Social Distancing Week 8. Ashy Mining Bee. Paul writes: One of the good things I’ve discovered about looking for insects closer to home are the unexpected finds. The Ashy Mining Bee ( Andrena cineraria) is my best this spring, it is a first for my local patch, OS square TA0978. It’s a bee that I…
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Sunday book review – On the Trail of Wolves by Philippa Forrester
Philippa Forrester, the UK broadcaster, spent over a year in the greater Yellowstone area with her film cameramen husband and their school-aged children. This book chronicles her encounters with wildlife and with Americans. I’ve been to Yellowstone twice and seen Grey Wolves there both times (and Grizzlies and Black Bears and a bunch of other…
Tim Melling – Lapwing
Tim writes: if Lapwings are being watched by a predator (or a human) they sometimes pretend to have a nest in a different area to where their actual nest is. Because of this Lapwings were thought to be deceitful birds and the collective noun is a deceit of Lapwings. Chaucer said that the bird was…
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
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Feathers 2
In the previous blog I estimated the number of feathers on living wild birds to be around 420 trillion. Now I’ve had the chance to check a few things I’d like to revise the estimate a little. The logic strikes me as pretty good. How many (wild) birds are there in the world and simply…