In the UK it is illegal under wildlife laws to cut down trees and bushes in which birds are nesting. When a developer is planning a development having obtained planning permission (or the application is being assessed) they sometimes wrap … Continue reading →
The regent honeyeater is a very attractive Australian songbird. For thousands of years and for generation after generation they have sung beautifully to attract females. The males learn their song from older, adult males. Because there are so few honeyeaters … Continue reading →
A person writes: ‘Saw these ducklings cuddling because of the cold weather today’. I think the photo is great. Nature creating a beautiful arrangement naturally. Apparently, adult ducks can freeze to death in very severe cold conditions. I am sure … Continue reading →
The RSPB runs an annual garden birdwatching survey which anyone can participate in and they report the birds that they spot in their back garden online on the RSPB website or an affiliated website. The charity says that participants in … Continue reading →
Garden birds don’t like gardens (backyard in America) to be too tidy. “[Birds] need a slightly messy space. They need leaf litter, a bit of rotting wood at the back of a hedge”, said Lucy Hall, the editor of BBC … Continue reading →
In the UK it is a crime to intentionally kill or injure birds of prey under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, with a sentence on successful conviction of an unlimited fine or up to 6 months in jail. A … Continue reading →
Research has discovered why woodpeckers don’t get their beaks stuck in the tree that they are pecking when digging around for grubs or making a nest. They twist their heads once the beak has hit the tree and this separates … Continue reading →
The brown tree snake, an invasive snake species in Guam, has caused devastation among the birds of this Pacific island. It has also caused power outages when it is burnt to a crisp having climbed powerlines. The experts wanted to … Continue reading →
There are rules governing the keeping of hens in the UK in order to minimise the possibility of an outbreak of bird flu occurring in the UK because there have been outbreaks of the highly pathogenic avian influenza in poultry … Continue reading →
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) tells me that the population of UK wintering great white egrets is 35. This means the number of individuals present from October to March. Today it is reported in the news … Continue reading →
NEWS AND COMMENT: Defra is planning to cull wild parakeets in Britain. They are an invasive species but I don’t see the need to cull them. They’ve been described as the ‘grey squirrels of the sky’ and they are Britain’s … Continue reading →
The great auk was persecuted to extinction by humankind many years ago. Excessive hunting was the main cause and it is said that the last great auk living on the British Isles was stoned to death. The bird became extinct … Continue reading →
There has been a surge in the number of pet hens and cockerels abandoned and it is put down to several factors including the following: Bird flu. Bird flu is in the news at the moment. It is the H5N8 … Continue reading →
NEWS AND VIEWS: A Fenn trap, a legal device provided it is constructed properly, has killed a little owl on the Queen’s Sandringham estate and in doing so it damages the Queen’s grandson’s credentials as a conservationist and environmentalist. To … Continue reading →
VINZIEUX, FRANCE – NEWS AND COMMENT: A 47-year-old fire officer, named as Gérard A by the media, was so incensed by being kept awake by the crowing of his neighbour’s rooster, Marcel, that he shot it and finished it off … Continue reading →
A chicken comes to a boy on a farm for a hug on the boy’s request. It’s a silent request but it is there nonetheless and the chicken responds positively and as you can see they hug each other. And … Continue reading →
Bird Buddy is a bird feeding station with a difference. It was created by a start-up company in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. As I understand it, the co-founders are Franci Zidar and Ziga Vrtacic. This is a bird feeding … Continue reading →
There is a disturbing story in The Times newspaper today, Wednesday 18th 2020, in which it is reported that fishermen off South America’s Atlantic coast are abusing seabirds in various ways because they consider them pests or as an act … Continue reading →
NEWS AND VIEWS (COMMENT): Since 2018 UK slaughterhouses have been required to have security cameras inside their facilities to detect potential breaches of animal welfare. The Gressingham Duck slaughterhouse, in Redgrave, Sussex did not have these cameras but, fortunately, Animal … Continue reading →
The story in The Times newspaper of a Czech carpenter, Pavel Jakes, 52, who went to shoot birds with an air rifle in Spring Water Park near Bury in Greater Manchester, UK, tells us that there is a wide disparity … Continue reading →
