First bird of my day: a blackbird fledgling (from the mighty 5th brood!) amongst the apples on a crisp sunny morning. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
Bird campaigner. Nature author of #Fledgling about how I rescued raised & released 2 wild birds: one made nests in my hair for 84 days AND Nature Needs You -The Fight To Save Our Swifts about my swift brick campaign to save birds reliant on our 🏡 to breed🪶
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First bird of my day: a blackbird fledgling (from the mighty 5th brood!) amongst the apples on a crisp sunny morning. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a tinkle of goldfinches flying over the sunlit road as the traffic rushes into September. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a line of starlings, equally spaced on a rooftop, under a perfect blue sky. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a line of starlings, equally spaced on a rooftop, under a perfect blue sky. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
In the pouring rain I found a wasp on the road with a raindrop between its wings. I offered it my finger. It climbed onto me & I put it in a dry, sheltered place in a wall. First it shook, then it dried itself, then it flew away, hopefully home. Have you done something like this?
First bird of my day: the very loud sparrow gang strategising about how to navigate the night’s rain perhaps. Currently I can ink see bits of them, scampering in and out of the bushes. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: the very loud sparrow gang strategising about how to navigate the night’s rain perhaps. Currently I can ink see bits of them, scampering in and out of the bushes. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a wood pigeon sat on a chimney pot in the pouring rain. I look around and see that every chimney pot in a row as a pigeon on it. Feathered centuries. I like them. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: I don’t think it counts that I dreamt about a blackbird fledgling but when I opened the door, there one was. In my dream he was in my big pocket. This one is fine in the garden now there’s some rain. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a fledging blackbird scampering into the bushes on another dry, warm morning. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a flock of sparrows coming out from under a parked car in a flutter of chirps. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
Oooo and aaaahhh and gasp at this beautiful hummingbird hawk moth. Did you know they migrate from Europe and North Africa ? Very excited to be next to one today.
First bird of my day: a buzzard soaring out of oak woodland on a fell side, not far from the heron’s beck, above a lush green meadow in the wettest place in England. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
Oooo and aaaahhh and gasp at this beautiful hummingbird hawk moth. Did you know they migrate from Europe and North Africa ? Very excited to be next to one today.
First bird of my day: a heron flying out of a beck and up the fell side. What magnificent views this one lives with. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a sparrow diving into a bush, before chirping to her family. She looked so small compared to the beans and the gladioli. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a crow flying just above my head at first light within low, grey cloud. Another morning begins. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a crow flying just above my head at first light within low, grey cloud. Another morning begins. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
Cooool!!!
First bird of my day: a magpie walking around on the window sill. I can see the green sheen to its feathers vividly. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a scattering of sky scampering house martins, swirling through a grey windy morning. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: two long tailed tits chasing each other through a hawthorn that was laden with red berries. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a heron who I’ve been seeing a lot over the past few days, gliding like a terradactyl reminding me of my place. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a dozen house martins chittering in a blue sky. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a wood pigeon flying into a copper beech tree and landing like an Olympic gymnast. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a crow sitting at the top of a tree surrounded by the friendly twittering of house martins. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: swallows flying in their painterly way, injecting energy into a quiet, overcast morning. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: the pair of garden robins. Their coats are worse for wear but both sets of eyes are beady and bright as they stare at me, cocked head, tails up, expectant. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a blackbird clucking like a hen in the apple tree. Can only see its tail. Quite amusing. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a wood pigeon who I can see preening as I open the curtains. Made me smile already. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: ‘my’ Dunnock in the otherwise empty, silent garden of August. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: the village jackdaws rounding each other up over the rooftops and flying out to the fields, chuck-chucking as they went in the grey dawn. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
There’s no place I’d rather be. Especially since this crop has been cultivated for farmland birds. #birds #sunflowers #nature #swoon #sunset #farmland #farming #farmlandbirds
First bird of my day: ‘my’ Dunnock, alone again in the quiet garden starting a day that hasn’t decided what weather to wear. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a small flock of linnet, calling to each other sounding like a gate with rusty hinges, moving from a tree to a shrub on the ground edge of a flaxen field. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a sparrow shooting across the road above a lorry, its body impossibly small and nimble against our human world. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a preening jackdaw tucked into the rim of a chimney pot under an envelope of grey cloud. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a scampering fledgling blackbird under a dull grey sky and a tree laden with apples I can’t reach. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: as the sun rose turning the sky pink and giving the red apples out of reach an enticing sheen, one of the fledgling blackbirds appeared, spying on me within the fig tree. A beautiful dawn scene. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: I was just minding my own business walking a regular route and I heard a Redstart right next to me. After a lot of peering I spied a bit of red before it flew off. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a red kite from the window, soaring in the patch of sunny sky. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a wet jackdaw, happy just sitting on the roof after a night of rain. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: ‘my’ Dunnock who I haven’t seen for ages, slipping under the vine and in to its old position, cocking its head as I opened the door. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: in the thick cloud I see no birds. My eyes scan the apple tree: nothing. I walk to the next window: nothing. Finally one of the fledglings from the 5th blackbird brood, tumbling on its legs on the lowest fig branches. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
A few nights ago I saw sixty swirling screaming spiralling swifts, right above me. #NatureNeedsYou I about trying to save our icons of summer. blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...
