There has been a male Hen Harrier seen regularly at my local patch of Stanwick Lakes since well before Christmas. Quite a lot of people have seen it, quite a lot of us have not, and I’d really like to see it. I’d like to see it because it is always good to see a…
Tag: Stanwick Lakes
Christmas targets
To dip: verb, slang: to miss a sighting of an interesting, often rare example of wildlife (usually bird) which is known to be or recently has been in an area. Being in the right place at the wrong time. I still haven’t seen the Hen Harrier that is hanging around on my local patch of…
Happy Solstice!
The shortest day of the year (more or less) – so what could be better than seeing lots of Hen Harriers? Well, ‘lots’ might be difficult, given where I live, but actually, at my local patch of Stanwick Lakes. There has been an adult (probably 2nd winter) male Hen Harrier seen off and on for…
A meaningful vote?
This evening Theresa May will win the no-confidence vote against her and the hard Brexiteers will have been put firmly in their place. I’d bet on it.In fact, I have bet on it. After coming back from a walk at Stanwick Lakes this morning (an unsuccessful search for a male Hen Harrier that has been…
Wild food (33) – Cuckoo Flower by Ian Carter
Otherwise known as Lady’s Smock this is one of our most attractive spring flowers, brightening up damp pastures and roadside verges across the country with its subtle pink flower-heads. It usually starts to appear around mid-April, about the same time as the first Cuckoos arrive back from Africa – hence the name. It also…
My first House Martin
I like House Martins. Yesterday at Stanwick Lakes I was wearing a T-shirt (Hen Harrier Day 2014 if you really want to know), shirt, fleece and my Barbour but I wasn’t warm in the cold NE wind. However, there were 2 Common Sandpipers and my first LRP of the year so it felt as though…
May Birdwatch (out in April, written in March (my column anyway))
Comments Off on May Birdwatch (out in April, written in March (my column anyway))
In the May Birdwatch there are lots of good things – available in your newsagents now! I’ve seen a Little Gull, rather like the one on the cover of the magazine, at Stanwick Lakes already this year so I am already springing. Steven Moss rattles off a few bird names and where they…
A quick Swift
I saw my first Swift of the year this morning at Stanwick Lakes. In fact it was my earliest record there since I started using Birdtrack in 2005. Spring really has arrived when the Swifts are back – although it was just the one for me this morning! And I still haven’t seen a House…
Cuckoo!
I’ve spent the last couple of days with the World Land Trust at the BTO HQ in Thetford (thank you! BTO). There was a meeting of partners from across the world (mostly Latin America but also Vietnam, Malaysia, India and Madagascar) and so I was seeing images of Jaguars, Orangutans and a wealth of…
Spring comes late to east Northants
Last week I was away for four mornings but from Saturday to Wednesday I have been for my regular walk around Stanwick Lakes each morning. There have been so few birds that I have resorted to looking at plants! Like this Coltsfoot – one of the few plants I recognise (at least on a good…