Standing up for Nature
That’s another watch done – this time from indoors looking out while drinking tea and eating porridge. I was expecting to see a Chaffinch around the birdfeeders – but none yet. The four species I would expect to see today which are so far eluding me, are Chaffinch, Red Kite, Buzzard and Sparrowhawk. I’ll probably…
Another birdwatch, up to 0730 takes the list from 7 to 21 species. All of the species below are regulars except for the early watch’s garden lifer Gadwall and the sighting of a single Greylag Goose (3rd ever record). Blackbird Gadwall Robin Dunnock Wren Woodpigeon Jackdaw Collared Dove Greenfinch Goldfinch Starling Greylag Goose Rook House…
OK, so east Northants isn’t quite Eilat as a migration hotspot, and I’m restricted to my house and garden, but I’m supporting the Champion of the Flyways (cancelled) event by promoting their cause through the day (and I’ve donated). The cause is the conservation of Steppe Eagles in Kazakhstan and Uzbekhistan – a good, no…
Four years ago I was participating in the Champions of the Flyway Bird Race in Israel with the three gentlemen above. It was fun and we raised a lot of money for bird conservation in Greece. But Israel is not the country in the world with the best moral credentials (nor is the UK!) and…
I agree with regular commenter here, murray marr, that Greenfinches seem more numerous and obvious songsters this year than usual. But, there isn’t a lot to the song of the Greenfinch really; But I’m glad to hear them and see them more often – I find I’ve missed them. Greenfinches rather live under the shadow…
Jan Stannard, @janstannard, is a Founder Trustee of Heal, @healrewilding, a new rewilding charity in the UK. She has a business background which comes in handy for wildlife campaigning. She is involved nationally in swift conservation, is co-founder of Wild Maidenhead, leading their Wild About Gardens Awards scheme, and she organised England’s largest amphibian ladder…
Social Distancing Week 2, Dark-edged Bee-fly This little creature cheered me up last weekend. The bee-fly is one of my favourite heralds of spring and 22 March is the earliest I have seen one. It was a bit like seeing my first swallow a week before it was expected. However, unlike the swallow, the bee-fly…
My binoculars are 44 years old today. I got them on my 18th birthday. I feel I may have to take the rest of the day off to celebrate my binoculars’ birthday.
I was going to write about welfare issues in horse racing – but, to be honest, I just don’t feel like it right now, so that blog is delayed, but it will come here eventually. But in the interim, have a look at the recent British Horseracing Authority report on the subject – click here.
Tim writes: Stripe-throated Yuhina (Yuhina gularis) is a common bird of forested hills in the southern Himalayas across to China and Vietnam. They would be a plain, unmemorable bird apart from an enormous, erect crest and a distinctive stripey throat. Both its English and scientific names come from the Nepalese word for this bird (Yuhin),…