- Paul Evans
- 24 Apr 07, 05:11 PM
The highlights of this blog will be broadcast on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4 at 9pm Monday 28th May and at 11am Tuesday 29th May, so tell us about the spring things happening near you - post a comment below.
You can also e-mail us your spring photos to add to our Flickr site: nhuradio@bbc.co.uk
It’s St George’s Day, and as if to celebrate some essential Englishness, it’s raining. And about time too. In a spring which has sustained itself through weeks of hot dry weather on nothing more than dew and exuberance, this coy and gentle rain is a relief.
Continue reading "Nature Spring Diary 23 April 07"
- Paul Evans
- 11 Apr 07, 01:38 PM
Photo taken by Stephen Moody in the New Forest last weekend.
The highlights of this blog will be broadcast on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4 at 9pm Monday 28th May and at 11am Tuesday 29th May, so tell us about the spring things happening near you.
The glorious weather spills over from Easter and the presence of Spring is captured by these wonderful observations in response to my last blog. Although there are no reports of cuckoos yet, many of you have heard that other onomatopoeic two-note wonder, the chiff-chaff. Julie heard the earliest one here on the 2nd April in Rotherham.
According to my friend, colleague on the Nature team and uber-naturalist, Brett Westwood, chiff-chaffs migrate to Britain from the Mediterranean but many over-winter in sewage farms in south west England then spread out through the country when the weather warms up to establish breeding territory and sing. So you can’t tell where the chiff-chaff you hear comes from.
Continue reading "Nature Spring Diary 11th April 2007"
- Paul Evans
- 1 Apr 07, 11:56 AM
What has made this spring special? What have you seen and when have you seen it? What does Spring mean to you? Join in the springtime conversation.
The highlights of this diary will be broadcast on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4 on Monday, May 28 at 9 p.m. (repeated May 29, 11 a.m.) in the first of three special Springwatch editions of 'Nature'.
You can also e-mail us your spring photos to add to this page: nhuradio@bbc.co.uk
1 April 2007
It’s April Fool’s Day and I’m on a fool’s errand, listening for the cuckoo. I know it’s too early, I know the cuckoo is not due until later this month but I’m worried that it’s due at all. Newspaper articles say the cuckoo is declining rapidly. Its ‘host’ species - birds like dunnock, meadow pipit and reed warbler - whose nests the cuckoo commandeers for its own great lummox of an offspring - have declined like many farmland birds. Wet winters are killing off the big fat hairy caterpillars and the moths the cuckoo feeds on. And goodness know what is happening in its wintering grounds in central Africa.
Continue reading "Nature Spring Diary - 1st April 2007"
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