Millions of wild birds may have died from bird flu globally in the latest outbreak, researchers have said, as the viral disease ravages South America, with 200,000 deaths recorded in Peru alone. The highly infectious variant of H5N1, which gained momentum in the winter of 2021, caused Europe’s worst bird flu outbreak before spreading globally. […]
Tag: Black-headed Gull
Collecting ‘gourmet’ eggs from black-headed gulls should be banned, says RSPB
Licences have been issued for more than 160,000 eggs to be taken from black-headed gull nests since 2019, government data shows, as conservationists call for the eggs to be “taken off all menus”. Each spring, thousands of eggs are collected from the amber-listed seabird’s nests and sold under licences issued by the government’s wildlife watchdog, […]
Seabirds nest in new spots on Farne Islands as Covid keeps people away
It is not just humans who have changed their habits as a result of the pandemic. On the Farne Islands in north-east England, seabirds have used Covid as an opportunity to try out new nesting spots while rangers and tourists stayed away. While the absence of people has been a boon for some species, it […]
Slimbridge WWT, Hayling Island, Denny Wood and Pennington Marsh
With the last days before my next foreign trip, work and family life have been hectic. The glorious, warm sunny Easter weekend of 19th April was spent decorating at home with some time on the beach with friends and family and enjoying the garden. Birding of late has been confined to a few short jaunts […]
Snow Buntings
No noticeable change in the bird life today although I did enjoy 3 Snow Buntings on one of the last snow decked fields in Maridalen but these could well have been around for a while. There was less wind today which I hoped would produce some raptor movement but I hoped in vain.
A day in Dorset
All winter I’ve wanted to get down and see the Lesser Yellowlegs at Lodmoor so yesterday we bit the bullet and drove the 160 miles down the M3 arriving around 8.15am we managed to find the target although views were not as crippling as the images I’ve been seeing. It was sat on the far […]
Balearics at Dungeness and a Bonaparte’s at Oare
Birding has been very limited of late save a quick trip to Fairlop in the the week to catch the local Hoopoe so today we decided on a trip to Dunge for a spot of early morning sea watching. Arriving at 6.30am we were rewarded for a two hour stint with several Arctic Skua, three […]
6th and 13th August – Pennington Marsh
A free Saturday morning on 6th August and I couldn’t resist the pull of Pennington Marsh but a few beers the night before meant a slightly later start so I wasn’t in the car park at Lower Pennington Lane until 08:00 by which time the dog walking hordes had descended. I wandered a short way […]