The water vole is the largest of the UK voles and sometimes mistaken for a rat. Though it is indeed Ratty from Wind in the Willows it is not a rat at all and is a herbivore with a rounder nose than a rat, a chubbier, more friendly, face, short furry ears and with a […]

At a quick glance, a lapwing would seem to be a black and white bird. Far from it: this once-common farmland and moorland edge bird is a fantastic mix of black, white, dark green, purple and orange.  To set it apart from most other birds, it has a long upsweeping crest. What is most memorable […]

Red kites were once common in the UK, but unfortunately were gradually persecuted to extermination in all of the UK apart from Wales. Since 1989 there has been a series of reintroductions of birds donated by other countries that started in the Chilterns and concluded with a release in 2007 on the perimeter of the […]

Bird of the month for March is the oystercatcher. They are starting to be heard now in the late evenings and even through the night as they fly in pairs or groups over fields in their pre-breeding displays, loudly piping their call peep peep, peep peep, or kleep kleep, kleep kleep. The oystercatcher is a […]

The raven is the largest of our UK corvids, being much the same size as a buzzard. It looks rather like a giant carrion crow, all black, but with a much more powerful bill. In flight its tail is wedge-shaped, that probably being the best identifier. A raven is often seen before it is heard, […]

Badgers have been much in the news recently because of the cull areas in Gloucestershire and Somerset. But badgers have problems other than being culled – they are frequent targets of a strange and violent breed of men who dig them from their setts after locating them with terriers, and subject them to extreme cruelty […]

A skein of geese, flying high in the sky in a V formation, is a fantastic autumnal sight as different species of geese make their way from their summer breeding grounds in or near to the Arctic Circle to their wintering grounds in various parts of the UK. Some of the geese, greylag and pink-footed […]

It may be appropriate to have the mallard duck as bird of the month since the shooting season for wildfowl, which includes the mallard, came into force on 1 September. The mallard is the most common wild duck, and can become extremely tame if in regular contact with humans, especially if being fed. The drake […]

Brown Hare The brown hare is appropriate this month since, as soon as grain fields begin to be harvested in August, much more open space is available to hares. And unfortunately also to hare coursers. Coursing of brown hares is completely illegal in the UK; in fact if a landowner gives permission to someone to […]

Swallow The swallow is probably one of the best known and best loved of our summer visitors. In flight they look black and white but in effect are an iridescent blue-black, with white underparts, a lovely reddish-brown face and a blue-black chest band. Their wings are pointed and the adult birds have long tail feathers, […]