Whatever you do, don't mention the word 'liar'! Oh dear, veteran RSPB staffer Alasdair McKee just did

Magical place - Foulshaw Moss (photo: Ian Alexander-Waite, Cumbria Wildlife Trust)

THERE is a word for birders who claim they can distinguish by plumage between Meadow Pipits and Tree Pipits . . .

And, according to long-time RSPB staffer Alasdair McKee, that word is: "Liar!"

Considering the hot water the society got into two years ago when one of its executives used this abrasive term in social media to describe three frontline UK politicians, it came as a surprise to hear it used again.

But Alasdair, who was giving an illustrated talk to the March meeting of the RSPB's Grimsby group, is nothing if not an edgy presenter.

Over two hours, he  took his audience on a fast-paced  whistlestop tour of the extensive range of species to be found on Foulshaw Moss, a truly vibrant Cumbria Wildlife Trust reserve.

He started by exploring features of some of the bog plants, notably Sphagnum moss, and went on to cover the mammals, reptiles, amphibians, butterflies, moths and birds (including Stonechat, Tree Sparrow,  Reed Bunting, Redpoll and, yes, Tree Pipit).

                                                        

Which is it - Meadow Pipit or Tree Pipit?

                                                                   (Answer below)

Among the stars of the reserve are the raptors, sometimes as many a seven different species (including both Hen and Marsh Harrier) on a single day.

A particular attraction in spring and summer are the nesting Ospreys, especially the one known as "Blue 35" on account of its leg ring.

Since its arrival in 2013, this female has laid no fewer than 35 eggs from which 29 chicks have hatched and fledged.

Alasdair described a hare fleeing at 45 mph as "the sports car of the mammal world" and, more prosaically, likened a flying Hobby feeding on a dragonfly  to a workman " munching on a sandwich". 

He obviously has a soft spot for the Emperor dragonfly which he likened  to a hero of Hollywood westerns.

"When one of these turns up at a pond, everything goes quiet," quipped Alasdair. "Just like when Clint Eastwood steps into the bar!"

Staying in light-hearted mode, the speaker insisted that birders are part of the 'circle of life'.

"It is well known that Nightjars attract birders," he declared. "And birders, especially those with bald heads, attract mosquitoes - which, in turn, attract Nightjars."

Lively but not always politically correct - the irrepressible Alasdair McKee

                                                                   (photo via Facebook)

Alasdair, who had come with his wife from his home in Lancaster to give the talk, regularly carries out guiding duties at Foulshaw Moss, giving him the opportunity to share his enthusiasm and knowledge with many groups from the north-west of England.

From time to time, he finds himself fielding some singularly offbeat questions such as: "do you get other birds here as well as birds of prey?" and "as a volunteer, do you get paid?"

Shaking his head, Alasdair told his amused audience: "I think those questions came from a party from the Stockport Home for Bewildered Birders".

A bit naughty, that! But quite nice, too (unless you're a birder from Stockport).

Following his talk, the speaker was thanked by Grimsby Local Group leader Martin Francis and applauded by his audience which totalled about 50.

* Answer: it's a Meadow Pipit

Don't beat yourself up if you can't pick out the juvenile Caspian Gull among a flock of Herring Gulls!

                                                                

Colourful and controversial - Ian's Carter's new book

"IF identifying and recording is not your thing, then don't feel bad about."

That is one of the messages from Ian Carter, a former staffer at Natural England, in his exhilarating new book, Wild Galloway.

He explains: "I don't take the identification process too far.

"An autumn Wheatear is just that. 

"Unless it looks obviously different, I'm not going to work studiously through every feature just to make sure it is not one of the rarer species.

"The subtleties of size, shape and plumage that leads some birders to Caspian Gulls mostly elude me."

This is a refreshingly different perspective that would probably irk some birders - and possibly the whole of the BTO establishment which has a relentlessly scientific and, some would say, soulless approach.

"Too much counting, recording and form-filling eats away at the therapeutic benefit I get away from the house," continues Carter.

"The joy of being outside comes from escaping the myriad plans and  schemes that consume so much of our lives."

The book, subtitled From The Hilltops to The Solway, A Portrait of A Glen, is in large part an exquisitely-written account of the habitats and wildlife around his adoptive home in this part of South-west Scotland. (He is particularly good on sea ducks and butterflies.)

But, though often elegiac, the content is never soft, nor 'soppy'. Many of the author's reflections carry a sharp edge. Along the way, he does not shirk from treading on toes - not infrequently his own.

For instance, he acknowledges a sense of guilt in filling his car with fuel, then motoring off on a non-essential birding trip.

