I’m due for a couple of new books soon from Princeton University Press and their WildGuides series. With all that’s going on there could be delays to bring my readers new book reviews. For today’s post I raided the archive again with an ear…
We’re not so much boxed in. More like locked in and fastened down until the experts say it’s safe to go outdoors. I doubt we’ll get to check nest boxes in 2020.Here’s a previous visit to nest boxes at Oakenclough at the foot of the Pennine Hills back …
An extract from an email all ringers received this week.“BTO SURVEYS IN THE WIDER COUNTRYSIDE”. “Following the Government statement on 23 March, our Senior Leadership Team has reviewed the BTO advice and is asking all volunteers to follow the guid…
Three days of sunshine and all the Goldfinches suddenly vanished from my garden. There’s been 15-20 most of the winter so bang goes my plan to do a little garden ringing while in lockdown.GoldfinchSo here’s a post first published at the end of 2013 to …
Well that’s it then. We are in lock down for a month or two with no birding or ringing. Life must go on and luckily I have an archive of pictures and experiences to draw upon. In the garden there are Goldfinches without rings so I can do some ringing …
Well that’s it then. We are in lock down for a month or two with no birding or ringing. Life must go on and luckily I have an archive of pictures and experiences to draw upon. In the garden there are Goldfinches without rings so I can do some ringing …
I peeked through the curtains and noted the pink red glow to the south east. “Red sky at morning, shepherds take warning” is a rhyme used as an aid to weather forecasting for the last two thousand years. Red Sky I grabbed a quick breakfast th…
An Oakenclough winter at 200 metres is often harsh where few but the hardiest birds stay over. Garden bird feeders hold the usual suspects but otherwise the landscape can be bare and silent until the first signs of spring. As short days shift to l…
It seems that modern weather forecasts emanate from just a few sources that syndicate their findings. It’s no surprise then that mainstream TV channels have remarkably similar forecasts when most of the announcers who read from a rehearsed script rath…
Birding? What’s that? I’d done virtually none during Fearsome February when all we had was rain, more rain and constant strong winds. Today I set off over the moss into the rising sun, past the farmer’s still steaming muck heaps and on the way nor…