BASC issued a press release a while ago and the three Wild Justice directors have been chortling over it ever since. We were asked by a journalist to comment and sent them this: Our legal challenge is a strong one. Defra can be as robust as it wishes but these matters will be settled by…
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Bird song (31) – Oystercatcher
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It’s not just passerines which sing – quite a lot of waders have striking (and rather easily recognised) songs. One of these is the Oystercatcher which is a Spring arrival at my local gravel pits. I heard Oystercatchers near to home on the same day that I heard my first Chiffchaff this year; back on…
Prospects for the shooting season
When I first started asking contacts in the shooting industry about the prospects for shooting and how it would be affected by coronavirus they all sounded surprised to be asked and expressed no doubt that all would be much as normal. This round up on the William Powell site tells a very different story. Confidence…
Paul Leyland – Gooden’s Nomad Bee
Social Distancing Week 5. Gooden’s Nomad Bee. I love dandelions at this time of year. They are one of the main food sources for a huge variety of insects so a nice expanse of flowers in a sunny spot is an ideal place for watching and waiting. There is a grassy bank just along the…
Bird song (30) – Nightingale
This date is the earliest I have heard a Nightingale in Northants but I won’t be hearing one this evening in lockdown. In any case, for the last couple of years the regular haunts near my home have been bereft of Nightingales. My favourite Nightingale wood is Glapthorn Cow Pasture (a Beds, Cambs, Northants Wildlife…
Tim Melling – Tibetan Macaques
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Tim writes: these are Tibetan Macaques, sometimes known as Milne-Edwards’ or Chinese Stump-tailed Macaques (Macaca thibetana). They are the largest species of Macaque and occur mainly in Eastern Tibet and Western China. They are classified by IUCN as near-threatened largely because of habitat destruction. They live in mixed sex groups of twenty to thirty with…
Bird song (29) – Goldfinch
There are lots of Goldfinches in my garden these days, and all other days of the year actually. They are much commoner now than they once were. Despite being delightful, gorgeous birds to look at, their song is an unimpressive twittering. Here are some examples, from Portugal; … and from Kensington Gardens, London, UK; ……
Bird Song (28) – whitethroats
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We have two species of ‘whitethroat’ warblers in the UK, the Common Whitethroat and the Lesser Whitethroat. They look rather similar, although there are lots of differences when you look closely, and they live in similar habitats (hedgerows and scrub) but they sound quite different. Both have now arrived in east Northants, with Lesser Whitethroat…
Bird Song (27) – why a dawn chorus?
We know why bird song is a feature of Spring – it’s because the function of bird song is usually to defend a territory and its food and nesting resources and to attract a mate. Song is largely concentrated in the Spring in high latitudes because that’s when birds breed. But why is there a…
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
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