Observance of Commonwealth Day

The Observance of Commonwealth Day. On Monday I went to Westminster Abbey for the service to which the Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago also attended (and 2,000 other delegates including school children). The service had representation from the different faiths and all the Commonwealth counties. It included key speakers such as Lord Robert Winston - the speeches and activities all related to the Science, Technology and Society theme. At the end of the service the Queen laid a wreath with the help of Savita, Director of the Natural History Consortium and then on her exit from the abbey, Martha from Kenya and Gotham from India were are at the entrance to hand the Queen and Camilla some flowers. David Hill, Uni of Bristol, and I were stood nearby with the flag bearers and the choir as they came out. The results of the Bioblitz will be submitted to Buckingham Palace (BP) with the view to seeing if the Consortium can do a bioblitz of the BP gardens to help promote our work further.

This evening there was a stakeholders event at the zoo for the Bristol Natural History Consortium to celebrate a year of activity in 2009 and the local and national projects (including what we've just done) that will be running in 2010 - the Year of Biodiversity. The museum will be involved at the three main events the Consortium runs - the Bristol Festival of Nature, Bioblitz and Communicate conference. It was a great evening with a fab presentation by Savita and Sara and met some wonderful people from organisations across the city and beyond.

Showreel hot off the press

I'm very excited as hot off the press is my new showreel:

www.eddrewitt.co.uk/showreel

covering a story about peregrines hunting at night, looking for berries in the Avon Gorge and the process of ringing birds at Chew Valley Ringing Station.

A huge thanks to Rob Morgan and Jeremy DeCoursey for all their time devoted to the amazing creative editing and Rob's producing and directing, Theo Webb for his advice and camera work (and camera!) and Claire Thompson for logistical and photography support on the day - I'm incredibly grateful to you all! Thank you.

Bioblitz in Westminster Abbey Gardens

Thursday was an exciting day as I was doing a Bioblitz for the celebration of Commonwealth Day in the gardens of Westminster Abbey - this year's theme is Science, Technology and Society. With Savita Custead, Director of the Bristol Natural History Consortium, David Hill, University of Bristol (and lichen guru!), a consultant from the Commonwealth Societies we worked with Martha from Kenya and Gotham from India to find as much nature in the gardens as possible. We found all sorts of plants, many native, others from abroad, various birds and of course lichens (21 species believe it or not)! Highlights included a pair of Peregrines flying in and landing on the Houses of Parliament just 40 metres away and Great Tits busily singing and chasing each other!

On Monday there will the Observance of Commonwelth Day at Westminster Abbey where the Queen will find out more about what we have been doing. Savita, Martha and Gotham will present the Queen with a wreath and those of us involved will get the chance to mingle with the Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Camilla! This is a great way in which all the Bioblitzes happening across the UK can be publicised and be given some national and international recognition.

Leading bid ID course 28th March

I'll be leading a Spring Bird ID course at Folly Farm in the Chew Valley on Sunday 28th March 2010 (with a particular focus on learning bird song).

1pm – 5pm
As the days lengthen and spring is on the horizon, birds are busily preparing for the breeding season – this is an ideal time to get out and explore the stunning 250 acre nature reserve of Folly Farm and learn how to identify the variety of birds singing around the reserve from song thrushes to wrens and chiffchaffs to chaffinches.
Join me in the journey of exploration around Folly Farm with practical and theory sessions.
Cost £35

Naturetrek on the Levels

Just back from leading an amazing tour for Naturetrek on the Somerset Levels. This tour around the Somerset Levels in late February was a brilliant opportunity to see the diversity and abundance of waterfowl using wetlands during the winter. Touring across the many reserves large numbers of Shovelers, Wigeon, Pintail, Teal, Mallards, Golden Plovers and Lapwings were a highlight. All the expected raptors revealed themselves over the reedbeds on the second day while Cetti’s Warblers sang explosively and Water Rails squealed from the reeds. Otter spraints and diet remains were easily found. The group weren’t disappointed by the million of starlings which are now famous for their huge gatherings as they come to roost in the reedbeds. The flocks came in on a beautiful sunny evening, swirling and twisting to avoid aerial predators. The last few hours of the tour really were an amazing spectacle!! Bitterns showed from time to time too over the two days and we heard some 'booming'. This photo is of an immature female peregrine as she flew overhead giving awesome views!

Meeting Price Edward

Monday was a true adventure with a colleague to Windsor Castle to receive an award from Prince Charles. I picked up the Sandford Award on behalf of the learning team at Bristol's City Museum & Art Gallery - a recognition our high quality heritage offer to schools. Prince Edward was very nice to meet and after the ceremony my colleague Rita and I got to have a little chat with him when he began mingling. It was very exciting and a true privilege. The castle itself was beautiful with some amazing artifacts from the bullet that killed Nelson, an Ingot crown to Napolean's cloak!! A very special day indeed.

A trip to the Exe

After Saturday's Somerset delights, it was a mid-morning Sunday start to the Exe Estuary to give the bird commentary on the RSPB's avocet cruise. I went with a birding friend Dave and popped in to Dawlish Warren first to try and track down a surf scoter from North America - this type of duck is rare in the UK. As we scanned out to sea there were lots of common scoters and after 15 minutes or so Dave found the surf scoter - it has a steep Roman-nosed beak and a tail that sticks out of the water! Dave also managed to seek out a red-throated diver and two black-throated divers!

The cruise went well (photos to follow!) and we had some warm, very pleasant winter sunshine. It was so relaxing - I got very sleepy mid-way through (fortunately not when I was doing the commentary!!). The birds showed well including four great northern divers (just metres away from the boat with one only a foot or two away), two slavonian grebes, brent geese, shags and lots of avocets, godwits and other wading birds. There was a kingfsher in Starcross and turnstones busily turning the seaweed - it looked alive from a distance!!

To finish off the day we popped back to Dawlish catching up with the scoters on a now calm sea and spotted a gannet on the horizon. Eight black-necked grebes were on the sea further down the coast while herring gulls chilled out nearby, hoping for someone's hot donut or other scrap!