Apologies to regular readers who perhaps realised I had gone AWOL without leaving a forwarding address. I promise to get back to you all very soon. Yes, it was holiday time in Greece.This was our eleventh time in Skiathos and our first visit to th…
Temperatures didn’t improve throughout the week. Although the days have been fine, the cold, nagging easterly winds and cool daylight hours have definitely held back migration of insectivorous species. On Wednesday I met up with Andy for a 6…
There’s another book review today, the soon to be released “How Birds Live Together – Colonies and Communities in the Avian World” by Marianne Taylor. How Birds Live Together – How Birds Live Together – PrincetonMarianne Taylor is a fre…
Tuesday 19 April – There was no traffic on the road when in the semi darkness a Barn Owl drifted across the road ahead. It’s a regular spot for Barn Owls and best visited when there’s a little more light. I pulled up, clicked a few shots and then mo…
I have been looking forward to meeting up with Insectpedia – A Brief Compendium of Insect Lore, the latest in the Princeton series of “Pedia” Books. My first acquaintance with this family of books came via Birdpedia in 2021 – Birdpedia .And here is In…
The spring has been Slow Burn rather than Fast Track North. A couple of weeks of cold weather put a damper on northerly migration and at some point these birds have to get a rush on to bag the optimum breeding spots. Local bird and WhatsApp news …
The temperature readout showed -1°C and warned of “possible icy roads”. It was 0530 as the wipers scraped across the icy windscreen. I pressed the heated seat buttons, one for me and one for the jacket draped over the seat. I was driving to meet up w…
After the promising warmth of late March the first week of April saw a plunge in temperatures, cold northerly winds and the return of rain. The week has been pretty miserable with no opportunity for ringing and little in the way of birding news here o…
Saturday 26 March. There was a cold start at 0600. The temperature gauge displayed 2°C as I erected nets alone while musing over what the next four or five hours might bring. During the week bird news from Merseyside, North Morecambe Bay and Nort…
There goes that old chorus again, the one that ringers use when numbers are low but there are a few goodies to shout about. Until today the week was a little breezy for the Pilling site where even a breath of wind that blew through the bare hawtho…