Natural Selection

Got out seawatching again before work again with the calm weather. It’s genuinely always a privilege to be on the Promenade on nice spring mornings, but it was quiet initially. I was ship watching to start with as the wind farm supply boat moved across the horizon, then the Seatruck Performance came in from Warrenpoint.…

As I was in Burnley for the morning and not far from Rowley Lake, which I had never visited, I dropped in on a mizzly Thursday lunchtime. I hadn’t realised until today that it was part of the Brun Valley Forest Park, which I have to admit I had never heard of. I knew there…

Anyone who knows me will be aware that I am terrible at art. I do like bird art though, and I am fortunate enough to have been able to commission some over the years. At some point I might mention that in more detail in a blog post. I am also fortunate enough to live…

As it was a nice looking morning I decided to drop Jane off early and get some seawatching in from North Shore. The main target was Whooper Swans. On calm, clear mornings over the next few weeks they will begin their return journeys to Iceland and can be seen from the Fylde heading out past…

My copy of Birdwatch arrived a couple of days ago, and I opened it tonight. On the inside cover where there used to be a kind of ‘And Finally’ light relief article was a piece on Ruddy Duck culls. Back in the day this slot would have featured some light humour from Bill Oddie. For…

We’ll come back to the Gerald the Gorilla reference. A Greenland White-fronted Goose was found at Myerscough Quarry a couple of weeks ago by Ash Baines with a group of Eurasian Whitefronts. The latter have long since departed, but the Greenland bird has hung around and as it’s a site I cover quite regularly, and…

Whilst up in Barrow today for the football I visited a number of birding sites. I have been passing up chances to go for the long staying Red Necked Grebe at Cavendish Dock, and as the weather was set fair decided to give it a go. It was also a chance visit old stamping grounds.…

I went to Little Singleton after work tonight and had a pleasant half hour watching Pinkfeet in the sun. They were spooked by a plane at one point, when I took the picture above. Hopefully it conveys some of the spectacle. I think I will miss the wild geese when they’ve gone more acutely this…

Swans and serenity are synonymous. They are generally thought to mate for life, and widely regarded as calm and peaceful birds. The truth can be rather more graphic, with fights to the death, incest and even infanticide. By those standards the family disputes I witnessed at Kincraig Lake on Sunday morning were quite tame. Mute…

I nearly called this post Great Snipes as a not particularly original pun. I didn’t because I’ve never seen a Great Snipe, it isn’t about that species and I didn’t want to draw people in under false pretences. It’s more a case of small ‘g’ and small ‘s’ as I return to the psychology of…