On Saturday afternoon I watched a Cormorant with a fish off Dawlish Warren. The Cormorant had the fish in its beak and was trying to swallow it. It looked as though it had bitten off more than it could chew, or at least caught more than it could swallow. Have you ever done that? I’m…
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Hope continues to rise
Every picture tells a story – and this one tells a big story. This graph shows the farmland bird index at the RSPB’s Hope Farm and in England as a whole. It shows a slow, steady decline in England altogether (blue line) but a massive overall rise (red line) at Hope Farm. Read more about…
Oscar Dewhurst – Red Deer stag roaring
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Oscar writes: This was taken before the sun came up in Richmond Park. I wanted to include both the stag and some females, and getting the male roaring was something I also wanted to show the story of this time of year for the deer. Nikon D800, Nikon 200-400mm f4 VR
Sunday book review – A Guide to the Birds of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson
This is not a Field Guide – it’s a novel. It’s a somewhat novel novel being a story of love amongst birders. On the weekly bird walks of the East African Ornithological Society romance is stirring. Will Mr Malik get the girl – or will he be given the bird? This is a light-hearted romantic…
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
Some things
A few things that have caught my eye: the USA is a long way ahead of us in getting rid of lead from game meat – for wildlife and people. Colorado is the next state looking to switch to non-toxic ammunition and there is interesting information on the impacts of lead in game on children’s…
New disease spreading through Red Grouse population
Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust scientists have published a paper which says that ‘Respiratory cryptosporidiosis is a new and rapidly spreading disease in red grouse.’. This is a disease normally found in captive birds but the first case in the ‘wild’ was found in the North Pennines in 2010. Worryingly, this paper also states that…
Stanwick Lakes delivers unique experiences
My local patch of Stanwick Lakes is nothing special in birdwatching terms – except it is my local patch. My Birdtrack records tell me that since September 2004 I have visited this site, and kept a species list of birds for the visit, on 368 occasions, recording in the process 152 species of bird. Some…
Visit to Aberdeen
It was great fun talking to a packed lecture theatre in the Zoology Department in Aberdeen about Passenger Pigeons and Hen Harriers on Tuesday evening. We also all had the opportunity to look at a stuffed Passenger Pigeon in the adjacent museum – which I always find is a rather poignant experience. I was talking…
Guest blog – Crunch time for Britain’s bees by Joan Walley MP
As MPs return to parliament from party conference season, leading MP Joan Walley, says the Government’s plans for bees ‘fail to offer’ the solution bees need. The decline in bee and other pollinators’ populations is a very real threat not just to the pollinators themselves but also to the world…