Paul writes: I found this moth in my garden last week. I had run a moth trap overnight and next morning found this one nearby. It must have been attracted to the light and then settled down to rest up for the day. It’s a stunning moth and instantly recognisable with the black spots on…
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Tim Melling – Bluethroat
I think that Bluethroat is Europe’s most beautiful songbird. The throat looks colourful enough to be a Christmas tree decoration and the copper triangles on its tail sides are exquisite. Its scientific name Luscinia svecica translates as Swedish Nightingale and it was in northern Sweden where I photographed this stunning male. There are two main…
Does it work for you?
There’s a little box next to this blog which allows you to enter your email address and you will be sent an email each time a blog is posted here. Except, several of you have now told me that it isn’t working very well. And now you’ve pointed it out, I’ve noticed it isn’t working…
Gordon Yates – Long-eared Owls
Gordon writes: Long Eared Owls are the most nocturnal of all our Owls and seldom hunt in daylight. There are only a couple of weeks, at this time of year, when the adults are forced to hunt in daylight to feed their fledged young. Last week I was privileged enough to photograph a pair of…
Jeremy Corbyn is a goal hanger.
I heard the phrase used on the radio (it must have been Radio 4) a while ago; ‘Jeremy Corbyn is a goal hanger’. It took me right back to my youth, and teenage games of football played in farmers’ fields where the goalposts were piles of jumpers, the boundaries of the playing surface were as…
Bowland Gull cull 13 – NE promises a response
In response to my recent questions about the Bowland gull cull of 2017 I have now received this:
Sunday is International Bog Day #bogday
This short charming video by Andrew Clark (see here and here) is to mark International Bog Day on Sunday.
Bird Fair 2018 – 4 weeks today
Bird Fair – you either love it or hate it – I love it (though it mildly irritates me too). But it starts 4 weeks today. It’s a pity that Michael Gove can’t attend – but I do know that the invitation was made months ago. An opportunity missed, by him, perhaps. I’d still…
Press release from Suffolk Wildlife Trust (and Plantlife)
Critically endangered fen orchid flowers for first time in 40 years Beautiful fenland species returns from localised extinction following pioneering work by Plantlife and Suffolk Wildlife Trust The critically endangered fen orchid has flowered for the first time in Suffolk since 1975. The return of the rare orchid, which was locally extinct and whose location cannot…
Red Grouse in Iceland?
No, we aren’t going back to that well-known place to buy frozen foods but to that well-known country of Gyr Falcons, King Eiders and Brunnich’s Guillemots. Apparently, the traditional Icelandic Christmas dish is a Ptarmigan, but numbers have declined and so Iceland has imposed strict quotas on numbers shot. Birds should only be shot for…