Wildlife Circus

At the indoor meeting of Surbiton and District Birdwatching Society, members shared their best birding moments in written form or screen presentation. Thinking it was about time I did a bird post - having recently  covered everything from glow worms to fish, I asked Simon if he would mind being my guest-blogger, as his writing was so evocative, I was transported straight to the coast, almost watching the same birds.  I used to go to Langstone with my late uncle - we were both members of the Hampshire Ornithological Society- who were lucky to have Chris Packham as their President. Chris is doing a 'Walk for Wildlife' 22.9.18 look out for the publicity, I hope you will all go. I like Simon's writing because he delights in everything from geese to gulls, not just the rarer species; he has the same conversations with himself as we had, when trying to identify waders. If you like his account then read J.A Bakers account of the Peregrine; see what you think. 'Hig...

Conceived in 1854, Kingston Cemetery along Bonner Hill Road, Norbiton comprises 32 acres of parkland and was opened in 1855. Burials include Thomas Hansard recorder of Parliamentary debates, A.C. Ranyard editor of Truth magazine and Dr Joseph Moloney, an African explorer. The only bronze is the tomb of Dorothy Burton 1908 - a listed monument cast at her parents foundry in Thames Ditton. I love searching the council website for grave records For many years the cemetery was a special plot in the national Common Bird Census surveys convened by the British Trust for Ornithology. It was started by Duncan McNeil, and Surbiton and District Birdwatching Society, which I participated in during the 1980's and 90's; we have about twenty years of  good data for birds (and plants). If you put 'cemetery' into the search box at the top left corner several posts on the wax caps and roll rims; orange peel and honey fungus appear - but very little on it's trees  - and predicta...

During November, the speaker planned for the indoor meeting of the Surbiton and District Birdwatching Society (SDBWS) was ill and a replacement was sought. Luckily for me, that replacement was Mark Avery, the former director of conservation at the RSPB and campaigner against driven grouse moor shooting amongst other things. It was Mark who inspired me to start keeping a blog from November, 2011 as I was a regular reader (and sometimes contributor to his). He also wrote 'Blogging for Nature' which was a guide written in 2011 with tips as to how to keep your readers interested. His talk to the SDBWS was based on his campaigns, one of which included our stupidity in losing the once super-numerous passenger pigeon and lessons for the future as our farmland birds disappear. It is his campaign on driven grouse moor shooting that is commented upon here as grouse moor 'management' has been picked up by George Monbiot, as part of the reason for the terrible floods in the no...