I had a message the other day from Maria Kitano, a young artist from Hamburg, Germany. Maria introduced herself and asked permission to use one of my brown hares for a reference for her drawings. And this is it! I never cease to be amazed at the skill of the…
Thanks again to all those who attended my wildlife talks, bought images from my website, or bought my 2019 ‘Ray’s British Wildlife Calendar’, this year I will be sending £718.75, including gift aid, to be divided between Christians Against Poverty (CAP) and WaterAid. A happy Christmas to everyone!
Bhopal is a city of over 3 million people and we are sitting in its airport which, I am reliably informed, has 8 flights a day. Indian bureaucracy being what it is, I doubt it could manage more without travellers queuing down to the city. Getting here from our last…
Monarch butterflies overwintering in Santa Cruz, California Just heard that my monarch butterfly image, published earlier in BBC Wildlife magazine, has found its way into the month of October in its 2019 calendar. Nice one…
A quick update on what’s going on in the garden at present. I’m afraid to say that Magnus (the magpie – see previous posts) has gone. Where to, I’m not sure. Since he was so keen on feeding here every day, I doubt that the news is good in that…
Yes, he’s still here and doing ok. In fact, I’m relatively pleased with his progress because now he’s back to flying short distances, he’s eating well and, as yet, has avoided the attentions of the daily sparrow hawk visit. Interestingly, he seems to have learned my voice. When I put…
You’ll be pleased (maybe) to know that Magnus is still alive and kicking, which is more than I can say for our baby greenfinch (but more of that later). Magnus is in the garden the whole of the time and he seems to have given up on the idea of…
Magpies aren’t my favourite birds. They usually turn up in huge flocks and act like thugs. I’ve seen them drag blackbird chicks from the nest which, of course, is natural predatory behaviour for so many animals, but the magpies’ loutish manner stands them apart, at least in my eyes, to…
We had a great time today on the RSPB gannet cruise off Bempton Cliffs, where we watched the seabirds from the surface of the sea rather than the clifftops and fed the gannets a helping of mackerel. Following the cruise, we had the statutory fish and chips (you have to…
You’re living on another planet if you haven’t heard about the worldwide efforts to reduce plastic waste and protect our wildlife but there’s still lots to be done. I’ve never been shy about raising issues with people and I would encourage others to do so, particularly to advance the cause…