A Merlin with a capture (Falco columbarius) With no traditional pantomimes available to us right now I am pleased to report that, at least in the bird ...

I can report a happy little - or should I say huge - Christmas story this month from the birding world. Regular readers may recall the massive White-tailed ...

A Eurasian Wryneck (Jynx torquilla) in full flight A surprise early Christmas present came my way back on one of those still and lazy September days we ...

A Sparrowhawk eating a Collared Dove in a Surrey garden © Mark Davis Suddenly all peace in the garden is shattered. The ever-watchful Blue Tits switch ...

Bar-Tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica) All was eerily quiet on a clear still night in Cranleigh during lockdown. No cars, no planes, no distant loud ...

Mediterranean Gull (Larus melanocephalus) With the arrival of August it should be holiday time in a nice hot place like Spain or Greece. But the pandemic ...

Teal (Annas crecca) One bonus about birding is that you can do it almost anywhere so the Covid-19 lockdown produced an unexpected challenge. How many ...

White-tailed Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) I was out early for something rather special. A White-tailed Sea Eagle. In Buckinghamshire. Not the place ...

Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) Early May, a Surrey woodland floor blazing with bluebells, fresh lime-coloured leaves emerging from the beeches, and rafts of ...

Mandarin (Aix galericulata) I had a big surprise when I was checking to see if an old Tawny Owl nesting box had attracted any takers. It had never had ...

Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis) Heads up! The troops are on their way and will soon be passing by. Those in the advance guard this month often travel ...

Brown Babblers (Turdoides plebejus) Many of the birds we see in Cranleigh remind me of some of us – they sensibly get away from it all and take a warm ...