Rare bird of prey found mutilated as 20 other individuals go missing One of the UK’s rarest birds of prey, a Hen Harrier, has been found dead with its body mutilated A post-mortem examination concluded that the bird was killed by having its head pulled off whilst still alive. Twenty more Hen Harriers, including…
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Press release – Black-eyed Gannets have survived bird flu
Black eyes in seabirds indicates bird flu survival Scientists have discovered evidence that Northern Gannets can recover from bird flu and that unusual black iris coloration is linked to a previous HPAIV infection The study also assessed the impact of HPAI on adult gannet survival at the largest gannet colony in the world – the…
A reader writes and asks…
I received the email in blue below a few days ago, but since I was looking at gentians on The Burren (I think that’s what they were) and seeing hundreds and hundreds of Whimbrel in Galway Bay (I’m sure about them), hearing my first Cuckoo of the year in Connemara (yep, that’s a positive identification)…
Sunday book review – Beastly by Keggie Carew
This book is a series of stories which explore our relationship with animals. But what a series of stories! From a Barn Owl perching on someone’s head to the furore about letting a few White-tailed Eagles go on the Isle of Wight, by way of the DMZ between the Koreas, Palaeolithic cave paintings in Spain,…
Sunday book review – Ghosts in the Hedgerow by Tom Moorhouse
Hedgehogs have declined very dramatically in numbers – to the point of being unknown, now, in many places where they snuffled in living memory. The declines in Hedgehog populations are of a similar scale to many of our largest declines in bird populations. It’s a bit surprising that even more hasn’t been made of the…