Radio 4 programme and booming bitterns

My report on the translocation of field crickets at RSPB Pulborough Brooks was very well received on BBC Radio 4 both on Tuesday morning and last night. It can still be heard on iPlayer via www.bbc.co.uk/savingspecies.
The programme also covers the fascinating insights into Purple Emperor butterfly caterpillars and the relationship between hummingbirds and plants in South America.

I was doing a recce last night with friend and co-leader Charles Martin for a tour we're doing next week for Naturetrek on the Somerset Levels, www.naturetrek.co.uk. After checking the hotel in Wells and having a nice bangers and mash in a nearby pub, we nipped down to the RSPB's Ham Wall reserve and met some very nice cows being used to graze the wetlands. Almost immediately we began hearing bitterns booming, at least three or four. Just amazing. Sedge and reed warblers reeled out from the reeds and a hobby flew low, revealing its grey back and red-orange underparts. Back at the car park, while we listened to my Radio 4 report, a garden warbler sang continuously from a nearby copse while a female cuckoo 'bubbled' away nearby and two male cuckoos followed soon after, 'cuckooing' across Shapwick.

Somerset Levels' delights

Popped down to the Levels today for a Starling Bonanza with Stephen Moss, family and friends. Was a brilliant afternoon on Shapwick - lovely February sunshine despite the chilly temperatures. Amongst the waterfowl I got to see a striking male goldeneye, a whooper swan (usually upending) and the great white egret. Over on Ham Wall the starlings showed off incredibly well, literally coming down into the reeds in front of us. This was one of the best displays I've seen in many years. The presence of a few sparrowhawks, a marsh harrier and a peregrine (more distant) helped to produce some great twirls and sudden twists in the floating swarm. As most settled, some of the trees looked like burnt logs. There were at least two albino starlings - I spotted one! Just as it couldn't get any better Stephen shouted glossy ibises - flying over the reserve were three of these heron like birds with down-curved beaks. Awesome! The starlings meanwhile were still zooming around with more flocks coming in and others behind. Slowly, the light faded, the birds settled and it was time to head back to Mark for some dinner and socialising.