Just in passing…

This is just a very quick passing reference to capitalisation of species names. I’ve written about it before – see here for discussion of shy albatrosses and Shy Albatrosses. When people write guest blogs here I do not instruct them to capitalise species names (because I’m very tolerant – renowned for it) but I do…

Guest blog – Swift Awareness Week 2020 by Mike Priaulx

Mike Priaulx is a sustainable buildings consultant who founded the Islington Swifts Group in 2016. Working with the Council, residents and local organisations, there are now more than 200 new nesting spaces for swifts in the borough. His twitter handle: @islingt_swifts Why do we need Swift Awareness Week? There are many other similarly endangered species…

Press release – Wildlife App from Bumblebee Conservation Trust

3D app brings UK bumblebees to life on your phone A wildlife app launched today by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust gives users a new view of bumblebees through an augmented reality 3D function. The free ‘What’s That Bumblebee’ app lets people engage with nature in a different and fun way by bringing a three-dimensional bumblebee…

WWT stirs itself on lead

This article by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust on lead ammunition is well worth a read. James Robinson, Director of Conservation, is quoted as saying: Health, surely, is at the forefront of all our minds right now, yet countries blocking this proposal are passing up a golden opportunity to protect the health of their citizens,…

Those Birdtrack House Sparrows revisited

You may think that I have a ‘thing’ about this, maybe an unhealthy obsession, but it’s just something that interests me. I noticed that the reporting rates of many birds on the excellent Birdtrack system had changed during lockdown, and in predictable ways. Birdtrack was telling us about our behaviour as birders as much as…