Here’s the Famous Grouse advert for 2019 Two species of grouse for the price of one. But what is that strange noise made by the Blackcock at the end of the advert? I know they make many strange noises but this one seems to be impersonating a Tawny Owl or maybe even a Lapwing… What…
Category: VERY BIRDY: birdwatching and birding nattering
Campaign of the year
The Birdwatch Birders’ Choice nominations are published, and the closing date is the end of this month – click here. The short-listed nominations for Campaign of the Year are: #NetsDownForNature made a lot of useful noise and drew attention to the netting of trees, buildings, hedges back in the spring – it made a difference…
More choices, more choices
The Birdwatch Birders’ Choice nominations are published, and the closing date is the end of this month – click here. Book of the Year? Bird Therapy by Joe Harkness Rebirding by Benedict MacDonald RSPB Guide to Birdsong by Adrian Thomas Gulls by John Coulson Oceanic Birds of the World by Steve NG Howell I’ve only…
Choices, choices
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The Birdwatch Birders’ Choice nominations are published, and the closing date is the end of this month – click here. I haven’t changed my mind on the important Guano Award so I’ve been pondering over the other categories. How about the Conservation Hero of 2019 award? The shortlist is: David Attenborough Greta Thunberg Jonny Rankin…
Garden birds October 2019
October has been a good month for birds with four new species for the garden list for the year – two of which were garden lifers! All four species were recorded on 22 or 23 October during a period of good weather when sitting in the garden with a cup of tea was not just…
It’s your difficult choice
I’ve been fretting over how to cast my votes in the Birdwatch Birders’ Choice awards. The only one that I have completely decided upon is my choice for the Guano Award for environmental harm – DEFRA deserves to ‘win’ this and let’s hope the results are published before or during an election campaign. Whereas the…
It’s your choice
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The Birdwatch Birders’ Choice nominations are published – click here. Some difficult choices to be made, as always. But it’s good fun. I’ll be agonising over my voting intentions this week.
Garden birds September 2019
I did see a last Swift from the garden in September – on 3 September. September added three species to the year list but no garden-lifers. The three species are Great Spotted Woodpecker (two, together, flew high over the garden as though they were looking around rather than going anywhere in particular), a hooting Tawny…
October Birdwatch
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October Birdwatch arrived through my narrow late-Victorian letterbox afew days ago and so you’ll find it in newsagents too. Well, when I say you’ll find it there you might not. Not only because the limited numbers are bound to sell out soon but also because there are so many magazines that I find it difficult…
Garden birds August 2019
August is a month of disappearing Swifts although I sometimes see them over the garden into September. The latest record so far this year has been 27 August. I wonder whether there will be any more over the next few days. If not, it’ll be about 8 months until I can look up from the…