"We have all, it seems, become experts at making allowances for our own excesses while simultaneously objecting to those of others.

"There is so often, it seems a good reason why you are the exception and everyone else is the rule."

This challenging and highly readable book is  published in paperback at £17.99 by Caithness-based Whittles Publishing ( www.whittlespublishing.com ).

                                              

Ian Carter - happy times in Galloway

Was ever there a more classic case of virtue-signalling? BTO’s holier-than-thou snub for 2025 Global Birdfair

                                                                    

Peep show? This frightened Great Tit was trapped and ringed for display by BTO staff at a previous Global Birdfair

ONE of Britain's leading ornithological groups has announced its decision not to take stand space at this year's Global Birdfair on commercial and ethical grounds.

Because  it is a high-status organisation - it was founded in 1930 and enjoys Royal patronage -  the snub will dismay Global Birdfair organisers, especially as it might encourage other organisations to do likewise.

The British Trust for Ornithology, as it was formerly known, made its announcement on  social media on Friday evening.

The statement reads as follows: "BTO has taken the difficult decision to not return to Global Birdfair as an exhibitor this year. 

"While we recognise that Birdfair provides an important opportunity to meet members and volunteers face to face, our continued investment in other ways to engage with supporters is proving to be a much more effective use of resources.

"With its emphasis on high carbon wildlife tourism, today’s Birdfair has a different focus and feel from earlier years, and there has been a significant decline in the numbers of people attending. 

"Given the extent to which BTO work has highlighted the impacts of climate change on birds, and because of our commitment to working sustainably, we no longer feel it is appropriate to take a stand at the event.

"We do recognise the significant contribution the event has made to conservation over so many years and are very grateful for the opportunities that it has provided us over the years."

The Wryneck says: The  BTO is entitled not to attend Global Birdfair, but many of its members and supporters will surely be dismayed, not just by the decision but also by the pious and self-righteous way it has been proclaimed to the birding world. With this  statement, it has effectively  sought not just to shame organiser Tim Appleton and his small and hardworking Global Birdfair team but also all those seeking to participate in the event whether as sponsors, exhibitors or visitors. Which individual at BTO has ownership of this decision? How many of its staff and members were consulted? Someone needs to put her/his head above the parapet. And let it be acknowledged that, in its short life, the Birdfair event has probably done more for bird and wildlife conversation than the BTO has done in almost a century.

Well, there's a turn-up for the books - Government gives go-ahead for GCSE in natural history

                                                    

Catherine McKinnell - moving ahead

THE Government has today given the green light for a new GCSE subject - natural history. 

In a statement issued in the ' Commons, education minister Catherine McKinnell said: "This Government recognises the importance of providing all children and young people with the knowledge, skills and behaviours to understand and develop a connection to the natural world, access green careers and thrive in life and work in a world with a changing climate.

"We are, therefore, pleased to confirm that we will be moving ahead with a new GCSE in natural history. 

"This GCSE will enable more young people to benefit from the opportunity to learn about the natural world in more depth at key stage 4. 

"It will equip them to understand and respect the natural world and to contribute to the protection and conservation of the environment locally, nationally and internationally.

"The content of the new natural history GCSE will need to build on the curriculum content that pupils learn earlier in their schooling related to the natural world in subjects such as science, geography and citizenship. 

"We therefore plan to finalise and consult on proposed subject content for the new GCSE after the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review has concluded. 

"The Review Group is expecting to publish its final report with recommendations in autumn 2025."

The decision follows a long campaign by wildlife author Mary Colwell who has expressed delight at the announcement.

Up into the sky! Bird paintings take flight at Yorkshire-held auction of British, European and Sporting Art

                                                

Bullfinch - in demand

BIRD paintings were strong performers at a sale last Saturday of  British, European & Sporting Art.

For instance, a study of a male Bullfinch by the Scottish artist Edwin John Alexander (1870-1926) achieved a hammer price of £1,200 against a pre-sale estimate of £300 and £500.

Another strong performer was the painting by Lincolnshire artist George Edward Lodge (1860-1954) of a family of Red-legged Partridges originally commissioned for H.F. Witherby's Handbook of British Birds.

This fetched £1,800 - more than three times higher than the pre-sale guide price of £400-£600.

On the downside, a work, entitled Frozen Out, by Robert W Milliken (1920-2014) fared less well.

It is an intriguing study not least because it depicts two Redpolls perched alongside a quartet of Grey Partridges.

Milliken  was president of the Northern Ireland Ornithology Society and a member of the Northern Ireland Birds Record Committee. 

