With the UK under severe lockdown there is no bird ringing allowed unless in one’s own garden. With vehicle travel limited to “essential” and “local journeys” only, it’s unlikely I will be able to do much birding or even to get out with a camera….
A package arrived from Princeton Press, a book for review via Another Bird Blog – a newly released component of the highly successful WILDGuides series. The book? – Flight Identification of European Passerines and Select Landbirds, an Illustrat…
After the latest visit to Gulf Lane Pilling/Cockerham today I carried out a quick audit of results to date. The DemOn program produced a table in seconds detailing the species and numbers caught at this single wintering plot since January 2016. T…
We pencilled in Saturday for Project Linnet and the first ringing session of 2021. This proved a good decision because Friday arrived with black ice on roads where early morning rush hour drives are best avoided. The A588 via Pilling, Gulf Lane an…
On Wednesday morning I met up with Andy at 0815 to a cold, frosty start of minus 1.5° degrees – not the best conditions for messing about with metal poles, pegs and cords. We had coffee, five layers, the will to succeed, and as usual, lots of theories…
Wednesday evening. There looked to be a window of weather for the morning of Christmas Eve. All the forecasts promised a biting northerly wind with a frost but this would probably be our last ringing session for 2020 so one not to miss. There wa…
It’s Saturday morning and there’s something required for the weekend – blog posting. It’s been one of those weeks again with everlasting cycles of wind, rain and blow after blow that makes for difficult, unproductive birding and impossible ringing.&nb…
Between rain showers I’ve regularly checked out the Linnets at Gulf Lane in the hope of a ringing session. The visits gave a series of unpredictable and disappointing counts between zero and 50. These are numbers that inspire little confidence in a ca…
Most unusual – there was hint of the white stuff this morning when Andy and I met up at Gulf Lane at 0830. The temperature gauge read 1° but it felt warmer in the already rising sun. Three days earlier we’d cut a square from the now defunct seed c…
What to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon? OK. I own up Boris. I broke the lockdown rules, snuck onto an aircraft at Manchester Airport and paid a visit to old friends, the Family Hoopoe who live in Menorca, the Balearics, Spain. The Hoopo…