Today is Cambridgeshire Bird Club’s Easter Monday lockdown bird race. Objective, 12 hours of recording from your home, with up to one hour allowed out, on foot. Our house being not in the least competitive (2 birders – oh Ok, we are…) we have different lists and different strategies for this. I started with my…
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Guest blog – My Lockdown by Paul Irving
Paul Irving is a retired scientist and ecologist. Involved in raptors and raptor protection in Northern England for over 30 years, especially Hen Harriers and Merlins. A Bird Ringer since the early seventies, other interests include just about anything to do with wildlife, photography (of wildlife), fishing, reading and Native Americans. Worked and lived in…
Paul Leyland – Tapered Drone Fly
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Social Distancing Week 4. Tapered Drone Fly. This is the most visible insect in my garden at the moment. It is a hoverfly, which mimics a drone Honey bee (Apis mellifera). The male Tapered Drone Fly (Eristalis pertinax) is fiercely territorial and is busy staking out its territory. It can be heard buzzing and seen…
Bird song (23) – Garden Warbler
I was relieved to find that Tim Melling (whose images grace these ‘song’ blogs) had photographed a Garden Warbler because not many photographers bother with this species; as Tim writes, its ‘distinguishing feature is that it has no distinguishing features’. The specific name borin apparently comes from a belief that this bird had a lot…
Bird song (22) – Black Redstart
The Black Redstart is a common breeding bird in much of continental Europe and it often nests in towns and villages. It, like the more familiar Common Redstart, is a hole-nester. Common Redstarts nest in holes in trees whereas Black Redstarts often nest in holes in building and walls. In the UK Black Redstarts are…