I’ve not long returned from a two week research trip to Senegal – I know but someone had to do it. Although it was a lot of fun, I was there to help my good friend and research buddy James Vafidis with field work for his PhD. We were part of a team of seven…
Since I last blogged about the BTO’s Winter Thrushes Survey, I’ve managed to get out a further three times. Thankfully the number of Winter Thrushes has increased! My latest survey was on boxing day. Full of leftover turkey, ham and trimmings I headed to the Cardiff Riding School. I’ve birded this site for many, many…
During a sunny day this summer I found myself on the coast of South Wales with colleagues checking on the status of a geological SSSI near Hayes point, Barry in South Wales. Now, interesting as geology is, I have a short attention span for things that don’t move. I soon found myself searching for snails in the…
Based at Cardiff University, the Project Splatter Team have given themselves the unenviable task of mapping the UK’s road kill. And there is plenty to map; 350,000 to 27 million birds are reduced to smears on the tarmac of Europe each year. Project Splatter is a citizen science research project. Using data reported using social media (Twitter @ProjectSplatter and…
A shriek from my housemate signals the presence of an eight legged creature several hundred times smaller than her. Sure enough in the kitchen, frozen like a statue is my housemate with a pained expression signalling the whereabouts of her tormentor – a house spider. A house spider scuttling along the skirting board is not just something to…
The BTO is looking for volunteers to help survey the UK’s wintering thrushes. Each winter the UK plays host to large numbers of thrushes as the resident species are bolstered by Continental birds including redwing and fieldfare. Through the Winter Thrushes Survey the BTO aims to find out more about the numbers and distribution of these visitors and the…
Rich Facey 