Month: April 2026
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Holly Blues, SSSIs and Birdwatch
I’ve been seeing quite a number of tiny blue butterflies in the garden and around the village. They are most likely Holly Blues, also or previously known as Wood Blues, Azure Blues or Blue Speckt Butterflies with Black Tips. Only the females have black borders to their wings. They are apparently fairly common in the…
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Oilseed Rape, RPSB, Golden Eagles, Sam West birdwatching, Pied Wagtails, Protect the Wild Swifts, Trail Hunting and Glue Traps, Madagascar – Chameleons and Lemurs, Star Trek, Dad’s Army, The Assembly and Starmer
Oilseed Rape I wondeređ what this plant was when it appeared growing from the foot of a nearby wall. I have noticed it growing on local road verges too. It is Oilseed Rape and is rather pretty. I assume these appearances derive from an arable farm not far away. It may be pretty but it…
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Beastly Britain, The Assembly tv show, inbred puppies, racial hatred, textile ‘recycling’, George Takei, mobile phones in galleries, business meetings, Artemis II and plenty of animal news
Beastly Britain Newts I have now finished Beastly Britain; an animal history, Yale University Press, 2025, by Karen R. Jones. There was much for me to learn from the chapter on newts, not least the etymology of their name from Old English efte or ewte, which explains why we refer to the young as efts. They…
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Various birds, wolves, maths and NASA
Dunnocks Bird of the day is the Dunnock. There are always at least two in the garden. I have said many times how underrated their complex and beautiful plumage is. I cannot imagine why both of the garden bird books (both publications from the British Trust for Ornithology) I have been drawing from of late…
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Hedgehogs, Wolves, Dogs, Foxes and Bruce Springsteen
Wolves Firstly, a couple of follow-ups. I wrote recently about the wolves at Wildwood: Still on the subject of canines, the five wolves kept at Wildwood Discovery Park in Kent have been killed since they had begun to attack and wound each other. I expect they were driven mad by their captivity. The first two…
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Mink, dogs, wolves and birds
Lovely to see the Marsh Marigolds, above, making their annual appearance. Mink The Hunt Saboteurs remind us that the mink hunting season is about to begin: Mink Hunting season due to begin. If the population does need controlling in some form, which is arguable, it should not be done like this – with dogs, drainage…
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A Chaffinch, planning this year’s bike trip and animal rescue
A Chaffinch was the first bird of today. Like Dunnocks, they are ground feeders. Their nests are described as neat, deep cups. Numbers here are more or less doubled by migrants in winter. When they are a part of a mixed flock with Bramblings there is no competition for food since Bramblings can take larger…