More hen harriers were killed in 2023 than in any other year on record, a report has found. The RSPB’s Birdcrime report also found that at least 1,344 individual birds of prey were persecuted in the UK between 2009 and 2023, and that 75% of people convicted of offences related to the persecution of birds […]
Tag: White-tailed eagle
Eagle Parents Spend Year Nursing Chick Who Fell Out of a Tree, Forsaking the New Nesting Season
In what seems to be a never-before-seen phenomenon among the species, a white-tailed eagle couple has skipped this year’s breeding season in order to care for a juvenile who broke a wing. Hatching in April, unseasonably wild weather blew an eaglet from its nest on the Isle of Mull during the July fledging season. Its […]
Scottish grouse moors to be licensed in attempt to protect birds of prey
Grouse moors across Scotland will be required to hold licences and could face shooting bans as part of radical measures to combat bird of prey persecution passed by MSPs on Thursday. The Scottish parliament voted for the controls amid intense pressure from conservation scientists and campaigners after decades of illegal attacks on birds of prey […]
Global Big Day
Yesterday I teamed up with Jonathan and Re’a to take part in Global Big Day. Our plan was to record as many species as possible, and also to connect with some specialties that are less likely to get recorded elsewhere. We did not plan our route too carefully, as this was not a competition but […]
Maridalen Mandarin
Yesterday, Rune and I “did” Nordre Øyeren and Aurskog-Høland. Birding was good although it was a great disappointment that the flodd waters at Kjelle have so rapidly declined and with no rain forecast for at least the next week they will disappear very soon. It was dry everywhere and Lapwings were concentrated around the last […]
Still waiting
Despite afternoon temperatures reaching +6C, overnight frosts and thick snow and ice means that there are very few signs of spring. Apart from a couple of scouts, finches and thrushes have yet to arrive and that is no surprise as there would be no food for them to find. It is still a long way […]
Hula weekend
Spent the weekend up in the Hula Valley with my wife, my brother and his wife. No kids. Good food, wine, spectacular scenery and a little bit of birding in between. In the Agamon, Barny is still present – patiently waited for my brother. A crane or two… Always a treat to be on a […]
Garden Waxwings
Sunday started very lazily and my fry up breakfast was interrupted when Jr Jr pointed out there was a big flock of Waxwings in the garden. There were 80 of them and they made short work of the remaining apples in the garden (this is the first time any apples have remained on the trees […]