I was relieved to find that Tim Melling (whose images grace these ‘song’ blogs) had photographed a Garden Warbler because not many photographers bother with this species; as Tim writes, its ‘distinguishing feature is that it has no distinguishing features’. The specific name borin apparently comes from a belief that this bird had a lot…
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Bird song (22) – Black Redstart
The Black Redstart is a common breeding bird in much of continental Europe and it often nests in towns and villages. It, like the more familiar Common Redstart, is a hole-nester. Common Redstarts nest in holes in trees whereas Black Redstarts often nest in holes in building and walls. In the UK Black Redstarts are…
Easter eggs?
This nest box, just outside our conservatory, had Blue Tits nesting in it in 2016, and Tree Bumblebees in 2017, and nothing in 2018 and 2019, but Blue Tits are back this year. They’ve been carrying huge beakfuls of moss and a few feathers into the nestbox for days. I guess the female has just…
Press release – Chris Packham and Leigh Day
Chris Packham announces appeal of HS2 decision Environmental campaigner Chris Packham CBE has announced that he is seeking permission to appeal the decision by the High Court to dismiss his judicial review of the government’s go-ahead on HS2. The High Court decided on Friday 3 April 2020 that it would not grant permission for a…
Tim Melling – Golden Pheasant in the wild
Tim writes: most people will be familiar with Golden Pheasant as an aviary bird, or perhaps even as a naturalised escapee in Britain. But this is a wild, wary male in its natural habitat at Tangjiahe in China. This one had been caught out in the open and was dashing for the cover of a…
Bird song (21) – Starling
Starlings are wonderful birds – take a look at one and they just look superb. But they sing too, often while waving their wings in a motion similar to a butterfly-stroke swimmer. Can you sing and wave your arms about? Maybe, now try it perched on a telephone wire! It’s a strange song, in some…
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
Bird song (20) – Cuckoo
Surely you know what a Cuckoo sounds like? But how often do you hear them these days, I wonder? They are much rare now, particularly in southern England and I hear them less often than formerly. I’ve only once heard a Cuckoo from my garden and that was in May 2014. Maybe I’m in with…
Bird song (19) – Willow Warbler
The Willow Warbler looks very much like a Chiffchaff – they can be a bit tricky to tell apart at times, and are closely related species, but their songs are completely and utterly different. Whereas the Chiffchaff’s song is simple and cuts through the early Spring air like a knife, the Willow Warbler has a…
Prospects for the shooting season?
Despite the shooting industry trying to put on a confident front that it will be unaffected by a global pandemic touching, heavily touching, every other aspect of human life, it seems that the reality is very different. Pheasant and partridge shooting are currently particularly affected because of their dependence on massive imports of eggs and…