I am grateful to my pal who sent me a catalogue of messages from North West Birding Whatsapp. The messages summarise the fun and otherwise surrounding the appearance of a Hoopoe on 27th April 2019.HoopoeFrom Wiki – “The Eurasian Hoopoe is widespread in…
Author: Phil Slade
Willy Chiff And Others
After our not very productive ringing of Saturday, and on a slightly marginal forecast, we decided to have another go at Oakenclough on Monday. Well, after all, it is spring when many millions of birds migrate from Africa to Europe, so we might just c…
Two Willies
I met up with Andy soon after six am. Here at Oakenclough we’d suffered three aborted ringing sessions in previous days. But now a gentle southerly easterly of 5 mph, a break in the clouds with a promise of sunny skies suggested things might improve. …
Alouette, Gentille Alouette
Here is a story that first appeared in Birdwatch Magazine and on the Bird Guides Internet page on 07/04/2019. French Hunting Complaint Lodged With EU. It concerns the Skylark, Alauda arvenis, a bird that regularly features on Another Bird Blog.&nb…
Saturday Sortie
Almost three weeks of cold easterly winds has meant not much ringing. There have been a few migrants arriving but not in any great numbers. Until today I had seen a single Swallow and just two House Martins, the latter back on territory at the big ho…
Petition
UK citizens – Please sign this petition. Grant legal protection to Swallow, Swift and Martin nest sites not just nests. Live bird nests have legal protection, but nest sites do not. Swallows, Swifts and Martins return to the same nesting site year…
Blown Away
The morning proved mostly frustrating. I’d met up with Andy again at Oakenclough on a forecast of an 8 mph easterly wind that would drop during the morning until by 3pm it would be no more than 5 mph. Another Fake Forecast from the Brussels Broadcasti…
Long Time No See
My April Fool of Sunday evening produced mixed results. Many readers failed to notice, even remarking that Birdchase seemed a great idea. The blog stats reveal that just one canny lady from Canada spotted the obvious clues, while several others didn’…
New Birding App
Another Bird Blog is proud to exclusively reveal a new and revolutionary birding app available from today. Birdchase® from the team at Delight Labs Design can be downloaded via Google Play Store from midnight tonight 31st March 2019. Birdch…
Mostly Redpoll
Thursday morning promised more in the way of migration when the weather forecast suggested a brighter start and a 5 mph breeze from a WSW direction. I met up with Andy at Oakenclough at 0630 where we were joined today by Bryan who was keen to see a fe…