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Pheasants
Remember there was a bit of fuss about pheasants and buzzards back in May? Around that time I was writing an article for BBC Wildlife magazine about pheasants! Now the article is out in the September (!) BBC Wildlife. Pheasants are amazing birds. They are tasty, beautiful and interesting. They are also amazingly abundant in…
A chat with Charlie
Last week I had a chat with Charlie Moores about grouse shooting, hen harrier shooting, farmland birds, climate change, the honours system, the RSPB, whether I am happy, whether Charlie is any good at spotting birds, bluethroats, politicians, politics etc You can listen to our chat on Charlie’s podcast Talking Naturally (where you will also…
What has stayed the same?
In the June issue of British Birds – which has a lovely, vicious sparrowhawk on its cover, I was struck by the juxtaposition of two papers. One was about lesser-spotted woodpeckers and the other about Dartford warblers in the Thames Basin heathlands of Surrey. Each was an interesting and valuable record of what we know,…
Back to skylarks and Hope
I wrote a little about skylarks here recently – and how numbers had quadrupled at the RSPB’s Hope Farm over the last 12 years, increasing from 10 pairs in 2000 to the low 40s in recent years). The story of how skylarks increased is quite well known – it’s done by leaving small bare patches…