Early identification guide - in three volumes - expected to fetch up to £800 at auction next month

                                  

This study  of an Avocet - in slightly exaggerated pose - is one of the illustrations included in a very early identification guide: George Graves's three-volume British Ornithology: Being The History with a Coloured Representation of Every Known Species of British Birds. At that time, the tally  was a modest 144.  The three books are expected to fetch between £500 and £800 when they go under the hammer as a single Lot  at the Dominic Winter auction at Cirencester in Gloucestershire on September 2.

What did for Britain’s first Long-tailed Shrike - was it a hungry cat or was it the cold and exhaustion?

                                         

Long-tailed Shrike - this bird photographed in Sumatra, Indonesia (image: JJ Harrison via Wikimedia)

THIS summer’s  sightings of Long-tailed Shrike - firstly at  Crail in Fife, then at  Eastleach Martin, near Gloucestershire - have sparked recollections of the first British record of the species.

This was the bird that showed briefly on South Uist in the Outer Hebrides in late-October and early-November 2000.

It was  first spotted as "a bird with a long tail" on October 27 by a police sergeant, Jon Brain, who alerted a more experienced birder, Andrew Stevenson, who caught up with it as it was perched on a fence outside the local Ben Mhor stores in Benbecula.

His tentative identification was confirmed by experts from the RSPB and the Scottish Wildlife Trust who put out the word to the outside world.

Cue:  a speedy  influx of 200+ twitchers, some arriving on by private flight (at least seven flights were chartered) and some by fishing boat or by the regular Caledonian  MacBrayne ferry from Uig to Loch Addy.

Once it had been discovered, there was disappointment that the bird mostly skulked out of view within a willow bush, providing few clear views.

But this slight sense of deflation was nothing compared to the mission-unaccomplished desolation of one group who had to turn back to Uig after their boat encountered engine trouble en route through the Little Minch.

Alas, beyond the Saturday of that weekend the Kazakhstan  visitant was no longer seen prompting speculation in the Aberdeen Press and Journal newspaper that what it dubbed "the long distance flier" had become an exotic dinner for a lucky island cat.

The more realistic appraisal from the man who found the bird, Sgt Brain, was that the bird was no more likely to have fallen victim to a feline than any other bird

His reckoning was that, on the basis of its "wet and bedraggled" appearance it had succumbed to the cold.

He was quoted in the November 9 edition of the Stornoway Gazette and West Coast Advertiser as saying it looked a "bit dischuffed".

But back to the recent arrivals. 

Given the high  August temperatures in much of Britain, cold weather is unlikely to have proved a challenge for them.

The Fife bird only stayed briefly, but its Gloucestershire bird has lingered. 

It is possible that the "two" are, in fact, the same bird, but the general view seems to be that they are separate.

                                 

Was vagrant  bird 'exotic dinner' for lucky cat? How the Aberdeen Press and Journal reported the shrike's visit 

Two-hour twitch: Coombe Hill Nature Reserve, near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

                                              

Date: August 9, 2026

Time: 9.30am - 11.30am

Weather: Sunny and very warm

Target species (which went unseen): Green Sandpiper

Star species seen: Red Kite

Other species recorded included: 

* Heron 

* Mallard

* Moorhen

* Buzzard

* Blackbird

* Chiffchaff

* Whitethroat

* Great Spotted Woodpecker

* Blue Tit 

* Long-tailed Tit

* Great Tit

* Greenfinch

* Jackdaw 

* Carrion Crow

* Woodpigeon

* Robin

* Swallow

* Housemartin

Also: Clouded Yellow butterfly, Grey Squirrel

Study in pink and black. High price expected for bird painting at forthcoming Aussie auction

This striking  oil-on-canvas study entitled  Shoalhaven Riverbank with Black Swan and Cockatoo is expected to fetch between 120,000 and 150,000 Australian dollars (£63,000 - £78,000) when it goes under the hammer next Monday August 24 at a sale to be held by Bonham's at their saleroom in Sydney. Measuring 153cm x 122cm, it was painted in 1988 by Arthur Boyd who died, aged 79, in 1999.

