AA Birdpix, Birds, Travel and More

  Garden Birdwatch I've never taken part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, a personal view because I don't think the results are scientifically valid, but it does encourage an interest in wildlife, which is far more important. If only government ministers were forced to take part. However, I do keep a garden list for interest. We moved in to a new property in 2007, and overlook farmland, which at that time was used for daffodils. The first week we had a Little Owl on the fence, and Curlews always used to winter in the fields. Obviously such sights are long gone, as are Grey Partridges which have wandered off the fields and down the tarmac in front of the bungalow!   Nothing much has changed in terms of our small cul-de-sac or the surrounding fields, but wildlife has been much affected by other developments in the area which have resulted in much more disturbance, traffic and light pollution, like almost everywhere else in the country. We have always put out feeders, and h...

Our Geese are cooked Traveling around North Norfolk recently the picture has changed-instead of large numbers of Pinkfeet and White-fronted Geese we seem to have mainly Greylags. The two are probably not connected, since numbers of geese vary according to weather and food availability, but the fact is that we are seemingly being overrun with feral geese, which must affect food supply and habitat for genuinely wild birds. Canada Geese have always been with us, and do not seem to have increased greatly, but there is quite a large population of Barnacle Geese in Suffolk, Egyptian Geese are far commoner than they were ten years ago, there is a tiny population of Red-breasted Geese in East Anglia, and Snow Geese in Oxfordshire, a population in Argyll being down to single figures now. But it is mainly Greylags that are annoying, being noisy, messy and worst of all habituated to humans. Every reserve with any water has them. Unfortunately they cannot be culled, supposedly because they are a B...

  Artificial Birding? Very little divides communities like AI. I have nothing against AI, but unfortunately much of it is poorly programmed to keep costs down. A perfect example is its use by customer service departments- "Hi I'm Gorgonzola, How can I help today?" "I have a complaint" "Sorry I do not understand. Can you put that another way?" "Complaint" "Thank you for reaching out to me, but I need to know what your complaint is about" "Poor customer service"  "Sorry I do not understand". "I need to speak to a human" "Hi I'm Gorgonzola, How can I help today?" "I want to speak to a human being"   (I perhaps should have put agent) "Sorry, I do not understand, can you put it another way please?" "Human (Homo sapiens)" " That's not a very nice thing to say " Whilst most of that is made up, although entirely typical, the last two lines are not. So, s...

  Happy New Year I'm writing this on New year's day, and my year list currently stands at about five. Happily the first bird on my list was Greenfinch (it's usually Wood Pigeon or Black-headed Gull seen in flight), followed by Blue Tit, Robin and Great Tit. Things are quiet in the garden, but the birds are around, just not using the feeders much. There could be a number of reasons, the local Sparrowhawks, a cat which I haven't yet been able to dissuade from entering our garden (poor shot with the half-brick)* or the likely reason being there are still insects around. Despite the cold nights I have been seeing bees (or hover-flies?) recently on the winter honeysuckle outside my window. The inside of the shrubs behind the feeder must be warmer and still providing food, why would birds come to the feeders?  I rarely do a New Year's Day list, for various reasons, but good luck to those who are, especially if connected to charity. To me it's a bit like playing footba...

That time of year  In common with many birders December is not really our favourite month. Whilst we're not active Scrooges, we get fed up with constant bombardment of Xmas adverts, and having to do things we don't really want to because of "tradition". Nuff said, there have been some memorable Christmases. We once had Xmas dinner in an Australian hotel, which was great. There is a much more laid-back attitude there, whether it's because it's summer I don't know, but shops have small displays and there isn't so much light pollution. The only blow-up Santa we saw was the one below. And the Robins are more stunning. This is a Flame Robin, there's even a pink one! A record of Siberian Thrush has always intrigued me, being on Christmas Day in Great Yarmouth, in 1977, and during research for my website I found the original report in British Birds. Only the second accepted record, the finder was birding in Great Yarmouth cemetary (a luxury few of us are ...

Best Year Ever ? As  I'm compiling photos of Category A birds I'm obviously going over old records and photographs, and have begun to wonder "what was the best year ever for twitching in the UK?" Obviously not this year, but it's very much in the eye of the beholder. I would contend that the best year was one in the best era for twitching which was undoubtedely the last two decades of the 20th century. There were far fewer birders then and most twitchers knew each other, but there were birds that haven't occured again, and it was a lot more fun. Obviously a personal opinion, but I think anyone who was birding then would agree. To an extent, the best year will always be the one when you saw the best birds, but hardcore twitchers in those days tended to see everything unless there was a good reason (such as hospitalisation, or possibly your wedding day, although that is open to debate). Work commitments didn't count, as most twitchers were in a position to p...