First bird of my day: a rush of wrens- must be a family- scampering between the ivy ground of the beech wood, under the cathedral canopy of green. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: jackdaws speaking to each other in their chucking sounds as they fly over the village, probably to the newly harvested fields. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
Boom. This portrait in #CotswoldLife doesn’t hold anything back. If you want to know why I did it, read the article, out now and my book, #NatureNeedsYou
Great surprise to see SAVE OUR SWIFTS on the cover of #CotswoldLife in the local shop just now. This interview was one of my favourites ….
First bird of my day: the peeping heads and bright eyes of sparrow babes, looking out of the swift brick on to a blue sky day. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a wren, flitting between ferns lit up in the sunlight. A piece of exquisite beauty within our world that may not have been seen by anyone else. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a Dunnock slipping between the leaves of field maples, down by a brook, within a world of shadows. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: possibly the same wood pigeon in the same place. Everything is the same except the sky. Stratus clouds hang low with pink tinted streaks of blue sky behind. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: Daddy blackbird looking like he needs a holiday, in the silent July garden, surrounded by drenched cornflowers and marigolds and cosmos. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: Daddy blackbird looking like he needs a holiday, in the silent July garden, surrounded by drenched cornflowers and marigolds and cosmos. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a screaming party of 20 swifts, flying high over the meadows in a sky so blue it looks flat and solid like a backdrop. I *wish* I could join them. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: almost the same as yesterday - a wood pigeon on the chimney opposite underneath a dull, grey, beautifully wet sky. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: wood pigeons on the roof opposite, sitting in the rain. Petrichor is filling the air. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
I can hear my favourite sound (swifts, obvs). What’s your favourite sound ?
First bird of my day: the sound of swifts, like a chime of bells, ringing in my sleeping ears, pulling me awake. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a wood pigeon sitting on a chimney, blending in to a very grey sky but I know that dull sky is hiding the most epic ones who may just scream past any minute. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
Yes - that is mentioned in the article :)
I wrote about *not swifts* in Country Life. (Still birds though!). Pick up the latest copy now and find out more about farmers helping farmland birds.
First bird of my day: the village rooks swirling above the little shop in the vast blue sky. They’ll be on their way to the harvested fields. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
Help our irreplaceable swifts: book an in-person surgery appointment with your MP to persuade them to support the swift brick amendment & email me at thefeatherspeech@gmail.com so I can brief you. We can save them but only if we all work as a team.
First bird of my day: in the July moult only the gentle cooing of wood pigeons and the odd squeak from the 5th blackbird brood make up the garden sounds. And above, I spy a swirl of jackdaws. My eyes will remain staring until I see swifts. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: the village swifts again. I’ve made the mistake of getting used to their screaming parties that pull me awake with joy and awe as they rush over the rush of the morning traffic. Soon they’ll be gone. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: the village swifts again. I’ve made the mistake of getting used to their screaming parties that pull me awake with joy and awe as they rush over the rush of the morning traffic. Soon they’ll be gone. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: one of the garden robins looking worse for west mid moult. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: one of the garden robins looking worse for west mid moult. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a pair of wood pigeons gently preening each other while balancing on the wire in the warm morning light. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
If you find a grounded swift, it needs expert & urgent help. Please contact me so I can link to rehabber. These birds can’t easily take off from the ground & in hot weather, chicks who 👀 like this aren’t quite able to fly & often are pushed or jump out of their nests.