Apartment overlooking wader-rich Humber Estuary would be just right for birder (with a deep pocket)

 

This is the "Eagle's Nest" - an observatory feature of a three-bedroom luxury penthouse apartment with views across the wader-rich Humber Estuary to the lighthouse Spurn Point. The property in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire,  includes its own sauna. It would be great for the family of any birder with a special interest in shorebirds because these abound, particularly between August and March. Offers in excess of £440,000 are being sought by the agents, BMH (Bettles, Miles and Holland), for the leasehold which is understood to expire on January 1, 2126.  

                                                                

The penthouse is at the summit of  Eastshore on Cleethorpes seafront

                                                    

At times, there are so many flying Bar-tailed Godwit, Knot and Oystercatchers  that the view across to Spurn lighthouse is temporaily  almost obscured 

Who will be winners of 2026 Wainwright Prize awards for nature and conservation writing? The countdown begins

                                                   

Mya-Rose Craig - author of a childhood memoir, Birdgirl - is one of the judges  

                    

THE 2026 shortlist has today been announced for the Wainwright Prize -  the UK’s foremost nature and conservation writing awards.

The range of subjects is extensive from trees as living communities to the migration of whales to the complexity of fungi networks.

And, of course, there are plenty of ornithological titles including The Cuckoo's Lea by Michael Warren and The Return of The Oystercatcher by Scott Weidensaul.

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on Thursday  September 17, 2026, at the Elmley Nature Reserve in Kent, hosted by Wainwright Prize ambassador and The Times journalist and environmental writer Henry Bird.

In addition to the six individual category winners, two exceptional titles will be honoured as overall winners of t he Wainwright Prize - one for adult writing and one for children’s writing. 

These will be chosen from the respective category winners and will be celebrated as the 2026 Wainwright Prize Book of the Year and the 2026 Wainwright Children’s Prize Book of the Year. 

Both overall winners will receive £2,500, with the remaining category winners each awarded £500.

Nature Writing shortlist 

Ancient: Reviving the Woods That Made Britain, Luke Barley (Profile Books)

Ghosts of the Farm: Two Women’s Journeys Through Time, Land and Community, Nicola Chester (Chelsea Green Publishing)

Craftland, James Fox (The Bodley Head, Vintage)

Love Is A Toad, Lucy Lapwing (Blink)

The Genius of Trees, Harriet Rix (The Bodley Head, Vintage)

Stone Lands, Fiona Robertson, illustrated by Philip Harris (Little, Brown Book Group / Robinson)

The Cuckoo’s Lea, Michael J. Warren (Bloomsbury Publishing / Bloomsbury Wildlife)

Conservation Writing shortlist

The Savage Landscape, Cal Flyn (HarperCollins/William Collins)

Every Last Fish: What Fish Do for Us and What We Do to Them, Rose George (Granta)

Eat the Planet Well: How to Fix Our Toxic Food System - One Meal at a Time, Dave Goulson (Jonathan Cape, Vintage, PRH)

Neurodivergent, by Nature, Joe Harkness (Bloomsbury Publishing / Bloomsbury Wildlife)

Green Crime: Inside the Minds of the People Destroying the Planet, and How to Stop Them, Dr Julia Shaw (Canongate Books)

When the Forest Breathes, Suzanne Simard (Allen Lane, Penguin Press)

The Return of the Oystercatcher: Saving Birds to Save the Planet, Scott Weidensaul (Picador)

 

Illustrative Books shortlist  

Freshwater: The View from Above and the Life Below, Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Bill François, (Abrams Books)

Waterlands: The Coastal Areas of West Sussex and Hampshire Borders,  David Gilbey, illustrated by Molly Martin with original photography by Roo Lewis, (Buan Press)

Wild Folk: Tales from the Stones, Jackie Morris & Tamsin Abbott, (Chelsea Green Publishing)

The Book of Birds,  Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane, (Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Random House UK)

Funga Obscura: Photo Journeys Among Fungi, Alison Pouliot, (University of Chicago Press)

In Botanical Time: The Extraordinary Lifespans of the World’s Oldest Living Plants, Christopher Woods, (Chelsea Green Publishing)

 

Children’s Fiction shortlist

The Waters and the Wild, Eilish Fisher and David Rooney (Penguin Random House Children’s UK Puffin)

