A year ago I had a permanent job but after 25 years and one month at the RSPB (the best nature conservation organisation in the world), and after 12 and a half years of being its Conservation Director, I gave up a well paid and very satisfying job to explore new challenges. Was this really…
Category: ME:
Marmite poll
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You have 10 days to vote in this poll of which wildlife NGO you like the most – and which (out of those listed of course) you like the least. The interim results are fascinating with the RSPB leading the ‘likes’ but also third in the ‘loathes’. BASC is leading in the ‘loathed’ stakes. There…
Splash or soak?
Easter Monday could have been spent looking for migrant birds, spotting some spring butterflies or going to the races at Huntingdon – or all three. But the heavy rain made each an unappealing prospect. The rain fell against the window behind my back as I sat at the computer deleting emails, unfollowing people on Twitter,…
I’m going cuckoo
A cuckoo was seen, or maybe just heard, down the road from me in east Northants yesterday – brave bird! My earliest record for the last decade or so is 15 April but I’ll have to keep my eyes and ears open for sightings and hearings over the next week. There have been a few…
Flying noses – not to be sniffed at
I am a birder, but I have got used to looking for signs of spring other than the arrival of warblers and hirundines, wheatears and garganey, Sandwich terns and ring ousels. I can just about recognise a few butterflies and even some of the commoner spring plants. But I have become quite adept at spotting…
Too nice?
You have one week to go before you can see the final results of the Nature of Harming ‘award’. Cast your vote now and ask your friends (you do have friends?) to cast their’s too, please. Nearly 1000 people have voted. Here, at this late stage – is some rationale to go behind it: We…
Biggest flock of linnets in Northants?
I have been more than usually aware of the cold weather this week – for several reasons. I had been looking forward to the fact that there was racing at Newbury as I had a friend’s member’s badge as he was in Rome watching the rugby – but Newbury was off because of the weather…
DC, Stanwick and London
Last week I met up with an American birder whom I’d last seen in Rock Creek Park back in May, and took him for a walk in the drizzle around Stanwick Lakes. He had a list of species that he would quite like to see, and many of them were possible on a visit at…
Talking naturally
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You might like to listen to this podcast of a chat between Charlie Moores, Tristan Reid, Nick Moran and myself. It’s about 50 minutes long and it was great fun to record last Tuesday. How the CLA saved the bittern (Ha Ha!), what you should remember when out birdwatching, where you should put your casual…
Not quite the same
I have an article in the current issue of The Field and one in the current issue of Birdwatch magazine and both are on hen harriers. Not surprisingly, given their readerships, the two articles are written from slightly different perspectives. I have both magazines in my hands right now and they are interestingly different. I…