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I have to remind myself that this is one of the most numerous species in the UK because I don’t see them much around me. There’s an old airfield near me where Meadow Pipits nest in thelonger patches of grass – and it always surprises me to find them there, close to my home, singing…

Derek Gow is a farmer. A previous guest blog here, about rewilding his farm (and much else besides), Winds of Change 4 February 2019, was one of the most popular posts on this blog in all time. His second guest blog, I must tell you something of the Beaver was about the subject which he…

My lockdown garden bird list has leapt from 46 to 53 species in the last three weeks. The ‘new’ species were Cuckoo, Hobby and Sand Martin (summer migrants) and Mallard, Little Egret, Herring Gull and Skylark. Little Egret was a garden lifer too – but now I’ve seen it three times. Here’s the list (with…

Cranes are now rare breeding birds in the UK having established small populations in East Anglia, the Somerset Levels, Humberside and some parts of Scotland. What amazing birds they are, and they make amazing noises too. Here are some Cranes singing to each other. These are not UK recordings but if you were very lucky…

Given these graphs for the UK… … it seems to me, for what it’s worth, that a gradual move towards some loosening of lockdown in order to generate economic activity is sensible. Much of what Prime Minister Johnson said in his broadcast yesterday evening was also sensible. However, as with our move into lockdown in…