Adrian Pitches is a very nice man – I’ve always thought that, even when he was sticking a microphone under my nose and asking me questions for the BBC in the north of England. But now he has given Blogging for Nature a very kind review in British Birds. Adrian, what a fine man he…
Category: VERY BIRDY: birdwatching and birding nattering
Fieldfares
This is the season when, as I drive around east Northants, a small flock of large thrushes will fly out of the roadside trees or be looking for worms in the grass fields. They are chunky and have patches of grey on their heads and backs – and are fieldfares. These thrushes come to see…
Not quite the same
I have an article in the current issue of The Field and one in the current issue of Birdwatch magazine and both are on hen harriers. Not surprisingly, given their readerships, the two articles are written from slightly different perspectives. I have both magazines in my hands right now and they are interestingly different. I…
Birdwatch column
My column in the November Birdwatch magazine is on the subject of hen harriers and their persecution by grouse moor managers. Rather than tell you what it says I’d like to tell you that Birdwatch is asking your opinion on the subject. Is it time for a change of tack by the wildlife conservation organisations…
A tale of three warblers
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I find that I carry British Birds around with me for ages before I get around to reading it and so this blog is about the September issue which contains the report of the Rare Breeding Bird Panel. The contrasting fortunes of three warblers struck me as I read through the text; Cetti’s, Savi’s and…
Never seen that before
Last weekend I revisited one of the haunts of my youth – a place called Steart or Stert. And I’m going with Stert as I’ve always known it as ‘Sturt’ rather than ‘Steert’. As spotty teenagers at Bristol Grammar School we would, under the guardianship of masters Derek Lucas and Tony Warren, make two autumn…
Buy Birdwatch today
Buy Birdwatch today, or tomorrow, or soon, if you’d like to see my first monthly column as the ‘Political Birder‘. I’ll be writing about those issues that affect the birds you see around you – and asking you to do something about them. I see Birdwatch‘s website describes me as a ‘regular’ – I still…
Boomtime for bitterns
I’m delighted that the RSPB and Natural England have been able to announce that booming bitterns have passed the 100 mark – and reached 104 booming males in fact. Given that in 1997 (incidentally, the year before I became the RSPB’s Conservation Director) there were only 11 booming males this is a remarkable and very welcome recovery. And let’s…
In the rough
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On Tuesday I spent several hours in the rough but didn’t have anything to complain about. I don’t know Fife that well and enjoyed being shown around by my host for this trip (of whom, more, probably, later). We looked in at the Eden Estuary and admired the seals as a whimbrel flew up the…
Songbird Survival
I did say that the Game Fair might keep this blog going for ages! In one of his very amusing and entertaining, though not convincing, rants, Robin Page voiced the views that Songbird Survival was a very good organisation and that it was obvious that sparrowhawks and other predators were part of the reason for…