On Tuesday evening I gave a talk to the Lincolnshire Bird Club. I set off on Tuesday afternoon from my home in east Northants and before the car had warmed up I’d seen a pair of tumbling lapwings in a place where I wouldn’t normally see them. It must be spring! A little further down…
Category: ME:
Signs of spring?
Which of these signs of spring have you seen or heard? Singing birds: song thrush, chaffinch,greenfinch, great tit, robin, dunnock, blackbird – what else? Flowering plants: snowdrop, aconite, primrose – what else? Flying insects – brimstone, bumblebee – what else? At my local patch of Stanwick Lakes there are still plenty of signs of winter;…
Michael McCarthy
In a month’s time, on 26 March, Michael McCarthy leaves The Independent newspaper as their Environment Editor. With his departure I will no longer hesitate over which newspaper to buy – I can just pick up the Guardian every time knowing that I won’t be missing a McCarthy article in The Indie. Many nature conservationists’…
My BGBW results
I’ve just finished my hour-long Big Garden Birdwatch count – I didn’t need a long piece of paper to keep count. The total was four house sparrows and that’s the lowest species total, bird total and house sparrow total ever for my garden. Oh well – that’s the point of it – to count what…
BGBW Sunday
I know what Ralph means – I’d like to add red kite to my BGBW list this year but how interested in my garden would one have to be to be ‘countable’? Will my honesty be tested today? I’ll let you know how I got on with BGBW with another blog today some time after…
Talking
I’m looking forward to talking to the Cambridgeshire Bird Club this evening. Don’t go to St John’s College – lovely place, but not where I am speaking (click here for location). And if you’d like a signed copy of Fighting for Birds then I’ll be happy to sell you one for 1p less than 13…
Waxwings near me
I popped out one afternoon last week to visit an industrial estate. A birder going to an industrial estate in January is most likely to mean ‘waxwings’. And that is what it meant on this occasion. Waxwings has been reported from the Burton Latimer/Barton Seagrave area over the previous few days and when I had…
The road to 10 Downing Street goes through Corby
Whoever came up with the line that makes the title of this blog did well. Labour’s return to power may well be seen to start with this first by-election victory against the Tories in 15 years. In some ways the constituency of Corby and east Northants represents a microcosm of England. Equally divided, or dithering,…
The two, or three, cultures
I had a great time at the New Networks for Nature meeting at Stamford on Thursday and Friday. This was partly because it blended art and science in a novel and stimulating way. Where else, in the space of less than 24 hours would you be able to hear about their work from the lips…
Wild Travel
The latest edition of the 6-times-a-year Wild Travel is out now, with my column explaining how you and other animals can get through the winter. But after reminding myself of what I wrote I always enjoy thumbing through the fantastic images and interesting words of the rest of the magazine. There is a feature on…