First a confession. This blog is not just about birds. In mid-September Christine and I were given the opportunity to stay three nights on Looe Island, Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s Nature Reserve. The oldest building on the island, Smuggler’s Cottage, had been refurbished, and was

For most of my life birdwatching was largely focused on identification, and (hopefully) seeing new and rare species: it was about list-making – life lists, locality lists, annual lists etc, as I illustrated in my last blog (March 2022). In my teenage years I flirted briefly with bird

January 28th. Ping! An email message has dropped into my inbox from Claire Lewis, resident warden on Looe Island. She has seen the first Cormorant’s egg of the year! The seabird nesting season has begun! Cormorants are truly early birds and on Looe Island many start nesting in January

My grandson sometimes asks me what my favourite bird is. He says his is Goldfinch. For the last decade my favourite bird has been Oystercatcher. The old English name for this bird (and one used in Cornwall) is the ‘Sea-pie’ – a reminder of its black and white livery. Perhaps Sea-pie m