Standing up for Nature
April Birdwatch, in shops now, is a wildlife crime special with a guest editorial from Chris Packham, an article on wilful blindness by Ruth Tingay, an account of bird killing in the Lebanon by the Committee Against Bird Slaughter and an article on the work of Birders Against Wildlife Crime by Rob Sheldon. My monthly…
I’m keeping a note of whether I see Red Kites on each day through the year – in January I saw Red Kites on 22 days out of 31. February has had a higher strike rate – 24 out of 28 days.
Just for fun I am making a note of which days I see Red Kites this year because I often write that I see Red Kites most days and I just wanted to check whether it is true (or whether I am fooling myself) and if so, how true. I’m not going out of my…
I did the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch on Sunday morning while listening to Broadcasting House on Radio 4 and eating toast and Marmite. As I heard my former colleague Derek Niemann talking about his Nazi grandfather (see his moving and interesting book) I reached 5 species: Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Blackbird and Blue Tit. The…
The post came early enough this morning for me to grab the latest Birdwatch magazine (February) on my way out to the station. And I always first turn to my column to remind myself of what I wrote over a month ago – and so, by now, I’ve written another column (March) and am thinking…
A few things didn’t arrive in the post at quite the right time this Christmas – other people’s presents were the main problem – but for me the lack of the January Birdwatch meant that I couldn’t sit by a log fire and read the results of the Birders’ Choice awards. Many congratulations to Ruth…
The Birdwatch Birders’ Choice Awards vote closes at the end of the month and so this weekend would be a good time to sift through the categories and choose your heroes and villains. They are quite difficult choices.
The latest Birdwatch is now out – my column promotes Gavin Gamble’s e-petition. Elsewhere in the magazine is an interesting review of the Hawfinch invasion – have you seen any? No, nor have I – but I keep looking up and hoping. Bill Oddie writes about birding Scilly this autumn – and getting wet and…
The Birdwatch Birders’ Choice Awards are now open for your votes – and there are some very difficult choices too. Who will be Conservation Hero? Will it be Helen Glover and Steve Backshall who raised £300,000 for the World Land Trust (of which I am a trustee)? Or my friend Ruth Peacey who has supported…
Consider which you would consider as five of the best UK birdwatching sites. It would be tricky to name your top five but I wonder whether the five sites picked out by Rachel Dixon in the Guardian would get in your top 100? 200? I guess every five are ‘five of the best’ in a…