A cuckoo was seen, or maybe just heard, down the road from me in east Northants yesterday – brave bird! My earliest record for the last decade or so is 15 April but I’ll have to keep my eyes and ears open for sightings and hearings over the next week. There have been a few…
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Shifting butterfly baselines
It’s the Easter weekend and it’s cold and a bit wet – not ideal weather for butterflies. So far, in east Northants this year, I’ve seen commas, peacocks, speckled woods, brimstones and orange tips. It’s a start. Through the year I will hope to see white admirals, black hairstreaks, purple emperors, white admirals, purple hairstreaks…
Between a rock bunting and a hard place
I had a short piece in the Farmers Weekly this week and you can read it here. But have a look at the image that FW has chosen to go with the article – a nice bunting. But wait a minute – that’s not a yellowhammer or a reed bunting, and it’s certainly not a…
Spring?
It’s a funny spring – but then, they often are. As you know, if you are a regular reader, I’ve seen bee flies and primroses and a swallow three weeks ago at Cheltenham, and I’ve heard plenty of chiffchaffs but it feels like a stuttering spring to me. I heard a willow warbler last weekend…
Tesco favours wildlife
Tesco has had a tough time of it since teaming up with the RSPB earlier this year. But at least they have discovered wildlife including the mice that have ‘infested‘ their Covent Garden store causing it to close. It is expected to reopen as an RSPB nature reserve very soon. London tube stations are just…