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…
There wasn’t much light when on Saturday morning I set off in the direction of Pilling. When I reeled off a bundle of shots at a hunting Barn Owl, the resulting pictures were badly under. I checked the settings were correct, and they were, so I think…
Bird ringers must grab every opportunity on offer in these windswept weeks even though such times may not be ideal. And so it was that we pencilled in Tuesday morning’s forecast of a three hour slot and a strengthening breeze as perhaps the only chance…
“Comes in like a Lion, goes out like a Lamb.” – attributed to Thomas Fuller’s 1732 compendium, “Wise Sentences and Witty Sayings”. Thomas – I am not amused by your witty saying. Another week of weather watching has seen a couple of pencilled in …
So soon do March mornings need the alarm clock to cope with lighter mornings and earlier starts to catch those early rising birds. Saturday began with a 0615 alarm for the 0700 meet with Andy over Cockerham way. On Friday night https://www.windy.c…