This paper, from GWCT scientists and the Woodcock Network, is a fascinating insight into Woodcock behaviour and is another example of the great value of satellite telemetry in moving on our understanding of bird movements by leaps and bounds. There is a declining UK breeding population of Woodcocks which in winter is greatly augmented by…
Category: VERY BIRDY: birdwatching and birding nattering
Cuckoos – good year or bad year?
My farmer friend Duncan told me he hadn’t yet heard a Cuckoo this year when I saw him this morning – and I told him that, for the first time since 2014, I’d heard one from the garden. Such are the sharing of bird observations that happen all over and which tend to form a…
Black birders week #blackbirdersweek
This week is black birders week – a mainly North American thing. And, by chance, it comes at the time when there are riots across the USA after the death of George Floyd at the hands, or knee, of a white policeman. Last week I read about this event in Central Park where a black…
Lockdown and Birdtrack again
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The Birdtrack reporting rate graphs for Britain and Ireland for two species show a pretty convincing impact of lockdown on avian reporting rates – as suggested in an earlier blog post here. Here is the graph for House Sparrow for this year and the historical data: So this shows that for the early part of…
Cuckoo
I was bathing in bird song again this morning – from about 410am. A Cuckoo sang from 415am – 445am. Probably because it is a low-pitched song it was quite difficult to locate its direction. The sound to which I listened was clearly bouncing off the wall of my own house because that was very…
Stephen Halton – Wood Warbler
Stephen sent me this image of his watercolour of a Wood Warbler after I enthused about the bird in my series of blogs on bird song. It’s a lovely image, don’t you think? And it gives me the excuse, if any were needed, to reproduce Stephen’s poem about the bird’s habitat too, which first appeared…
Gökotta
I’m writing this first blog of the day at 5am after having enjoyed 45 minutes of Gökotta. I didn’t set the alarm to wake up at 4am, I hardly ever set an alarm as waking up is not a problem, but going to bed soon after 9pm these days often results in me being wide…
Press release – The Sound Approach
Gökotta: A new type of bathing this spring Lockdown has been a long and difficult process for many people, with thousands finding solace and calm in nature. Whilst some absorb the richness of their local environment through visual means, there’s an experience we should all learn to embrace which allows for productivity and creativity to…
Bird song (50, the end)
I’ve enjoyed putting together these 50 blog posts on bird song and I’ve had a great deal of very positive feedback on them (which is obviously very nice). They seem to have hit the mark with many of you. I’ll finish with two short lists of bird songs: one of species that I have actually…
Bird song (49) – Grasshopper Warbler
If I saw this bird perched out in the open like this, my first thought would be ‘Hmm, what’s that?’ and I’d be flicking through the possibilities in my head before quite quickly getting to the right answer. I’ve rarely seen this species as well as Tim Melling photographed this one, although I’ve heard it…