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I loved watching the penguins on BBC One last week, and the inventive use of penguin-shaped cameras to get close-up as never before. (Who can resist penguins?) In the same week, it was shocking to read more details about the pollution incident on our own south coast and the seabirds which were...

Over the past week, two news stories stuck out for me. In Argyll a couple came to the aid of a baby otter , flooded out of its home by the rain, and effectively saved its life. In contrast to this lone vulnerable baby, a pod of mighty killer whales were the concern of Canadian residents as they...

We all know that birds don't have teeth but those spiky things in this shoveler 's bill are called lamellae . Shovelers feed by swimming along with their bills (and sometimes their heads) submerged and the lamellae are for filtering small creatures out of the water - a bit like some whales do...

Cold. That’s what those in the know are forecasting this weekend. But don’t despair. The cold weather could bring more birds to your garden – woo hoo! So this weekend, why don’t you make sure that your feeders are cleaned out, topped up and ready to rock? What, when and...

Siobhan Drane, Community and Partnerships Manager for Bupa Care Homes, tells us all about working with the RSPB, Wildlife Week and saving the sparrow. Bupa Care Homes is one of the UK's largest care home providers with over 300 homes. In 2010, we formed a partnership with the RSPB to turn 11...

... not by knitting them little woolly hats and scarves, but by giving them some food and water. The weather forecast is looking chilly for the weekend for much of the UK (as I write this it's minus 4 Celsius in sunny Sandy - pretty tough for us soft southerners). So it's even more important...

With Big Garden Birdwatch coming soon, who wouldn't be delighted to have these visitors to their feeders? If you're not familiar with them, they are tree sparrows . Numbers of these pretty birds plummeted by 95 per cent between 1970 and 1999, so we're working hard to give them a helping...

The countdown to the Big Garden Birdwatch is on! It’s now just three weeks until it’s time to sit down, perhaps in your favourite chair, and look out your window for just one hour, counting the birds in your garden. So, how can you make the most of your Birdwatch? Just how are you going...

Christmas is the season of goodwill, so this weekend why not treat your garden birds to an early Christmas present? Decorating a tree in your garden with edible ornaments is a great way to help birds to fatten up and survive the cold winter weather, and will create a lovely festive focal point for...

I love cooking - especially baking cakes. But while I think a lot about making food for myself, I'm ashamed to say that I don't often think about making something for the birds that visit my garden. But as I recently discovered, it's easy to make your birds a tasty treat. And as winter...

Don't forget Christmas stockings for your garden birds... these recycled bird feeders make a great holiday activity for the children: http://www.rspb.org.uk/youth/makeanddo/activities/birdfeeder.asp?step=0 And, as ever, don't forget to share your photos once your feeders are up!

Are you ready for Big Garden Birdwatch 2010? You can do your hour-long count this Saturday or Sunday (30-31 January), so there's not long to go now! While it's important to remember that the Birdwatch isn't a competition - indeed, even if you see nothing we still want to hear about it...

The past few weeks have been tough. The weather's made our lives difficult, but it's been even tougher for our birds and wildlife. So it's a good job that we can do our bit to help. I've been trudging up my snowy garden to feed the birds every morning - before feeding myself, of course...

Last month, Katie told us all about fat and why it is good for birds , so I thought I'd have a go at making some speedy bird cakes, and see how they go down with my garden visitors. Using the recipe tucked away in our youth pages, it didn't take me long to make the cake and get it hanging...

We humans are constantly bombarded with messages that Fat Is Bad. It's less lard, more olive oil these days. And rightly so, much of the time. Now that many of us live rather sedentary lives, sitting around in heated offices and houses, fat isn't as important for us as it once was. For birds...

Hi! How did you get on with Big Garden Birdwatch ? Hope you had time to sit down for an hour, grab a cuppa, a bacon butty, a few biscuits or maybe a slice of cake, depending on the time of day... Here are my results: Chaffinch , 8 Jackdaw , 5 Blackbird , 3 Dunnock , 3 Great tit , 3 Starling , 3 Blue...

It’s a big weekend this one. Whilst I may be heading to London on Saturday, hoping for some magic in the cup, you might be looking out of your window, hoping for some magic on your bird table. It’s F.A. Cup fourth round weekend, but I’m sure there is something even bigger going on this...

As you may have read, this year sees the 30th Big Garden Birdwatch . To mark this special anniversary, I'm already putting together a cunning plan for my best Birdwatch ever... Strictly speaking, you don't need to do any special preparation for Big Garden Birdwatch. It's fine not to put out...

This week, you've got to keep your eyes and ears open. Be alert at all times, wherever you are - especially if you're out shopping. Waxwings are here! Whatwings? Waxwings . They breed in Scandinavia, snapping up mosquitos in the northern forests, but in winter it's berries they crave ...

So our brief summer has been and gone (yes, sorry guys, that was it) and it's edging ever closer to that dreaded page in your diary that says 'British Summer Time Ends'. Great! But it's not all doom and gloo m... Autumn is without a doubt my favourite time of year. Along with the change...

As I look out of the office window, there's a constant stream of birds, especially coal tits , visiting the webcam bird feeder here at The Lodge . Where have they come from and what are they doing? It's been noticeable for the past two weeks. Are the birds migrants, newly-arrived here and...

In the past few weeks, as summer has finally got into its stride, I've had reason to visit various beer gardens. After a 'hard' day in the office, what's nicer than a beer garden with a glass of your favourite beverage and some good company? It just happens that beer gardens can be great...

Over the weekend, I was one of the hundreds of thousands of people in the UK who sat down for an hour, grabbed a cup of tea and a biscuit, and watched the birds in my garden . Were you? My bird-feeding strategy paid off reasonably well. Here's what I saw on Saturday morning: Greenfinches : 12 at...

Today, I've been doing some preparation for Big Garden Birdwatch , which takes place this weekend, 26-27 January. My masterplan involves the strategic deployment of an arsenal of bird foodstuffs. I bought some tasty fat cake which I'm hoping will pull in a great spotted woodpecker , but I'll...

Regular Notes on Nature readers will probably be building up quite a good picture of the birds we see from our window here, with the webcam feeder stationed outside. Great spotted woodpeckers , magpies and grey wagtails have all featured recently, however today it’s more a case of what we didn’t...