The Green Kingdom, Cornelia Funke and Tammi Hartung, illustrated by Melissa Castrillón (DK flip)

The Lone Husky, Hannah Gold and Levi Pinfold (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

Swanfall, Sophie Kirtley (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)

The Adventures of Portly the Otter: Untold Tales From the Wind in the Willows, M.G. Leonard, illustrated by and The Danger of Small Things, Caryl Lewis (Simon & Schuster Children’s Books)

Birdlands, Anthony McGowan and Keith Robinson (Rock the Boat, Oneworld Publications)

Tree Thing, Piers Torday and Matthew Taylor (Quercus Children's Books

Children’s Non-fiction shortlist

An Anthology of Remarkable Bugs, Jess French (DK Children’s)

Letters From Wonderland, Josie George, illustrated by Becky Thorns (Faber & Faber)

Otherlands: An Illustrated Journey Through Earth’s Lost Worlds, Thomas Halliday, illustrated by Gavin Scott (Penguin Random House Children’s UK Puffin)

Shapes of Nature, Ben Hoare (DK Children’s)

Choose Your Own Evolution, Jules Howard, and Gordy Wright (Nosy Crow)

A Wild Child’s Guide to Nature at Night, Dara McAnulty, illustrated by Barry Falls (Macmillan Children’s Books)

The Cave Explorer, Kate Winter (Penguin Random House Children’s UK Puffin)

 

Children’s Picture Books shortlist 

A River Running Through You, Amy-Jane Beer and Elin Manon (Magic Cat Publishing)

The Great Bear, Annie Booker (Two Hoots)

Whale Song, Nicola Davies and Britta Teckentrup (Walker Books)

The Sun Thief, Alice Hemming and Nicola Slater (Scholastic)

Firefly, Robert Macfarlane and Luke Adam Hawker (Magic Cat Publishing)

The Summer Puppy, Jackie Morris and Cathy Fisher (Otter-Barry Books)

Isla and the Sky, Greg Stobbs (Oxford University Press)

The Whale That Sings in The Deep, Yuval Zommer (Oxford University Press)

                                  

This excellent title was reviewed in the April 24 edition of The Wryneck. In it, the American author memorably states that staying on the Knepp estate in Sussex was 'like being dropped into an edition of TV's Downton Abbey'

 

Annual salary of up to £94,638 on offer as RSPB seeks new director for its activities in Scotland

                                            

AN annual salary of up to £94,638 - plus other benefits - is up for grabs at the RSPB.

The charity is recruiting for a new director of its operations in Scotland following the departure, after nine years in the post, of Anne McCall who takes up a senior position with the National Trust on August 24.

The job description for the Edinburgh-based RSPB vacancy states: "We are looking for an inspiring and strategic leader to take on the role of Scotland Director. 

"This is a unique opportunity to shape the future of nature recovery, influence policy at the highest levels and to lead a passionate, purpose-driven team delivering real impact across Scotland.

"As Scotland Director, you will play a central role in shaping RSPB’s overall direction while ensuring delivery of ambitious, evidence-based programmes that protect and restore nature.

"Working closely with the RSPB's Chief Operating Officer, James Robinson  (to which this role reports), and to the Management Board to shape RSPB’s vision and translate strategy into impactful action across Scotland, you will:

* Lead the development and delivery of aligned, prioritised programmes that achieve measurable outcomes for nature

* Provide strategic senior leadership within organisational governance structures and contribute to UK-wide strategy and decision-making

* Build and maintain influential relationships with government, partners, funders, and stakeholders

* Represent RSPB at national and on occasion international levels, including media work 

* Ensure effective systems are in place to manage risk, maintain compliance, and support strong organisational performance

* Provide strategic support for the development and delivery of major projects, including at present the Orkney Native Wildlife Project, the Cairngorms Connect partnership and the Peatland Programme.

"This is a permanent full-time role. While working flexibly, the successful candidate will be expected to be based in Scotland and there will be a significant element of travel required."

The closing date for applications is September 13 with interviews being conducted in person in Edinburgh on September 30 and  October 1.

                                         

Anne McCall - taking up new post with National Trust