Welcome to the 220 for 2022 – September update. It’s been quite a ride this month, with a slow start gradually gaining momentum to take us to a grand finale where some wonderful and exotic birds were seen. These autumn months are where the quest will prosper or falter. Gone now the threadbare summer months,…
Welcome to the 220 for 2022 – August Update. 1st August 2022 – no new birds today, but a surprise was in store at Strumpshaw where half way through my shift I was invited to step outside. I was met with all available reserve staff gathered to present me with my 20 years volunteering service…
A common sight at this time of year is people in pub gardens suddenly screaming and flailing around as if a ferret has been dropped down their trousers/dress. The reason for this demented behaviour is of course late summer wasps, most likely the common wasp (Vespula vulgaris). We all have some very irrational prejudices regarding…
Welcome to my 220 for 2022 – July Update. I seldom indulge in much birding during these hot, barren summer months. Normally my time would be spent looking for butterflies, dragonflies and suchlike rather than probing the slim pickings of the birding season. This year is different of course, with the irrepressible nag that time…
Swifts are enigmatic birds. A delight. They are essentially an African species that chooses to spend 3 months here in the Northern Hemisphere, taking advantage of long hours of daylight and an abundance of aerial plankton to raise their young. Their decline in the UK is well documented, with reasons many fold and complex, but…
It was as I was closing my eyes to drift away on this lazy sunny afternoon, that I noticed a movement almost directly at my feet. Out of the deep shade of the garden hedge hopped our resident male Blackbird. He looked up at me with his warm brown eyes, decided I was harmless enough,…
The swallowtail occupies a precarious niche in the UK. Confined nowadays to the fens of the Norfolk Broads, they depend on the management activity of various conservation bodies and their dedicated staff to maintain the habitat that supports their larval foodplant the milk parsley. This fragile plant can easily be crowded out by more vigorous…
Welcome to my 220 for 2022 – June Update. Time can be a strange phenomenon; sometimes a friend, sometimes a foe. It becomes both during exercises of this nature, whether it’s conducted over a day or a year doesn’t seem to alter this basic fact. At commencement, when you are fresh and raring to go,…
Welcome to my account of 30 Days Wild – The Middle 10 Days. A bit later than planned, but hey ho! 11th June 2022 – a walk around the garden to find wild flowers in bloom. Some of these I grew from seed many years ago, others have arrived naturally. I’m no botanist, but I…
On a hot and sultry June afternoon, we walk for a half mile along the wide, largely deserted sea shore. Flanked to the west by a 15-foot-high dune wall, and to the east by an unusually calm North Sea; on this day a vast shimmer of Caribbean blue. Indeed, if it wasn’t for the absence…