Tim Melling’s photographs and text on Green Woodpeckers on Saturday were well-timed for me because on my recent visits to Stanwick Lakes, my local patch, I’ve recorded Green Woodpeckers on each recent visit even though I’ve not seen a single one. They are very shouty at this time of year. And I’ve heard some from…
Tag: Stanwick Lakes
Sad news: Colin Wilkinson RIP
I learned today of the passing on Saturday of Colin Wilkinson, a former colleague at the RSPB. Colin worked first in the RSPB Central England Region (the cinderella of RSPB regions – lots of people, not so many birds) which morphed into the Midlands Region. He was based in the Banbury office and more recently…
Heading to autumn
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If Spring ends on 19 May, as I think it does for me, then Summer is about to morph into Autumn. I know there is the whole of July and August that many people would regard as Summer, but the birds are telling me that Autumn is fast approaching. Sitting in my garden the other…
What can BirdTrack tell us about birds, birders and lockdown?
I am a fan of Birdtrack (more correctly BirdTrack but I can’t be bothered with that ‘T’) – I’ve said so many times on this blog. In fact I was involved in helping set it up when at the RSPB, and Birdtrack is still a collaborative enterprise with the BTO in the lead. Introduction to…
Cattle Egrets breed in Northants
This blog is based on Mike Alibone’s blog on the same subject – a must read every week (or more) for Northants birders and with enough interesting information to be of wider than local interest. I’ve become a little blase about Cattle Egrets in the last 12 months as there have been regular sightings of…
Stanwick Lakes is 10 years old
Stanwick Lakes is 10 years old today. That is, the car park and visitor centre opened 10 years ago, apparently. There was a Roman Villa here rather longer ago than 10 years ago. And my Birdtrack complete lists go back to 2005 – 485 of them which record 162 species. I feel lucky to have…
Naturally cultured?
I’m a Radio 4 devotee – maybe even an addict. I need my fix of BBC Radio 4 every day and I almost always get it. I’m usually awake long before Farming Today but tend to be having my most productive part of the day while the annoying farming programme is broadcast so I try…
Two mornings of Sand Martins
I haven’t been out much recently but yesterday morning I had a walk around my local patch of Stanwick Lakes and the star bird was the Sand Martin – there were hundreds of them! Sand Martin – in flight meal. Photo: Tim Melling In fact, a local birder who gets out earlier than I, said…
Big flock of Goshawks in Northants
On my walk around Stanwick Lakes this morning, in a cold northeasterly wind, I saw a pair of Sparrowhawks do a bit of half-hearted display, and a Red Kite cruised past, and Kestrel and Peregrine are always possibilities, but if I had see five Goshawks I would have been very surprised. Gos is on my…
At last!
Hooray! I’ve finally caught up with my local male Hen Harrier at Stanwick Lakes. Not even a tiny step for mankind, one giant leap for one bloke. Such a lot of fuss over a bird will seem pretty odd to many normal people, but perhaps less odd to many regular readers of this blog. Why…