Birding at work

Now, obviously, working for Bird Watching magazine means that birding IS work a lot of the time, an extremely fortunate position to be in.

But we also try to keep an eye out for birds while we're in the office. OK, so the building is largely made up of windows that don't open, and lacks any working air-con, which means that it's a giant greenhouse for most of the year, but at least its position on the edge of Peterborough means that we get some decent birds.

Out the front, we're looking towards the East of England Showground and some industrial estates, so the main highlights tend to be distant gulls and raptors, although wagtails often turn up on the roof, and the front car-park has a Whitethroat, a Song Thrush, and a fair-sized finch flock in winter.

Out the back, we're looking at trees, but beyond them, out of sight, is the River Nene. Out this way, we've had the likes of Spotted Flycatcher and flypast Red Kites, plus displaying Sparrowhawks, Bullfinches and more.

We've also got a little pool next to the canteen. There are resident Coots and Moorhens, occasional ducks, Kingfishers, gulls and even Common Terns, and our regular Grey Heron, fondly known to us as Frank. He visits most days, to breakfast on the carp. Not sure that our colleagues at Practical Fishkeeping are overjoyed, but he's a pretty fearless sort.

But anyway, the picture of him above was taken by my colleague, Mike Weedon, and is just one of many you can find at his excellent blog, Weedon's World Of Nature. Enjoy...