Natural Selection

Pied Flycatcher by Steve Garvie used under Wikipedia Commons licence Last year I wrote a post called ‘Searching For Itinerant Vicars’ in which I explained that Ring Ousels were a bogey bird for me on the Fylde. Since then I’ve found one on Porto Santo where they are rare and seen a couple on Out…

In the time I’ve been doing this blog I’ve only seen two new birds for me in my home town before today. One of those was bittersweet, as the Pallid Swift last November from my office didn’t linger for clinching photographs needed for acceptance. The Red-footed Falcon at Marton Mere was much more straightforward. Fortunately…

Like a lot of people I find daily time with nature beneficial to my mental wellbeing. Today I was at work for eleven hours as we had a board meeting this evening, but with the clocks going forward it was still light when I left at seven. I decided to nip to the nearest place…

This blog has something of an identity crisis, but one of the things it hopefully does is show that there are natural treasures to be enjoyed even in a densely area like Blackpool. The last week I’ve seen the following in the town as we are on the cusp of spring: Redshank, Turnstone and Purple…

The Kathleen Jamie event trailed in yesterday’s blog has now moved to Tuesday 18th April. If anyone saw my offer of a lift from Blackpool can disregard that, as I unfortunately can’t make the rescheduled date… Tickets are now on sale for the Mark Cocker event on 22nd June, where he will be in conversation…

I know this blog has an identity crisis, but it is supposed to be about my creative writing and others who practice in that field. Lancaster University Future Places Centre have just confirmed details of one of the great contemporary British nature writers coming to the area. next month. Kathleen Jamie is currently Scotland’s Makar,…

When I was a kid I came by a pin badge for Enterprise Neptune. It had simple stylised waves of blue, brown and green to represent the land, sea and the shifting landscape in between. I always associate that image in my mind with Sandscale Haws, the network of dunes near Barrow. This precious part…

Thanks to the generosity of Karen Lloyd I was posted a copy of Mark Cocker’s latest book to review. This was a double privilege, firstly because I am a fan of Mark’s work and secondly because the book doesn’t actually come out until June. When I learned Mark Cocker was going to write about Swifts…

Continuing the catch-up of things I’ve been up to lately I was asked by Kane Brides to check Blackpool Zoo for the national Naturalised Barnacle Goose survey. Visitors to the zoo would be forgiven for thinking these birds are part of the collection, but they aren’t and leave to roost at Marton Mere or Staining…

In the style of the late Ronnie Corbett I’ve already started disgressing with this blog, as it isn’t actually about the Black-headed Gull above. Let me explain. When I saw the above bird from South Lanarkshire in Dalton-in-Furness last October I asked Iain (the ringer) if he had heard any more about 2BC1. Like the…