It’s still snowy here in east Northants – snowy and misty. Yesterday I saw 23 species of bird from the house: Red Kite, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Blackcap, Starling, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Fieldfare, Robin, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Pied Wagtail, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Reed…
BLOG POSTS
Sunday book review – Inheritors of the Earth by Chris Thomas
Reviewed by Ian Carter The full title of this book tells you most of what you need to know about its main message. While conceding the point that there have been significant losses of wildlife, the book focusses on the positive aspects of a human-dominated world. It is one of a growing number of recent…
Tim Melling – Crested Kingfisher
Comments Off on Tim Melling – Crested Kingfisher
Crested Kingfisher (Megaceryle lugubris) ranges from northern India, across China to Japan. They seem to occur at pretty low density on large, fast flowing, clean rivers. They perch on wires, branches and rocks but they do not hover. Like most Kingfishers they excavate nesting tunnels in river banks. I photographed this one with its tail…
Brrrrr!
I don’t think I’ll be moving far today – not far from this computer in fact. The kitchen is quite cold – one can tell by being there or by looking at how cloudy the olive oil has gone! But the garden is lifting with birds. There are still several Reed Buntings out there and…
An Unreliable History of Birdwatching (47) by Paul Thomas
Comments Off on An Unreliable History of Birdwatching (47) by Paul Thomas
Thank you!
That was quick! Less than four and a half days. And 919 people donated (actually 920 now) – that’s amazing. And it shows the passion for Hen Harriers and the strength of feeling against this daft brood management plan but also, I suspect, against all the other nonsense going on thanks to Defra and…
Wemmergill Moorland Plan
Wemmergill Moor is where a young Hen Harrier ‘disappeared’ in February – the latest of so many. It is also the first site where NE agreed a Moorland Management Plan with the estate. These MMPs are the response of Defra and NE to the fact that they have been told by the European Commission that…
Shiants declared rat-free
Brighter future for seabirds as Shiants declared rat free Internationally important seabird colony The Shiant Isles have been officially declared rat-free, thanks to a four-year partnership project to restore them as a secure haven for nesting seabirds. A month-long intensive monitoring check in February found no sign of rats. This means that none has been…
Guest blog – the 25-year plan and my visit to No 10 by Findlay Wilde
Last November I was invited to meet with Sir John Randall, the PM’s special adviser on the environment, to discuss environmental policy and some of the many issues that need addressing. During that meeting with Sir John (and you can read the full details here), I talked about how I can see the impacts of…
Marc’d down on Wemmergill
The news (RSPB blog, RPUK blog) of yet another disappeared Hen Harrier from the cohort of 2017 youngsters is not a great surprise. There aren’t that many left! But the location is interesting – Wemmergill Moor. Wemmergill Moor is a big-name grouse moor. Until 2006, this moor, of 17,000 acres had been in the same…