His painting was expected to fetch between £250 and £400, but, after lacklustre bidding, the hammer came down at £220.

The sale was conducted by auction house Tennants at their saleroom in Leyburn, North Yorkshire. 

High price for Red-legged Partridges

Redpolls hunkering down with Grey Partridges

A man with a mission! Conor Jameson explores life of enigmatic writer-naturalist W.H. Hudson

 

Conor Jameson - entertaining and informative

IN the second half of the Victorian age, many men (and some women) of wealth and enterprise ventured far beyond Britain's shores to explore little-known jungles and icecaps in faraway places.

But for one man, the bold step into the unknown took a different form.

Nature enthusiast W.H. Hudson had been brought up by his late parents in rural Argentina, so, for him, it was coming to England, the land of his forebears, that was the Big Adventure.

Aged 32 on the day he left The Pampas, he had never attended a day of school, but he was far from being an uneducated man.

Among his parents’ collection of books had been one that  particularly fascinated him - Gilbert White's Natural History of Selborne.

On arrival at Southampton aboard a steam packet from Buenos Aires, Hudson's top priority, therefore,  was to see and hear as many as possible of the birds so vividly described by White.

Over the next 45-plus years, Hudson's  own colourful descriptions of his wanderings throughout southern England, especially in Hampshire and Wiltshire, were to provide the bedrock of his career both as a writer-naturalist and as an effective campaigner for bird protection.

It is 103 years since this enigmatic figure died, aged 81, of heart failure but at the 2025 annual meeting of Lincolnshire Bird Club, he was brought to life in an absorbing illustrated talk by Norfolk-based Glaswegian Conor Jameson, formerly an RSPB staffer for 27 years but now a full-time speaker, writer and author of  Finding W.H. Hudson - The Man Who Came to Britain To Save The Birds.

Conor's  presentation was excellent - conversational, amusing and sometimes mischievous in his choice of illustrations, with a photograph of Clint Eastwood (as he appeared in the western, Pale Rider), making a couple of guest appearances!

Evidently, like the character played by Eastwood in the Hollywood movie, Hudson was a man with a mission.

He was determined to do whatever he could to halt the widespread practice pursued by 'collector naturalists', many of them eminent ornithologists, of shooting brightly-plumaged birds for the purpose of having them stuffed and displayed behind glass as drawing room 'trophies'.

During his talk, the speaker also touched on Hudson's somewhat unorthodox relationship with women. He was married to Emily Wingrave, an opera singer 15 years his senior, but seemed to spend much of his time with other women - in particular, the group who went on to found the organisation that was to become the RSPB.

He was not an activist and is never known to have addressed a public meeting. But his effectiveness derived from his stinging letters to The Times and other publications which tweaked the conscience of many of those who might otherwise have disregarded the callousness not just of taxidermy but also of the killing of birds so that their feathers could be used as adornments to the hats of 'fashionable' women. 

Inevitably, Hudson trod on the toes of many establishment figures (among them, the artist and writer John Gould) because he exposed the cruelty, snobbery and arrogance that characterised their activities which were all-too-often disguised as scientific research.

For much of his life, he and Emily lived in poverty, but, as his many books became increasingly popular, his circumstances became comfortable - particularly with the success of one of his novels, Green Mansions, which proved to be a runaway success in the US and was later made into a film, starring Audrey Hepburn and Anthony Perkins (of Psycho fame).

Following his engaging talk, Conor was thanked by LBC chairman Phil Espin and warmly applauded by his audience which numbered about 50. 

* Finding W.H. Hudson is published in paperback at £17.99 by Pelagic Publishing: pelagicpublishing.com/

                                                    

Page-turner - Conor James' absorbing biography of a remarkable individual

               

Prepared to be very afraid, Sir Keir! RSPB chief executive Beccy Speight is gunning for you

                                       

Beccy Speight lays down weekend challenge to Prime Minister 

The Prime Minister must be quaking in his boots . . .

RSPB chief executive Beccy Speight is on the warpath and she has him in her sights.

Over the weekend, she sent this open message via social media to the PM over his apparently unsympathetic attitude to nature and wildlife:

"Time and time again, we are hearing about places the Prime Minister is happy to concrete over, yet silence on places for nature that must be protected from development.

"Our ancient woods, our heaths, our very best refuges for wildlife - it is these places that underpin our economy, our health and wellbeing and will help us hold back and adapt to climate change.

"The RSPB and many millions of people across this country care deeply about our natural world and the important sites we have left for nature.

"But does Sir Keir?"