Bird Blog

I first identified the blackbird in my early years when it was one of the top three commonest  species in Britain, along with the starling and the house sparrow. At the time, an estimated 6 million pairs were supposed to be resident in the country …

Growing up in Britain on a farm during the 1950s, I was always fascinated by the sight and sound of the yellowhammer that belongs to the bunting family and is 6.5 inches (16.5 cm) in length. The males would sing from the tops of hedges …

There was a small mixed orchard of apple and pear trees a few yards away from my farm during the 1950s and close to a farm laborer’s cottage that stood derelict. The occupier had not been seen since World War 11. When I wandered down …

The current global pandemic reminds me of my birdwatching experience at Spurn Point Bird Observatory in Yorkshire, England during October 1962. I stayed there for several days while there was no communication with the outside world. On the day I left the Observatory, I discovered …

I never saw great black-backed gulls around the farm during the 1950s, and at the time, only a few wintered around York.  They are the largest gull in the world, measuring 30 inches (75cm) in length. By comparison, an adult golden eagle ranges in size …

It was 1958, I was 14, and had recently joined the York Bootham School Natural History Club to broaden my knowledge of birds around my home and to learn of the best birding spots near York. 138 species were listed and I had probably seen …

Growing up with blue tits on the farm is one of my earliest memories. These are feisty little birds (4.5 in/12 cm in length), noisy, sociable, inquisitive and lovable.  The moment I threw out bacon rind or hung up monkey nuts (peanuts in their shells), …

A smallish dainty bird (7in/18cm long), called a red-necked phalarope, attracted a lot of discussion during my time at Spurn Point Bird Observatory in the early 1960s, where the species was a very infrequent visitor.  Although classified as a shorebird, it swims rather than wades, …

For 15 years, from about 1950, my family spent a week on holiday in a rented bungalow on the cliff top at Reighton Gap, near Filey, Yorkshire. We always expected the accommodation to have been washed away by the sea by the following year because …

Early during my birdwatching career, it was the more common species I recorded as I stayed close to home, but by the start of the 1960s, when I was 16,  I discovered Spurn Point Bird Observatory where my expectations suddenly changed. I was on the …

It was my job as a young child in the early 1950s to scythe the stinging nettles from around our farm’s chicken coops. I used a hand scythe so I would not sting myself and I made sure there were dock leaves nearby just in …

As a young boy in Britain during the early 1950s, I did not contribute to the well-being of merlins. These are small, fierce falcons that hunt other birds by attacking them in flight, and appear somewhat pigeon-like, which has earned them the nickname of pigeon …

I began birdwatching and egg collecting at the start of the 1950s in Britain when I was 7 years old. Egg collecting came to an abrupt halt in 1954 when the British government made this pastime illegal but I continued to maintain my “life list”  …