I visited the RSPB nature reserve at Otmoor yesterday. It was great! As we parked, we could hear lots of Whitethroats singing, some of them performing song flights over the car park, and Cuckoos singing in the distance too. This was a promising start and the promise was kept. We were hardly out of earshot…
BLOG POSTS
So, that was April.
I always think that I like May more than I like April – but I have liked this April a lot! I can’t wait until the next one. For a birdwatcher April is a month of arrivals (though, at the same time, there are departures too). I have a few mental ‘targets’ (not quite the…
A Swift blog
It’s the last day of April and I haven’t seen a Swift yet. So I am sitting in the garden looking at the sky. I’ll tell you tomorrow whether it worked or not.
Letter to my MP, Andy Sawford
Dear Andy I’m a bit late with this letter but I’d like to thank you for the way you have dealt with previous ones. In the run up to the EU elections on 22 May I’m sure we are all thinking about the UK’s place in Europe. You have probably noticed the coverage of…
Nightingales
I’m lucky – although, actually, luck didn’t have that much to do with it; I live in the countryside. This means that I can drive for 20 minutes, as I did on Saturday evening, and stand in an ancient woodland at dusk and listen to Nightingales singing. I do this every year – and it…
Letter in a battle – Spring Migrant Massacre on Malta
This letter was sent to the EU Environment Commissioner on 24 April about the role of the European Commission in sorting out the Spring massacre of migrants in Malta. Here is a quote from it: “In view of the abundant evidence presented to the European Commission about the systemic failures in the application of the…
Nearer to home
It’s not just in Malta that birds of prey are killed illegally, of course. My nearest station is at Wellingborough, and because I am always early I get to do a few minutes birding from the station platform every now and then. Waxwing, a flock of them, is my ‘best’ bird from the station but…
Malta and the Spring Massacre
Chris Packham and team have done a great job in publicising events on Malta over the last 10 days. This was a self-funded project done for the love of birds. And what a great example it has been of the use of celebrity to promote a cause. If you haven’t seen the videos from Malta…
Oscar Dewhurst – White-bellied Parrot
Comments Off on Oscar Dewhurst – White-bellied Parrot
Oscar writes: Since 19 February I’ve been in Peru, staying at Los Amigos Biological Research Station. One of my favourite places here is the canopy tower which stretches 60m up into the air. One evening a group of White-bellied Parrots landed in a brazil nut tree before heading off to roost. Nikon D300s, Nikon 600mm…
Sunday book review – The Birds at the Bottom of the Garden by Carl Mynott
This is a small book for small people of around pre-school age. I’m a bit older than that, and so are my kids, but I bet they would have loved this book 20 years ago. The words, which are mostly in rhyming verse, and pictures, which are diagrammatic, are both by the author. It’s a…