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Scilly 2011: still there!
Gareth Richards had four days off in half-term and we decided to revisit Scilly. Flew on the Skybus from Land’s End aerodrome at 10.40 on Monday 24th, found a B&B in Hugh Town, dumped our bags and...
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The worst dip ever
I know this is a bold claim but I don’t think there has ever been a worse dip in the history of British twitching. On 3rd July 1987, I sat my last A-level exam and then with Hamish Mackay, Ian Hunt,...
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More on Albert Ross
In response to my story of dipping Albert, Simon Mustoe writes: “Albert was still there in 1994 when a team of UEA birders cashed in on a special deal for flights to Shetland (thanks to Dick Filby)....
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A day on Salisbury Plain
Dave Gibbs and I had three days’ fieldwork together recently in Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire. For two days we took a drenching and struggled to find any but the most ordinary invertebrates. And then...
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Salisbury Plain again: Broomrape, Toadflax and ground-huggers
Another fine day on Salisbury Plain on Thursday with Dave Gibbs. Added a few more scarce insects to our list from the first visit, including the red-tailed cuckoo-bee Bombus rupestris, and the weevil...
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Clicks, ricks, bumbles, damsels, beauties and lovers
I returned home on Sunday night from a four-day entomological expedition to The Mullet, County Mayo. Thanks to Dave Allen for including me in the team for this trip and thanks to The Heritage Council...
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Cloves and Billy Goats
If I tell you I sniffed two flowers on Monday evening, one that smelt of billy goats and one that smelt deliciously of cloves, where in Britain was I? These are the aromas of Lizard Orchid and Bedstraw...
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Sunshiners, Shortspurs and Starlets
One of my best jobs this year has been a four-day survey of Orford Ness for the National Trust under an EU LIFE programme. The main aim of the survey was to survey invertebrates in and around saline...
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Shetland 2012
I’m back from a 10-day trip to Shetland with Gareth Richards in search of rare birds. We knew when we planned this trip several months ago that we were taking a gamble on the weather. The prevailing...
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Micro-birding: 9 years working my patch
I almost never go birding any more but I can’t bear to let myself become a non-birder. So for the last 9 years I have been diligently working my local patch on an almost daily basis: my garden. It’s...
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