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The Song of Solomon talks of the voice of the turtle being heard in the land – that was the Turtle Dove, not some warbling reptile. But it is a song rather rarely heard in the land these days. The Turtle Dove was once a very common bird in southeast England and its purring was…

I love this cover of Birdwatch – it’s very yellow! There are some very thoughtful regular columns (including mine!) and a very good ‘big debate’ on long-haul flights. I think you’ll enjoy at least some of them. But I spent more time looking at the images of birds, some of them rare birds – maybe…

Jangling keys – that’s how a Corn Buntng sounds. Here are examples of jangling keys from across Europe. Here’s one from Oropesa, Spain: …and another Spanish bird from Tarifa; …and one from Yorkshire, UK; There is a single pair of Corn Buntings in Northamptonshire, I gather. I used to see them in several places, but…

Today is the anniversary of the first Little Owl nest nest to be found in the UK.  Little Owls were successfully introduced into the UK at Lilford Hall, just down the road from me here in east Northants, by the 4th Baron Lilford: in 1889, on St George’s Day, his gamekeeper found a Little Owl…

The song of the House Sparrow seems to be pretty much like its call – cheep! But you can see a male House Sparrow, sitting by a nest box or opening on the edge of a roof, going ‘cheep!’ time after time after time. If it were any other bird then we’d call it a…