Bring on the waders!

Hello

Perhaps not surprising given the weather and our lock down status, there is little in the way of bird sightings to report today. 

Yesterday (Tuesday) the Nene Valley between Cogenhoe and Whiston was productive with a Green Sandpiper, a couple of Kingfishers, a Grey Wagtail, a covey of four Grey Partridges and twenty or so wintering Chiffchaffs.

I've been particularly impressed to see how the conservation organisations have responded to the pandemic and endeavoured to provide inspiration, support and education to us all on-line. Good examples are provided by the RSPB and the Wildlife Trusts who have definitely upped their game to support wildlife initiatives and inspire those of us caught up in the lockdown. It is the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch coming up at the end of the month and at the moment it is possible to obtain a half price membership to our local Wildlife Trust. If you haven't seen some of the products and opportunities I recommend clicking on their respective websites:-

https://www.rspb.org.uk/

https://wildlifebcn.org

Wild Justice have been very busy with a variety of judicial reviews designed to test and challenge long-standing laws and direction in the control of wild birds, the rearing and release of birds for shooting purposes and the environmental issues associated with heather burn, discharge of shotgun cartridges and a variety of other issues. You can learn more of their efforts and objectives here:- 

https://wildjustice.org.uk/

Locally the Northants Bird Club has been experimenting with Zoom and have so far projected a quiz created by local naturalist Jeff Blincow and also a presentation by Peter Holden MBE. Next month is the club annual photographic competition which will be managed by Zoom too, with subsequent presentations in March on the Birds and Animals of Cambodia and in April on the Birds of South Africa. Until it is possible and safe to do so, all monthly meetings will be on-line utilising the Zoom opportunities which provides connectivity with a number of personal devices such as laptops, tablets and mobile phones. The NBC blogsite can be reached by entering the following details:-

https://northantsbirdclub.blogspot.co.uk/

And of course this week sees the beginning of BBC 2's Winterwatch, which seeks to portray the best of the wildlife that the UK has on offer and will be running for two weeks. Generally it is on at 8pm and will be available on the BBC iPlayer in due course too.

As we look to the future, there are many groups and families of birds that are firm favourites with birders, and one of these is the large group which in Europe we call waders and in the USA they tend to refer to as shorebirds. So in recognition of past experiences and looking forward to seeing more of them once we are all out of lock-down and restrictions relax, here are some images of waders as captured digitally by Robin Gossage...

Regards

Neil M

Bar-tailed Godwit.

Black-tailed Godwits.

Dunlin.

Little Stint.

Sanderling.

Greenshanks.

Spotted Redshank.

Wood Sandpiper.

Turnstone...although
it's not a stone!