Posts

May in The Saints

May truly is a wonderful month for wildlife. Since my last email I've had a great response, with a number of you having sent in comments about wildlife seen in the area, including a great video of red deer in a field of wheat - complete with a beautiful skylark soundtrack. Others have commented on the increase in wildlife they've seen since the lock down. This is something we've all come across over the last few weeks although some have warned that it's not all good news  https://bit.ly/2WqEgR2 Swallows, screaming swifts & house martins, ducklings, muntjac, moorhens are all frequent sights around here (especially in St James which seems to have an unusually high concentration of ponds - is the same in surrounding villages?). And I've been thrilled to hear over the past week or so the purr of a turtle dove (or hopefully more than one as I heard them in 3 separate locations in St James). I've become a little obsessed with these birds since I first encountered

Notes & observations on nature at home, and further afield

We've only just started seeing swallows here in the Saints, safely back after their winter in Africa. The Thetford-based British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is urging people to leave a dish of wet mud in their gardens, as the recent lack of rain means there is little around for the birds to use in nest-building. You can find more tips for helping swallows and other garden birds here https://bit.ly/2SbSbZX Britain’s wildlife may be thriving during the current lockdown (including wildlflowers on our verges - see here https://bbc.in/2W0yFkr) but its long-term future is looking bleak, according to leading conservation organisations. Read more here https://bit.ly/2VErIq4. A recent article in Nature presents some optimistic news: the paper suggests that the wold's oceans could recover by 2050 if major pressures—including climate change—are mitigated. Read it here https://bit.ly/3eTxsDT Finally I'd love to hear any feedback, comments, interesting wildlife sightings in the Saints e