May, 2011

I love this image by Mike Read, looking across a flooded field at Ynys-hir nature reserve - the soon-to-be star of Springwatch 2011!

He's definitely captured the moody side of the reserve, but to me that's what makes this image so striking and beautiful.

Check out some more moody images on RSPB Images.

It’s easy to forget that you don’t have to travel halfway around the world, to somewhere like the Serengeti, to see an amazing wildlife spectacle.

At this time of year, there is little to rival the raucous clamour of a breeding seabird colony - and the UK plays host to some of the world’s biggest and best.

For a few months each spring and summer these ‘seabird cities’ are home to an amazing array of different species including plunge-diving gannets, prehistoric-looking shags, and of course the unmistakable puffin.

Too close for comfort

Space is at an absolute premium in seabird colonies and thousands of birds cram into every available nesting site, giving you a great opportunity to witness the drama unfolding at close quarters.

You’re likely to see nests perched perilously close to sheer cliff edges, puffins peeking out from the rabbit burrows that they’ve commandeered to raise their brood, and high-speed action as gannets hurtle head-first into the waves to catch fish.

And with birds nesting within inches of each other, neighbourly disputes to rival those in soap operas are common!

Make a date

We’re running Date with Nature events at colonies across the UK, with staff on hand to explain the action, and many of our reserves are great places to experience the hustle and bustle of seabird cities.

So why not make a day of it and experience one of natures great spectacles for yourself?

The sights and sounds (not to mention the smells!) are truly breathtaking - there’s nothing quite like it!

Oh, and if you happen to be in London this weekend, I'd recommend popping along to Selfridges. 

Why on earth are you suggesting that, I hear you ask?! 

Well, Selfridges have recently launched Project Ocean, a high-profile campaign to highlight the beauty and fragility of our oceans. 

Their Oxford Street store has been decked-out with fantastic marine-themed displays and this Saturday 28 May we'll be running our very own event - so it would be great to see you there!

I couldn't help but raise a smile when I saw this photo of three young barn owls peeking out of a church quatrefoil.

The trio look like they're just itching to fly the nest and get out into the big wide world.

I wonder what adventures they're planning?!

You can see this image, by Richard Brooks, as well as lots of other quirky wildlife photos in our image library.

It's that baby bird time of year again... You might already have seen young blackbirds, robins, chaffinches and dunnocks taking their first journeys into the wide world outside the nest. Many great tits and blue tits have nested early this year, so their squeaking youngsters might already be out and about, too.

What about starlings? Seen any yet?

Everyone's familiar with adult starlings. They're black with glossy purple and green, sometimes with white spots (sometimes not). They probe their beaks (yellow in spring and summer; black in autumn and winter) into the ground for grubs. (Did you know their eyes are located so that they can see down the hole they make with their beaks?)

We get quite a lot of e-mails each spring which say something along the lines of: 'I've got these funny birds in the garden. They eat all the fat balls I put out for them and they're about the size of a starling. But I can't see them in my bird book. What are they?'

Can a starling change its spots?

Young starlings look quite different and can cause confusion when you see them for the first time... They're mousy-brown all over to start with and don't get their spots until later in the year, when their first set of 'adult' feathers grow through and the brown baby feathers drop out.

That's when you might see birds at an awkward inbetween stage, like this one on the right. 

Love 'em or hate 'em...?

Some people don't like starlings. Too noisy, too greedy, too boisterous, too many of them. Well, starlings make me happy!  

For me, there's nothing like watching a flock scrambling and squabbling for food. Or admiring the beautiful sheen on a starling's throat feathers. Or to see and hear a handsome male starling flapping his wings as he sings from a chimney pot. Or to marvel at the smooth moves of a murmuration as they swoop and sweep across a dusky sky.

Learn to love your starlings... Their numbers have dropped by 66 per cent since the '70s and they need our help.

You get a call from the window, 'come quick, we've got long-tailed tits on the feeder again'. You rush over as fast as you can, but it always seems too late - they've flown off without giving you as much as a glimpse of their tails!

If this sounds like your experience of 'watching' wildlife, then you'll like our signs of spring that definitely won't run, hop or fly away!

Flower power

Bees, lizards and monkeys sound like the last things I should be telling you to look out for. But these 'animals' are actually plants. Or, more specifically, orchids.

For a plant so colourful and exotic, orchids are surprisingly easy to see and many of the common ones live on our reserves.

Honeysuckle is a common hedgerow plant and is also often planted in gardens. You'll probaly smell it before seeing it, and while you're admiring its gorgeous pink and cream tubular flowers, you might even get lucky and see a hummingbird hawk moth pop by for a refreshing drink of nectar.

For more flowers, check out these reserves.

In full bloom

Blossom isn't just wonderful for insects (and the birds that feed on insects), but coming in shades of white, pink, yellow and green, it's also great to look at.

And what's even better about it, you don't need to go anywhere special to see it. Hawthorn has a lovely white bloom that lights up many hedgerows around the country. Crab apples have a lovely pink or white blossom and make good plants to grow in gardens, while horse chestnuts turn out to be a tree for all seasons - producing conkers in winter and beautiful white flower spikes in spring.

Not for the faint-hearted!

Beware - the following signs are for the less squeamish amongst you! 

As a bird that spends quite a lot of time 'yaffling' away in treetops, you'd think green woodpeckers would be easy to spot. But don't look up - look down as you're much more likely to spot their cigarette butt-like droppings than the actual bird!

Owls tend to eat their food whole, and produce pellets, which are the indigestible parts of their prey. Pellets are easy to find beneath favoured feeding and roosting sites, and can be found on many of our reserves. You can even have a go at dissecting them to see what's been on the menu.

Spotted small piles of black tarry poo with a strong smell and lots of fish bones and scales in it? You're very lucky if you have as this is an otter spraint. Usually found on boulders and around the bottom of trees, as well as places that mark territory boundaries, you can have a go spotting otter poo with us.

Pond life

Ok, so this is a little bit of a cheat as hopefully the things in the pond are moving! However, as ponds don't in themselves move, you're pretty much guaranteed to see something without it running away from you.

Watch out for dragonflies emerging, tadpoles swimming and marsh marigolds sitting pretty and yellow at the ponds' edge.

Leave a comment below to let us know your favourite signs of spring that don't run away!