BTO thrushes coloured in my local picture

I went out over the Christmas period to count thrushes for the BTO. The winter thrush survey hasn’t really caught my imagination, and I don’t hold great hopes for it producing fascinating results, but the BTO asked me to do it and so I did it gladly. It wasn’t onerous –  a bit of countryside…

Rare breeders

The issue of British Birds to which I probably look forward the most is the annual report of the Rare Breeding Birds Panel. In the July BB the Panel reports on 2010.  It was a year of southern herons and southern warblers. If you read my article on climate change in the August Birdwatch you…

It might be spring

My last two visits to Stanwick Lakes have been very spring-like, even if they were both in late February. Reed buntings were singing, if you can call that a song, everywhere, and skylarks, song thrushes and dunnocks were belting out their songs too.  I heard Cetti’s warblers for the first time in quite a while….

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…