First bird of my day: my favourite bird on earth again, just there, flying past my house without realising there’s one human down here standing and looking in awe. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
Hot July day. Blue sky. Hear that sound? See that WHOOOSH of black feathered spitfires? If you’re lucky enough to share your urban setting with swifts, you bet they’ll be doing their red arrow displays, known as a ‘screaming party’. Boy do I wish I could join them.
Hot July day. Blue sky. Hear that sound? See that WHOOOSH of black feathered spitfires? If you’re lucky enough to share your urban setting with swifts, you bet they’ll be doing their red arrow displays, known as a ‘screaming party’. Boy do I wish I could join them.
First bird of my day: a swift, flying high in the blue, spied through the conservatory window, followed by joyous screams. Breakfast screaming parties. What could be better? #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: fledgling wood pigeon checking out the garden shyly. No one is about so much now- the others are hiding during the big moult but swifts are screaming overhead. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: a blue tit as blue as the sky, flashing through my view. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: starlings in WHOOOSH over the rush of traffic. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: ‘my’ Dunnock in its first moult, suddenly appearing under the vine for a drink. The garden birds have gone into hiding as their feathers change. O-so-quiet. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: wood pigeons cooing gently in the apple tree altering me to the growing apples and the hint of a season to come. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: swifts! Again! I look up and I can see twenty two! Twenty two! Now they’re screaming. By lunchtime I’ll have neck ache. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
A sparrowhawk just flew into my kitchen. And also, this happened. #WainwrightPrize #StoriesThatConnect #NatureNeedsYou #Conservation @eandtbooks.bsky.social @wainwrightprize.bsky.social
First bird of my day: hat trick for the swifts! A breakfast screaming party. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: …. Swifts from bed. Is there anything more amazing than seeing and hearing swifts from bed? No. No there is not. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: woke up to the sound of swifts at dawn. Very rare to be coaxed awake by screaming swifts in England- the best alarm clock ever. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
Male hedgehog territory is 5km & he had to cross the road to get to the nearest water source in what has been a horribly dry, and now, hot summer. Shallow water dishes, hedgehog holes in fences & taking care when driving help save lives. I have moved him to a more peaceful spot.
First bird of my day: swifts from the conservatory window, flying with their morning gracefulness, through the oblongs of blue. (It’s #SwiftAwarenessWeek - lots of events around the country) #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: sparrows, but not the ones I normally hear. These ones are chirping over their home of oxeye daisy and rose and honeysuckle paradise, next to a pink cottage tucked away in heaven. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
GORGEOUS
First bird of my day: a pair of jackdaws sitting together on the roof, just chilling in the sunshine. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: the sparrow gang chirping at full chirp on a grey, soft, dull, morning after a night of gentle rain. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
Resurgence and Ecologist Magazine have just published this lovely article written by Kate Blincoe. To read Nature Needs You - The Fight To Save Our Swifts order here: blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...
I may have found myself talking to the village swifts who screamed back as they spiralled up and up, preparing to tuck themselves up in the sky, or right next to us in the walls we share with these epic epic birds.
Resurgence and Ecologist Magazine have just published this lovely article written by Kate Blincoe. To read Nature Needs You - The Fight To Save Our Swifts order here: blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...
First bird of my day: the sparrow gang chirping at full chirp on a grey, soft, dull, morning after a night of gentle rain. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: skylarks galore, singing within a cloudy sky. #FirstBirdsOfMyDay #WhatsYours
First bird of my day: starlings flying in boisterous, sequinned, formation. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
This morning, wearing cream linen trousers, I took off my high heels to climb on top of a dirty, wet, Biffa bin with a squab pigeon to put the babe back in its nest. Phew.
First bird of my day: swifts, dedicated to @EnviroconJo & the Newcastle swift group who have gathered to save swifts in Durham from soffit insulation after the police failed to do their job properly. My village swifts are wheeling in support. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours