This blog will always aim to share all that is great and good from the natural world but sadly, every now and again, there are less pleasant topics which simply cannot be ignored. At this time of year nothing falls into that category more than the blight of deliberate grass Read more…
Gorgeous weather this week has meant plenty of opportunity for after work outings and in my continuing search for spring migrants I’ve spent them all out on patch. Tuesday evening saw us make a relatively brief outing up to Bryn-bach-Common where at least two Stonechats were perched around the pylons Read more…
Hard as it is to believe but March is already a fast fading memory and with it another month of the Patchwork Challenge has been and gone. I had hoped to have seen my first spring migrants by now but other than a couple of Chiffchaffs which have been singing Read more…
Ambling up to Bryn-bach-Common last Friday evening I couldn’t help but notice a distinctive bird song filling the air. At first the sound was familiar yet hard to place, delightfully varied with a volume to match. Then it slowly dawned on me that what I was listening to was in Read more…
Climbing Gopa Hill on Saturday morning you couldn’t help but notice the rapid advance of spring compared to even a couple of weeks ago. Daffodils, Snowdrops and even a few Crocuses are now all in flower, our garden Robin is once again tolerating the presence of another and best of Read more…
With my January Patchwork Challenge scores submitted (and very healthy they looked too) it was straight back out on the first of this month to try and nudge that tally along a little further. Almost straight away we hit pay-dirt with a male Sparrowhawk crossing the fields beneath Gopa Hill. Read more…
There was much drama in the garden last Saturday when an early morning visit from a Sparrowhawk resulted in the loss of one of our Long-tailed Tits. Emma managed to witness the whole event unfold with the hunter entering stage right before finishing up with a small ball of feathers Read more…
On Sunday we took part in the RSPB’s annual Big Garden Birdwatch, the largest citizen science project of its kind and one which has been reporting on the state of our nations birds since 1979. You only need look at the number of people who have already submitted their records Read more…
Despite a forecast of doom and gloom Saturday dawned clear, sunny and, if not warm, then certainly above the freezing conditions I’d been expecting. To top it all the strong winds of recent days had been banished to leave an unexpectedly peaceful and tranquil landscape. With a light mist still Read more…
It’s hard to believe but yesterday was my last opportunity of 2014 to get out onto the patch in an attempt to push my current Patchwork Challenge score a little higher. Despite a less than attentive year I had still somehow managed to draw level with my previous comparative species Read more…