Image: Jim Stevenson Robins in Fact and Fiction I suspect that most people in the UK know what an adult Robin looks like, but from my experience most do not understand that young Robins do not have red breasts. The situation is not helped as Christmas cards will often depict a family of Robins with… Read More
Finding Out About… Mute Swans
Friends volunteer, popular guide and bird expert Trevor Gunton introduces his next in a series of informative articles. Image by Peter Hagger Local birdwatchers do not seem to take much interest in our mainly resident swans, almost as if they are not real wild birds. They are ever present on most pits throughout the year,… Read More
Finding Out About… Red Kites
Image: Michael Brace, CC BY 2.0 A Red Kite wheels over our back garden. So, what is unusual about that I hear you say? Let me tell you a story, which I will call “The Kite’s Tale”. During the Middle Ages the Red Kite was valued in the City of London, as it fed on human… Read More
Finding Out About… Great Crested Grebes
A Brief Social and Cultural History I first knew of this spectacular bird from my long past birdwatching days in Yorkshire where it was, all those years ago, mainly a summer visitor, leaving us at the onset of colder weather in late autumn. Many of these northern breeders may end up at places like Grafham… Read More
Finding Out About… Cormorants
Friends volunteer, popular guide and bird expert Trevor Gunton introduces the first in a series of informative articles written during lockdown and shared originally with our volunteers. Image: Sunny, CC BY 2.0 There be Pelicans breeding at Paxton Pits! Yes, its true, Cormorants are members of the Pelican family, Latin name Phalacrocorax. Two sub-species breed… Read More