National Park.
There is what looks like a really useful article on the identification of Long-billed and Short-billed Dowitchers with lots of excellent photographs – useful, that is, if you are ever looking at a bird knowing it’s one or the other but not sure which one. My identification tip with these two species is to go to the right part of the USA at the right time and to stand next to an American birder who knows their stuff. Simples!
There is an obituary of Steve Madge written by Tim Inskipp which captures in a few words this man’s many achievements.
And loads and loads of good images and news and other articles.
My monthly column mentions a certain e-action, this one, in the context of Hen Harrier Day, a poisoned White-tailed Eagle in the Cairngorms National Park and a missing Golden Eagle in Strathbraan. The SNP government in Scotland needs a nudge to introduce licensing of grouse shooting and the Westminster government needs a jolly good shove to do anything on wildlife crime. Have I mentioned it here before? Once or twice perhaps.
But it’s unusual for the copy deadlines to fall so sweetly for such a mention in my column – I wonder whether many Birdwatch readers will learn of the e-action for the first time when Birdwatch arrives in their Inbox or through their letterbox – more than one might expect would be my guess.
