Is this amusing or upsetting - or both? Somehow it is impossible not to feel unsettled by this anthropomorphic stuffed fox carrying a fox-hunting bugle. It is up for sale at an auction to be conducted by auction house Tennants at their saleroom in Leyburn, North Yorkshire on Wednesday April 17. The guide price is £600-£800. Also in the sale are a range of stuffed birds, some Victorian and some contemporary. They include an unusual robin with white markings in its plumage. The pre-sale estimate is that the hammer price will come down at between £180 and £280.  ..read more

  Male and female house sparrow (photo: RSPB) JUST as last year, the House Sparrow is the bird most seen in British gardens - or it was in January this year. That was when the RSPB carried out its popular annual bird county across the nation. The Top Ten (with the number of individuals counted) are listed below:  1 House Sparrow (1,442,300) 2 Blue Tit  (1,094,401) 3 Starling (879,006) 4 Woodpigeon (835,408) 5 Blackbird (708,004) 6 Robin (539,820) 7 Great Tit (523,638) 8 Goldfinch (478,740) 9 Magpie (446,678) 10 Long-tailed Tit  (383,166) The charity says a total o ..read more

                                                              THE RSPB is the latest organisation intent on beefing up its approach to equality, anti-racism and diversity issues. It is offering a salary of up to the equivalent of £39,267 per annum  for a part-time 'Senior Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Specialist'. The charity says the role will be  "to support staff and volunteers by providing advice and guidance, and to de ..read more

  Let's learn to respect rats - so says Joe Shute in his new book  THE subject of the latest book by Sheffield-based birder-author Joe Shute is . . . the rat. To be published on Friday of this week, Stowaway provides a cultural and social history of Rattus norvegicus, examining how one creature achieved total world domination and has inspired such love and loathing. Rats are creatures which inspire fear and fascination in equal measure. Their lives are more closely entwined with humans than any other animal, but, according to Joe, they remain the most misunderstood of all ..read more

Good chance of seeing range of special Scottish species in the hills of the famous Royal estate                                                          BALMORAL Castle is definitely on to a winner with its two-hour nature safaris in the bird-rich grounds of the late Queen's favourite residence. The twice-a-day treks aboard a Land Rover  are sold out for the rest of this month and well into spring. Described as the Balmoral Expediti ..read more

  New Zealand species stars in annual report of British company IT is not often that photographs of wild birds feature in annual company reports, but perhaps Rentokil Initial have set a new trend. This New Zealand bird - a Tui - graces page 32 of the current report. It is one of the species that the New Zealand government is hoping to safeguard from the attention of introduced mammals such as stoats and rodents as part of its national Predator Free NZ campaign. Rentokil Initial, a UK-based company with operations worldwide, has recently acquired four New Zealand businesses whose ..read more

                                                        So near, yet so far. Lighthouse released this photograph last year to illustrate  how the £7.4-million project was progressing   CONFIRMATION has come that the firm tasked with building a new bird observatory on  Fair Isle has entered administration. Lighthouse/IDMH Ltd specialised in the  manufacture of modular buildings  from a factory in Sheffield. The units ..read more

Natural England fears that the Humber's wetland birds, such as these godwit, could be imperilled by proposed new 'green energy terminal'   NATURAL England has sounded a note of alarm on a proposed new construction project in the Humber Estuary. Ports giant ABP is keen to build and operate a 'liquid bulk green energy terminal' at Immingham. This would import ammonia - probably from Saudia Arabia - which would then be processed to create hydrogen energy for various industrial uses, notably as a fuel for shipping, buses and other heavy vehicles. But what particularl ..read more

Rich in wildlife, including migrant birds and butterflies - the site earmarked for the intensive salmon-breeding building  A POPULAR birding spot on the East Coast could be spared development - at least temporarily - after it was identified as being the home of a scarce butterfly. The former New Clee railways sidings on the edge of Cleethorpes in North East Lincolnshire is an extensive area of scrubland which has attracted such scarce species as red-backed shrike, bluethroat and black redstart as well as more common migrants. But even though designated a site of Local Wildli ..read more

  Illustration from The Warblers of North America (1917) by Frank Chapman One of the star birds of 2024 so far has undoubtedly been the Myrtle Warbler, a first winter male, that has been a long-staying resident in the garden of  Jimmy Crawford, a birder, in Kilwinning, Ayrshire. It is understood to be the first and only American warbler to have been recorded in Ayrshire. Jimmy has kindly been letting fellow-birders into his home to view the bird. In gratitude, some have contributed, via JustGiving, to North Ayrshire Cancer Care which has been treating his mother-in-law. Me ..read more