5 March 2013 Environment Minister Richard Benyon today visited Hillesden Farm in Buckinghamshire, which is at the forefront of research work into how Environmental Stewardship can better deliver benefits to wildlife alongside the vital role the scheme plays in investing in England’s farm businesses. Richard Benyon finds out more about winter bird feeding at Hillesden Farm © Linzee Kottman / Natural England For the last five years, Hillesden has been the home of a detailed study where areas of the farm have [...]

   A rather chilly day on the river this one! Wind had been blowing from the east for a week or so but at least it wasn’t raining. As we sailed upriver towards the pickup at Saltash, the 3 Spoonbills were again feeding off Bull Point. Therefore we collected our passengers and went back to have a look…..but they’d flown off!  Not a good start. However, we headed back upstream following our usual route and picking up the normal species [...]

Tamar Wildlife is able to supply a range of nestboxes and now is the time to think about the coming breeding season. Valentine’s Day 2013 is the start of the 16th annual National Nest Box Week (NNBW), organised by the British Trust for Ornithology, which encourages people across the UK to put up nest boxes for birds. Last year, the wet weather in April and June led to the worst breeding season on record for many species. Caterpillars were in short supply [...]

You know how on some days everything goes right …..well the 9th Feb trip ticked all the    boxes. Firstly we had a dry day, not that frequent recently and although it wasn’t sunny we had light winds, good visibility and it wasn’t that cold either. I joined the boat at Cremyll and as we sailed upstream a Razorbill got us off to a good start – a new species for our cruise list. Then I noticed 2 Spoonbills feeding [...]

The Great Black backs on Looe Island, along with many other species last summer, had a poor breeding season. Although we counted 75 nests containing 197 eggs and two chicks in May, when it came to ringing we were only able to find 27 chicks of which 24 were colour ringed. This compares to 91 colour ringed in 2011 and 49 in 2010. It is not known whether failures occurred during incubation or nestling stages but we suspect that many [...]

Looe Island is a Cornwall Wildlife Trust reserve off Looe in south-east Cornwall. It holds what is now the largest breeding colony of Great Black-backed Gulls with 78 pairs in 2012, 66 pairs in 2011 and 79 pairs in 2010. Historically, Mullion Island, off the Lizard held the largest colony. This was certainly true in the mid 1980s when the Seabird Colony Register noted 117 pairs. However, by Seabird 2000, the last complete national survey, numbers had dropped to 49 [...]

The last couple of days has seen an increase in gulls using  the millpond (lake) in Millbrook with 6 species regularly seen. Yesterday I counted a record 15 Mediterranean Gulls and over 50 Common Gulls but John Nicholls counted 24 Meds. Amongst them was a french ringed bird – green ring white code 4V7 which has been seen already this winter in Looe. Both 1st winter, second winter and adult birds were present enabling good comparisons to be made. At [...]

Another good turn out. Over 50 people on board and we took our normal route up the River Tamar. Colin, our skipper took a leisurely course that enabled us to have some good views of the Avocets and usual species. The Black tailed Godwit were feeding opposite Saltash, much further downstream than usual. It is interesting how the whole estuary is used at different times and what exactly dictates where the birds feed. The 3 Spoonbills that had been reported [...]

Another lucky window between the rain! The night before had seen floods across Cornwall and Devon so we were pleased that almost everyone got to Saltash for the 9.30am start. The 80 strong contingent from the Devon Wildlife Trust had come from as far afield as Oakhampton and Exeter. With all the rain from the previous two days the river was in full flow. Even at low tide much of the mud was covered and the debris being washed downstream [...]

Today I led a group of three clients on a birding trip in the lower Tamar valley. Meeting them from the Cremyll Ferry we immediately started with an adult Mediterranean Gull, firstly sitting on the river and then in flight. Our first stop was Millbrook Lake. As it was high tide the waders, all Redshank, were roosting on the island together with several Little Egret and 4 Cormorant. Plenty of Black-headed and Herring Gulls and a single Little Grebe. We [...]