I set off in the dark and drove towards Lancaster. The temperature hovered around zero under a clear starry sky that hinted at a sunny day. As it does so often, the morning began with a Barn Owl, but not in the usual spots. The owl was at Conder…
There’s a double blow to our ringing plans this weekend. Number One is the weather with a Red weather warning of severe winds up to 70mph over northern Britain as Storm Arwen passes over in a north to south direction. Sat here in my office there’s a ho…
Sunday morning and the wildfowlers were out long before me. I heard the sound of their gunfire as I put the first net up in the semi darkness. Ropes left out for a speedy job were frozen solid after Saturday night’s frost. Soon after 10 am four gu…
There’s no ringing again. It’s too windy until maybe Tuesday next. Here’s something that may interest readers into all things wild and wonderful, especially those who eat the occasional meze, escargot or snail egg caviar on their holidays to the C…
Start time 0645. I was on my own on Sunday and planned to ring Linnets again, Linnets caught in the seed plot only. I knew there would be good numbers because on Saturday when Sue was busy on the phone to her sister in Torquay, I snuck out for an hour …
Monday morning I devote to the school run, transporting two of the grandkids to their school a mile or two away while their mum heads off to work and a 0830 start. That’s not to say there’s no birding or ringing for me because I later caught up with An…
“Don’t count the days. Make the days count” – a quote from the greatest boxer of all time Muhammad Ali. On that basis I rose at the unearthly hour of 0530 on Friday to meet up with Andy out Pilling way to once again set up mist nets in the half-li…
This last two or three weeks was possibly the worst cycle of rain & wind weather systems I have experienced in my years of being a birder, bird ringer and weather watcher. Every day became a “no go” until a brief respite on Tuesday took me to …
That’s me stymied for a few more days, unless I can summon up a blog post for regular readers. “Warnings highlighting the risk of potential impacts from heavy, persistent rain are in place across parts of southern Scotland and North West England. …
As predicted, rained off for the whole of this week. And it’s looking like no birding, ringing or photos until next Wednesday. Luckily I found this entertaining but cautionary tale in the blog archives from December 2017, a true story with as much rele…