There have been nearly 68,000 comments made on this blog since it sprang into life in spring 2011. Over 9,000 of them have been by me – replying to your comments. The rest have been made by several hundred folk – it would be a very time consumting exercise to work out quite how many…
BLOG POSTS
BTO press release – Volunteers’ data vital in wetland conservation
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Data collected by volunteers as part of the Wetland Bird Survey, and published in a report today, play a crucial role in the designation of protected wetland sites in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and underline their importance in helping to conserve our waterbirds. Many of the UK’s wetlands are given protected status as a…
Tidy houses, tidy inboxes, messy hair
Being confined to one’s house enables one to do some of that decluttering that never gets done at other times. The inboxes of my email accounts are now slimmed down and many emails are filed away properly and an awful lot are deleted. And the same goes for the house, although that is a much…
The declining Chaffinch?
I received an appeal for money from the BTO recently and its subject was the declining Chaffinch. I wasn’t aware that the Chaffinch was declining – they are still a common widespread bird, and just very parochially, if anything they are commoner now in my garden than they once were. So I looked with interest…
Press release – RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch results
RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch results show milder winter helps small garden birds House sparrow remains at the top of the Big Garden Birdwatch rankings with almost 1.3 million sightings throughout the weekend. Almost half a million people across the UK spent an hour watching the birds that visit their garden or outdoor space as part…
Bird song (14) – Chaffinch
Now that April is here I can write about the Chaffinch singing on the orchard bough, although I’ve been hearing Chaffinch song , sometimes from our small apple tree, since February. This one was recorded in Brandenburg today! Whereas this one is from Yorkshire… And this one is from Lincolnshire… It’s a song that is…
For the record…
The first time I mentioned coronavirus on this blog was on 27 February when I wrote; I’d be surprised if this disease kills as many people in the UK this year as die on our roads, but I might well be wrong. I may look foolish in future, but if so it won’t be the…
Events dear boy, events…
The London Wildlife Festival, which was hit by strong winds last year, has had to be postponed until 20`2`1. That’s a great shame and I hope it will be third time lucky for them. Also, the first HHDay event in Wales is paused. No doubt the Bird Fair folk are watching events closely, and with…
Guest blog – Further Offerings of Ornithological Lessons By Olaf Lipor, (trans. by Ian Parsons).
Olaf Lipor is a well-known Scandinavian naturalist with a long track record of engagement in citizen science projects. His previous Guest Blogs here, about two years and one year ago, were on a Fat Tax and Citizen Science. Olaf is not yet found on Twitter. I am aware that the pages of this website are…
#COTF20 my garden birdwatch (6)
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Four years ago I was a team member rushing around the Negev desert and the area around Eilat in Israel spotting birds in an international bird race. What a daft thing to do! But we raised a lot of money for conservation of migrant birds in Greece (and, quite honestly, had a lot of fun)….