• An explosion of starlings

    An explosion of starlings

    Written by Graham Wellstead. Not everyone is keen on these brash argumentative birds but I have a soft spot for them. For several years starlings have been missing from my garden. I would see them elsewhere, and a number of times their glorious vast flock displays on winter evenings as they assembled prior to roosting,…

  • A more optimistic long view of our place in nature

    A more optimistic long view of our place in nature

    By Dr Valerie Jeffries. Walking along briskly for my lockdown exercise I was watching the starlings congregate for their evening swarm on the TV aerials, and listening to quarrelling sparrows and the raucous yells of the seagulls way inland. Many birds have adapted to live alongside humans in our urban landscapes, some like the house…

  • “Our feeders are a magnet for the sparrows and the hawk.”

    “Our feeders are a magnet for the sparrows and the hawk.”

    Written by Graham Wellstead (Surrey, UK). With this splendid weather, long may it last, albeit quite chilly first thing, I have been up and about since first light. Our bird feeders are currently hosting our usual gang of 60 plus house sparrows, who alternate their position from feeding, to cover in the pyracantha hedge underneath…