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

 

First sighting of Yellow-throated Warbler in UK is sure to reignite longstanding British List controversy

Yellow-throated Warbler as depicted by John James Audubon in his Birds of America (1841)

SHOULD American warblers and other New World passerines be included on the British List?

The ongoing controversy has bubbled up anew following the appearance in the Port of Liverpool last week of a Yellow-throated Warbler that was seen hopping from cargo ship to cargo ship, one of them a recent arrival from New Orleans.

It is all but certain that the bird, which is mostly a partial short-distance migrant, had reached our shores on ship. But for the whole journey or just part of it?

And would the warblers claim to acceptance on the British list, potentially making it the 637th, be enhanced if it flies away the port estate and is relocated elsewhere on the mainland.

In due course, the various issues will be considered, behind closed doors, by a rarities panel of  the British Ornithologists' Union.

The strikingly beautiful warbler was reportedly spotted last Thursday (August 13)  by dock workers James Conlan and Ashley Hawkins, with the former able to secure some video footage.

The duo contacted local birders who were able to nail the identification.

While it remains on the port estate, assuming it is still alive, the bird will be out of view of birders.

But if it subsequently reappears beyond the port gates and somewhere in the great British wilds, it will be open house for a mega-twitch that is sure to attract hundreds.

While the world waits, this is what John James Audubon had to say about the species in his Birds of America published in 1841: 

"This beautiful bird absents itself from the state of Louisiana only for two months in the year, December and January. 

"When they return in the beginning of February, they throw themselves by thousands into all the cypress woods and cane-brakes, where they are heard singing from the first of March until late in autumn, sometimes in November.

"In their habits, they move up and down, sidewise and spirally, along the trunks, branches and even twigs of the tallest and largest cypresses or such other trees as are found intermingled with them. 

"They are extremely active. Like the Brown Creeper, they suddenly leave the uppermost branches or higher parts of the trunks, and, diving downwards, alight on the roots and renew their search for  small insects and larvae. 

"I never saw any of them pursue insects on wing."

He continues: "The male and the female are nearly alike in plumage, but the young birds, which hunt for insects in company in the manner of creepers or titmice, do not acquire the yellow on the throat, nor the full brilliancy of their plumage, until their first spring.

"These birds confine themselves to the southern States, seldom moving farther. towards the Middle Districts than North Carolina. 

"They do not even ascend the Mississippi farther than the Walnut Hills. 

"They are abundant in the neighbourhood of the Red River, and probably do not go farther south than Mexico, during their short absence from the United States."

                                      

           Port of Liverpool's most unexpected arrival - a Yellow-throated Warbler                                               (photo: Peel Ports)   

Marmite man! Celebrity naturalist Chris Packham comes clean on 'worst' thing about his childhood

                                               

YOU can't keep broadcaster and campaigner Chris Packham out of the news.

The 65-year-old had half a broadsheet newspaper page devoted to his likes and dislikes in last Saturday's edition of The Daily Telegraph.  

Quizzed by journalist Rachel Corcoran, he comes up with nothing too unexpected or spicy, but he does reveal an apparent issue with  Brussels sprouts appearing on his childhood dinner plate.

"My parents tried to get me to eat things that were totally unpalatable," he recalls. "Sitting for hours looking at a plate of sprouts was awful.

"The sprouts symbolise what I don't like which was the lack of control - the fact that I was told what to wear, what to eat what to watch on TV."

He continues: "I do eat sprouts now.

"My partner bakes them with Marmite and they're tasty.

"My mother would cook them to a pulp." 

Mystery of the yellow bird on a branch - it's Chinese and yellow, but what is the species?

Exquisite - but unidentified

CAN anyone identify this bird which is subject of a delicate  painting that is shortly to be sold at auction in Hongkong?

It is the work of  Zhao Shao'ang (1905-1998) and is entitled Yellow Bird on Branch.

By contrast with western artists, their Chinese counterparts, though often fascinated by birdlife, seem unconcerned with species identification.

Christie's expect the  picture, which measures 96cm x 36cm,   to fetch up to 40,000 HK dollars(£3,765) when it goes under the hammer tomorrow, Tuesday August 18.

On the market - dream home for a birder overlooks North Norfolk's Cley coastal marshland

 A LANDMARK property long familiar to hundreds of birders over several generations has some on the market.

Agents Strutt & Parker have released photographs of  Grade II Listed Cley windmill for which the guide price is £2.65-million.

Dating back to about 1819 and trading as a guesthouse, restaurant and wedding venue, it is set within the North Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and offers fabulous views across a birding hotspot, Cley Marshes nature reserve.

Over the years, its own 0.6-acre garden must have provided a temporary refuge for thousands of migrant birds, many of them rarities.

It was once the home of the family of the singer, James Blunt, and hosted the fourth wedding of rock legend Rick Wakeman.

More information from Ian Parsons of Strutt & Parker at 7771 947009.