Meanwhile, over at Out There With The Birds...

...my latest post has appeared - I'm rambling about Starlings and House Sparrows, their worrying decline, and our attitude to them. While you're there, have a good look at the site. There's all sorts of good stuff to be found - I particularly enjoyed Bill Wilson's recent post.

Chatting about chats

My latest post is now up at Out There With The Birds - it features a rather wonderful poem by Frances Corkey Thompson, from her HappenStance pamphlet The Long Acre, as well as some very nice Stonechat photos by my good friend Peter Jones.

Hawk boosting

My latest post is now up at Out There With The Birds - a few ruminations on Sparrowhawks, Kestrels, their hunting methods, and writing. Ted Hughes and Gerard Manley Hopkins get a mention too, of course, hence the appalling pun above. As ever, there's plenty else of interest to be found there, so stop and have a good rummage.

On Nuthatches

My latest post at Out There With The Birds concerns the Nuthatch, and Bernard O'Donoghue's poem of the same name. While I was out at the weekend, I saw good numbers of this species around my patch, presumably little family parties just getting ready to disperse for the winter. They were noisy but, as in the blog post, largely indifferent to my presence.

Edward Thomas at Out There With The Birds

I've got some musings about bird names, poetry and Edward Thomas up at Out There With The Birds - as always, take the time to have a browse of this really fine blog, and enjoy great writing on birds from around the globe.

Out There With The Birds

I've got a post up at Out There With the Birds, the blog of Bird Watcher's Digest in the USA, and there'll be more to follow (roughly once a month). There's also, as you'll see, a wealth of material from all over the world (always good to see Merritt Island getting a mention).

My posts are going to concentrate on the crossover between birdwatching and poetry, and although I've got a fair few ideas lined up, I'd be interested to hear of any unfairly overlooked bird poems that might be worth writing about.

In the meantime, go out and find a roding Woodcock, if you can - you won't regret it.