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)

It's been all go in recent weeks with the Festival of Nature weekend before last in which thousands of people came down to the harbourside to celebrate nature in Bristol. After a busy week at work with the Bristol Dinosaur Project I was leading a peregrine family event with Mandy Leivers on the Downs on Saturday before enjoying an afternoon at a school fete with my goddaughter. This week I'm enjoying some ringing down on Skomer and hoping to catch lots of storm petrels. The weather's looking good for it so finger's crossed I can get to the island ok.

Featured on Springwatch

Last night I featured on BBC Springwatch colour ringing peregrines in the Avon Gorge with the help of ringers from the British Mountaineering Council and Martin Hughes Games from Springwatch. If you missed it last night log on to the BBC iPlayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sm50z - the story is around 45mins into the show! 

I also featured as the wildlife expert with presenter Faye Dicker on BBC Radio Bristol's Springwatch Wild Day Out at Cadbury Heath on Saturday - listen again on iPlayer for the 2nd hour of the programme at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0083cdf/Saturday_Surgery_05_06_2010/

Brecon Beacons, baby birds and camping

As summer is in full flow, the countryside is abound with birds busily collecting food for chicks, fledgelings are leaving their nests, country lanes are filled with flowers of every colour.....and I was fortunate enough to take in these wonders in rural Wales last weekend when I stayed with friends near Hay on Wye. Camping on a beautiful farm with highland cattle (and 3 week old calves), rolling hills and birdsong everywhere, it was a delight to be away and out of mobile phone reception! Birds which are declining across the UK were doing well in this valley - singing redstarts, spotted flycatcher, curlews, lapwings, cuckoo, little owl, stock doves along with tawny owls, red kites and buzzards were all around! I even heard a tawny owl calling at 12pm! Birds had nests everywhere - I found a chaffinch nests with four almost-ready to fledge babies and the next day a fledgling goldfinch which I managed to ring! Its siblings were nearby in the hedge! On the Sunday we went to Hay on Wye Festival - a hazy day of culture, marquees, talks and sunshine!

At the end of this week I finished my second week at the learning officer for the Bristol Dinosaur Project at the University of Bristol. I've had a really great transition, meeting lovely people and enjoying getting my head down and preparing for the Festival of Nature http://www.bnhc.org.uk/home/festival.html in Bristol next weekend. I'll be there representing the project with a brilliant activity for families as well as taking families on a wildlife boat tour of the harbour and chairing a 'dream job' session where children can find out more about how to get into their favourite job.

On Saturday I joined BBC Radio Bristol and presenter Faye Dicker at the Springwatch Wild Day Out in Cadbury Heath, answering listener's wildlife questions for an hour. The afternoon was spent enjoying time with friends in my dive club with a BBQ followed by an evening out.

Today I've had an early start, getting to Craig Cerrig Gleisiad in the Brecon Beacons with Mike to look for ring ouzels. At 8.30am it was already hot and before I had even got out of the car a beautiful singing tree pipit was serenading from a nearby tree. It took some work, but after a good walk we found some ring ouzels along with a spotted flycatcher, pied flycatcher, plenty of willow warblers, a cuckoo and a male bullfinch. On our way back we stopped off near Abergavenny and caught up with some whinchats, stonechats and a very rare warbler normally found on the Spanish Islands called a Marmora's warbler. We snatched some good views and heard its lovely song before it flew off into the heather!