I’ve been watching thousands of ants take to the sky from my back garden. It’s Flying Ant Day – well, here in NN9 of east Northants it is anyway. I haven’t actually seen any birds taking much notice of the silver-winged additions to the air today – often there are Black-headed Gulls going crazy at…
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Paul Leyland – Ichneumon sarcitorius.
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Social Distancing Week 17. Ichneumon sarcitorius Paul writes: I am always finding ichneumon wasps in and around my garden. Often they are running through the undergrowth, all the time twitching their long antennae. Then they’ll stop on a leaf or a flower to have a search round. They take a nice photograph but unfortunately most…
Guest blog – Where did our birds come from? by Alan Parfitt
Alan has always been a birder. In the 1950s, his father used to take him bird watching on Graveney Marshes in North Kent (what a great shame they are now to be more or less completely covered in solar panels). During his earning days, amongst other assignments, he was the environmental manager for a large…
Sunday book review – Uplands and Birds by Ian Newton
This is a monumental book of over 600 pages. It is everything one would expect from one of the UK’s greatest ornithologists; breadth, depth and clarity. This book, the author stresses, is about the uplands and about birds, but it isn’t just about upland birds. That’s true, but it is very birdy nonetheless. It acts…
Tim Melling – Nightjar
Tim writes: I came across a Nightjar, hiding in plain sight on a tree stump, and what an amazing camouflage he has. First of all his body is wedge-shaped with a dead flat back, but also his belly is flush to the ground, looking for all the world like a chunk of wood. He had…
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
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If you think this is bad…
Jason Endfield has done a great job in unearthing more information about Natural England issuing licences for bird killing – this time the culling of Starlings – see here. People are up in arms on social media about why Natural England has continued to issue licences to a farmer when the conditions of the original…
The Midhope track
Regular readers with good memories will remember the Midhope Track. This is what it looks like at the moment (above). The logs from the image below have been added to the plastic track but they are now sinking into the bog. Bob Berzins wrote about this track back in January 2019 and February 2017 (click…
Guest blog – Farmed to hell? by Louise Bacon
Farmed to hell? I spend a lot of my time in the farmed environment. I live surrounded by arable, and have to pass through it to get anywhere. At work recently (I work in the Polar Data Centre at British Antarctic Survey) we had a midsummer solstice challenge for running/walking, simply personal achievement, nothing else….. …
Press release – Morecambe Bay Extinction Rebellion group
For Peat’s Sake: What Next? MBXR Press Release A series of XR Webinars and Assemblies addressing peatland management, biodiversity, burning and flooding in Bowland, Pendle, Calderdale and similar uplands. Weds July 8th. 7-8.30pm. Peat:Si Thomas, Peatland Restoration Officer, Cumbria Wildlife Trust. Thurs July 9th 7-8.30pm. FloodingDr Rod Everett. Backsbottom Farm, Roeburndale Sat July 11th. 1.30-4.30pm….