The Centennial Egg - a piece I did for Miles Barton, producer for the BBC Natural History Unit

Filming for the One Show

I've just been filming with presenter Miranda Kestovnikoff for the One Show talking about about eagle owls and in particular Oscar the eagle owl, who became a star in this part of Bristol. Oscar was living in the wild around Biological Sciences and while we can't rule out him coming from captivity, it is possible he was a truly wild bird.

Reporting on cirl buntings for Radio 4's Saving Species

Yesterday I was reporting on cirl buntings for Radio 4's Saving Species, interviewing the RSPB about their current translocation programme where they are moving young birds from Devon to Cornwall. The show is repeated this Thursday at 9pm and can be heard on bbc iPlayer at this link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00t1xt1

Seabirds, swallows and sunshine

Wow! Where does three weeks go!
Had an amazing holiday with the dive club down in Skomer - perfect weather, calm sea, wonderful people and great wildlife. I got to do five dives, see my first wreck, some lovely fishes and ring storm petrels and manx shearwater overnight on Skomer - something I've always wanted to do.

On return I ringed some baby swallows at a stable and took part in the annual Canada goose ringing at Chew Valley Lake. I also reported on the translocation of young cirl buntings by the RSPB from Devon to Cornwall - soon to appear on the BBC Radio 4's Savings Species.

Meanwhile, my work with the Bristol Dinosaur Project is going well - I've successfully visited two schools now trying out some ideas and have been getting to grips with the website and HTML coding today. I just can't do the coding so have resorted to using Dreamweaver - I'm too much of a visual learner to do without it!

Have been enjoying watching parties of swifts screaming over Clifton in the past few days. On the weekend  while ringing on the Severn Estuary I saw streams of swifts moving through south - no doubt birds all ready on the move. It only seems like yesterday they were arriving.


Me with an manx shearwater (left) and a baby swallow (right)