For the last few years, VBN/BirdLife Netherlands has been working closely with Dutch farmers in the hopes of making the country’s world-famous dairy products as sustainable and nature-friendly as they are tasty. Gerrit Gerritsen tells us more about a most promising start. International studies recently showed Dutch men to be the tallest in the world, […]
Tag: Skylark
‘Catastrophe’ as France’s bird population collapses due to pesticides
Bird populations across the French countryside have fallen by a third over the last decade and a half, researchers have said. Dozens of species have seen their numbers decline, in some cases by two-thirds, the scientists said in a pair of studies – one national in scope and the other covering a large agricultural region in […]
Mongolia – 18th May (Day 11) – Barig Mountain to Sangiin Dalai Lake
We were up at 05:15 to the sound of screaming Saker Falcon, packed our bags and after a quick coffee headed back up Barig Mountain at 06:00 for a last try for Hodgson’s Bush-chat. After climbing the steep grassy and rock strewn slopes of the mountains in the vehicles we parked at the summit and […]
Catching a few ticks in Tuddenham
Saturday saw me going solo down at Elmley while the Jims enjoyed Vange Marshes Stilts. I had good but brief views of a day flying Barn Owl, a Peregrine hunting the marshes with several Buzzards and Marsh Harriers. Hares were putting on a show and the mating rituals of Lapwing and Redshank were in full […]
Another day at Dungeness
We arrived at first light to find the point covered in thick fog and the fog horn blasting out it’s warning to the ships that couldn’t see the lighthouse. By 7:30am the fog had lifted and we quickly found a couple of Wheatear on the shingle by the fishing boats. An hours sea watch enabled […]
Marsh Harrier and Short-eared Owls at Elmley NNR
I took a drive down to Elmley this afternoon after work thinking it’s as good a place as any to clear the head after a very hard week of chasing numbers. I spent two hours there with little to note other than singing Skylarks, Lapwings and a few Redshank before it all kicked off. First […]
Snow Buntings at Salthouse
Barn Owl, Buzzard and Marsh Harrier at Burnham Norton kicked the day off well. A Water Rail was a nice surprise at Brancaster Staithe whilst watching a good variety of waders in the harbour. At Thornham the Twite flew back and forth but remained mobile and a Kingfisher buzzed through without stopping. Lot’s of Skylark […]
The severe Baltic winter that made thousands of birds flee
We seem, nowadays, to have forgotten what a “proper” winter is like. A series of mild seasons, punctuated only by the freeze-ups of 2009-10 and 2010-11, have perhaps made us complacent. But for Europe’s birds, cold winters need to be taken far more seriously. Almost 30 years ago the winter of 1978-79 led to a […]