It comes to something when four species of birds I have seen this year in the UK are added to the list of globally threatened bird species. The IUCN Red List is updated periodically, after much sucking of teeth and poring over the data (some of which are a bit ropy) and Birdlife International are…
Category: VERY BIRDY: birdwatching and birding nattering
Birdwatch birders’ awards
Birdwatch magazine has excelled itself in this year’s Birders’ awards. There are 10 categories in which you can vote (whether you consider yourself a birder or not). I can imagine the voting being pretty close in some categories – in particular the ‘Guano Award for Environmental Harm’ category. The four ‘contenders’ are the Countryside Alliance,…
Charming
I’ve been driving around a lot over the last week and you see things as you travel. I’ve seen moor-burning on or near Walshaw Moor, I’ve seen a rutting Red Deer stag with a harem of hinds near Otley, I’ve seen Red Kites in several places where they wouldn’t have been in the fairly recent…
My home is my Rook
I’ve lived here for about 30 years but nature can give you new sights every day, not just every year. There are plenty of cheerful-sounding Jackdaws that career up and down the road, sticking to the chimneys and rooftops. I like them a lot. Just because they are here every day it doesn’t mean that…
At the Birdwatch offices
I popped into the offices of Birdwatch in north London last week – I’d never been there before. I’ve been writing a monthly column, The Political Birder, for Birdwatch more or less since I left the RSPB over four years ago. This is not an activity that will allow me to retire with a full…
Booming Bitterns
Good news on Bitterns yesterday from the RSPB – 11 males in 1997, over 150 males in 2015 after years of conservation science, habitat management, habitat re-creation and partnership working. And this was, no-one would deny, led by the RSPB. We await the congratulatory press release from YFTB. At Ham Wall, there are apparently 17…
The military career of Jacob the goose.
Since it is the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, where the Coldstream Guards fought with gallantry that day at Hougoumont Farm, it seems fitting to recall the military career of Jacob the goose, also of the Coldstream Guards. In 1839 the Coldstream Guards were sent to Quebec in our colony in Canada. There,…
Timing is everything
Yesterday I did the first visit to my first BBS square. I might have done it on Bank Holiday Monday but my plan, based on a favourable forecast, was to see lots of butterflies in the Chilterns on Monday. However, the forecast was an accurate weather forecast rather than a butterfly forecast and the Dukes…
Songbird Survival Twitter account goes bonkers
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Songbird Survival got involved in a discussion with @HenryHenHarrier and myself (@markavery) at the weekend, but their Twitter account seemed to go a bit bonkers. In response to every question about Songbird Survival’s views, they tweeted about Spoonbills at Holkham. Their top trump appeared to be a review of Holkham Hall on tripadvisor. Ooh err!…
Uncoiling Spring
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I’ve been at Stanwick Lakes each morning for the last four and although Spring still has plenty of tension in it, it is beginning to unwind. Over the past four mornings Sedge Warblers have moved from absent (to my ears) to occasional, to all over the place and everywhere I would expect them to be….