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Videoconferencing
I spent a large chunk of Wednesday in two meetings held by videoconferencing. I’ve done a bit of this before but this is the first time I have had to chair such a meeting with around a dozen people present – it’s quite hard work. But, we’ll all have to get used to it and…
Moorland Association fails to publicise fully the cessation of moorland burning plea
Apparently stopping torching the uplands is not the Moorland Association’s idea of latest news….
Bird song (12) – Great Tits (5)
In 1984, from pretty close to this time of year, and for a two-week period, I helped a fellow post-doc at the Zoology Department in Oxford carry out a field experiment in the University Parks on song recognition in Great Tits. We studied 13 male Great Tits holding territories for at least the second year…
Bird song (11 ) – Robin
It’s easy to see why the Robin is our favourite bird. They are common, occur in towns and gardens as well as the countryside, are confiding to the point of appearing friendly, easy to identify, have a nice orange patch on their breast and have beautiful dark eyes. Haven’t you ever looked deep into a…
Press release – Ban Bloodsports on Yorkshire Moors
Grouse shooting industry suspends burning season following major blaze on Meltham Moor Friday, 27 March 2020 Grouse moor burning season has prematurely ended from today after the Moorland Association requested its members stop the practice. It follows more than 200 hectares of rare blanket bog being damaged in a major blaze on Meltham Moor, West…
Bird song (10) – Great Tits (4)
Male Great Tits react more strongly to the playback of Great Tit song if it is broadcast to them from the centre of their territories than from the edge. That’s not surprising, but it is interesting. And it opens up the possibility that one can measure something about song recognition by individual Great Tits through…
Moorland Association and Scottish Land and Estates implore their members to cease heather burning
It’s difficult to hide a fire on open moorland – this is the recent controversial fire at Deer Hill – seen from about five miles away. Both Moorland Association and Scottish Land and Estates have asked their members to cease heather burning at this time in order not to fill peoples’ lungs with smoke at…
Silence, but not silence
I’ve been able to sit in the garden quite a lot in the last few days, sometimes working, but always with binoculars at hand. At other times, I would hear planes overhead, cars on the road, school children on their ways to and from school, and at break-times in the not-too-distant school playgrounds. There would…
A local star – Ada Salter
I live in a small market town in east Northamptonshire – it’s called Raunds. A slightly unusual name which one often has to spell out to people on telephone calls; R-A-U-N-D-S. It is said to mean something akin to ‘boundaries’, perhaps because we are near where the counties of Northants, Beds and Cambs join up,…