Natural Selection

Today I started working on a report at an unearthly hour so I could get out at lunchtime and do some seawatching from North Shore. Unbeknown to virtually all Blackpool residents a nature spectacle occurs offshore. But the rub is it’s often a long way offshore. Common Scoter are seaducks that can form flocks up…

When I started this blog it was supposed to include creative writing, and hasn’t much. So here is a piece which I wrote a few months ago. Here’s another couple of pictures I took yesterday – the reservoir from Barrow Crematorium with the Walney windfarm behind, and inside the Holker Street ground from my seat…

I was up in Barrow today to watch the Bluebirds play Mansfield, and did some birding beforehand which salvaged some positivity from the day. I stopped at Pine Lake on the way to see if the drake Scaup was still there. It was, but on the other side of the lake and rather beyond the…

I picked up a copy of this book when Subbuteo Books cleared all their stock a couple of years ago, and as the Birdfair has been in the news this week I have reacquainted myself with it. The rather grandiose title is caveated with the sub-heading ’25 Years of Birdfair Posters’ which gives a more…

Tonight I saw swarms of Starlings passing over the house on the way to their roost on North Pier. It’s a privilege to be able to watch them even when it’s just a blink and you’ll miss it encounter like today. Better still to stand on the Promenade and hopefully be treated to the winter…

I am not sure what is about Rose Coloured Starlings, but there can’t be a species whose alternative names are so contrasting. On the one hand there is Rosy Pastor, whose other meaning is a minister in charge of a church or congregations. At the other extreme in informal parlance is Pink Stink, which I…

Tonight some of the writers who were involved in the Lifest New Writing Northwest Nature Writing Group last winter / early spring met on zoom. It was great to catch up with like minded people and share ideas. If you are interested in reading the anthology that came out of the series of workshops, which…

Jane and I went to Potts Corner at Heysham so seaglass searching and beach birding could be combined. This corner of Morecambe Bay was pretty quiet shorebird wise even though the tide wasn’t too far out. So I decided to lend a hand and was very pleased to find a marble on the tideline with…

After volunteering at Blackpool parkrun yesterday I was due to be in Fairhaven for a ramble, but with some time to kill first. So I decided to stop by the waste transfer station at Mereside and go through the gulls on the roof. Rock and roll eh… If your first thought on reading that was…

I do like a good Big Year book. I’ve read at least five other books on the subject*. This one had received some very good reviews so I didn’t think the focus on the state of Louisiana would be a problem. Marybeth Lima is a professor who has written several non-birding books. This overcomes the…