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…
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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…
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…
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…
I’m no saint…
…although that was my Mum’s maiden name, so it was closer than you might think. Today is St Mark’s Day. This is the day when you might see some St Mark’s Flies. They are big hairy things that are a bit annoying. But there are no flies on me.
Chris Packham on Malta
Every evening, at 9pm, another video is posted about the Malta Massacre on Migration. The three so far have been very moving. What will tonight’s video reveal? I wonder what our hunters think of the situation in Malta? They seem quite quiet on the subject…
Spring rolls on…
Yesterday’s walk at Stanwick Lakes showed that spring is moving on. Instead of the air being filled with Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler songs it was the newly arrived Whitethroats, Garden Warblers and Reed Warblers that seemed to be in best voice. I think I could probably tell you what time of year it is, quite…
St George’s Day
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It was on 23 April 1889 that the first Little Owl nest was found in the UK – at Lilford Hall, not far from where I now live. The 4th Baron Lilford had introduced the non-native Little Owl into the UK (others were trying too) and it was his gamekeeper who found that first nest…
NGO reaction to Swansea Bay tidal lagoon project
I blogged about the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon project last week and suggested that wildlife NGOs should probably get behind it – unless they have spotted something that I have not. It looks like it should produce a decent amount of renewable energy and not do much harm top wildlife. It seems that the NGOs…