This blog is at risk of becoming Simon’s Pygmy Owl blog, but this is the time of year when they are relatively easy to find and they are a great bird! My birding day started with the Maridalen bird but he was sat quite high up and soon flew to other side of a large […]
Tag: Long-tailed Tit
Spotted Crake
I had a bit of an epic survey day today, leaving home at 05:00 I was at Dagenham Docks (even less glamorous than it sounds) by 07:15. After this survey I had to cross Greater London in a north-west direction to St Albans. So having started so early I had a little time to play […]
My local Patch – Germany
Species photographed on my local patch in Germany included: Red Kite, Black Kite, Black-necked Grebe, Greylag Geese, Long-tailed Tits nest building, two Long-tailed Tits completing their new nest, Coal Tit, Marsh Harrier, Peregrine Falcon and Goshawk. Black-necked Grebes
Oslo in a nutshell
I took in quite a few of Oslo’s best localities today in chilly temperatures but without the rain that was forecast and with few new birds. Maridalen had 3 Lapwings in the morning but 6 by the afternoon which were stood on the ice – hopefully these (and more to come) will breed in the […]
Some eye candy and a polar brute
After yesterday’s fiasco I had to do penance to both the environment and my body and hope to regain some credit with the Bird Gods. As I had a lunchtime appointment in town with some nice cheese (courtesy of Egil Ween, one of Norway’s top birders, Værøy regular and importer of exclusive foods) it was […]
The long-tailed tit – successful, adaptable, sociable, and oh so cute
A brief, high-pitched “see-see-see” sound, followed by the appearance of half-a-dozen tiny balls of fluff, each attached to what looks like a protruding stick. Then, more calls, as these flying lollipops flit from one tree to the next, pause, grab an invisible insect, and then move rapidly on. Encountering a flock of long-tailed tits on […]
Twite in the sun
The weather today was gorgeous and I was down to a t-shirt before noon. But days with blue skies are generally speaking poor for birds and today was no exception. I stuck to Maridalen where I hoped some raptor migration might save the day but the only I raptors I had (Sparrowhawk, Goshawk and Buzzard) […]
Warmer springs boost long-tailed tit survival
Warm spring weather boosts long-tailed tits’ chances of surviving the winter, scientists have said. The UK’s population of these little birds has more than doubled in the last forty years. A 19-year study by researchers in Sheffield links rising spring temperatures to their improved survival. Biologists suggest the birds are rare “winners” when it comes […]
