The last time I was in Malmesbury there was a Fieldfare looking over the building site; this time there was a Chiffchaff. Whether the Chiffchaff’s song was celebrating the activity on the site of what will be a new Waitrose store is difficult to know, but there was certainly a lot going on with around…
Category: Uncategorized
Why isn’t this even bigger news?
The poisoning of 12 Red Kites and four buzzards in Ross-shire is shocking. See here, here, here, here and here. How long do we have to put up with this type of carnage? Red Kites by Don Macauley via wikimedia commons Buzzard by Andreas Trepte via wikimedia commons
That makes a lot of sense
The pilot badger cull was inhumane and ineffective. The NFU says that farmers are ‘bitterly disappointed’ that it won’t be rolled out further.
More bits
isn’t this result on whaling absolutely fantastic (see also here, here, here)? I heard my first Blackcap this spring at Stanwick Lakes on Monday – a March Blackcap IPCC – we’re doomed, but not if we do something (lots, soon) BGBW results I was distracted a few times in a meeting the other day by…
Botany
I’m not very good on flowers – but I know what I like. I like the spring and I have noticed, at least I think I have noticed, that there are lots of yellow flowers around at this time of year. As well as the daffodils and primroses, there are aconites and celandines, and I…
A new month
Since it is a new month I have decided to turn over a new leaf. From now on I will: take up game shooting vote Conservative enjoy Flat racing more than National Hunt racing give up going to Stanwick Lakes take up botany give up birding stop being vegetarian four days a week give up…
Busy day
Yesterday was a busy day in a busy week. A consequence of giving a talk to the Hampshire Ornithological Society on 29 March is that, if you are me, over 300 people sing Happy Birthday! to you – which was highly embarrassing and very sweet of them. I had stayed with friends and I took…
Winged Wonders
Intro – Animals are a very important part of our ecosystem, and many of them are undevalues due to lack of education and understanding. This can certainly be said for our vast populations of bats, and the folks at Thomson Ecology have come up with a new and intriguing infographic all about these fascinating creatures. It…
Ukraine, Russia, Crimea, Gazprom and Champions League football
The annexation of the Crimea by Russia, or its secession, raises a whole bunch of questions in my mind: the West may have been too friendly to Russia over the last few years – I expect Russia was saying ‘we’re all on the same side really‘ when it might not be true. It’s important to…
Three rare birds on my local patch
On Saturday I saw three rare birds on my local patch of Stanwick Lakes. Well, to be fair, they were all much rarer once. And, to be even fairer, one of them is only rare at Stanwick Lakes – you can see loads of them less than a mile away in Stanwick itself. But then…