The Bluegown Blog
Welcome to my blog - everything from porn to birdwatching, via books, comics, movies, planes & trains! All messily stacked under one roof for your reading pleasure...
By alicebg, Dec 6 2017 08:32PM
Image by unlobogris @ deviantart.com
Cranes are amongst the most beautiful and spectacular of birds. Indeed, in the Far East they are considered sacred. As an inevitable corollary, almost all species are endangered to varying desgrees. Once ubiquitous in the UK (where they are still sometimes referred to, with extreme irony, as 'Common' Cranes), the Eurasian Crane was effectively extinct when I was growing up, and the odds of ever seeing one in the wild so remote as to be unimaginable.
By alicebg, Nov 2 2017 08:25PM
Image via whatbird.com
The Bullfinch is one of those birds that fell foul of changing agricultural practices - one that was once common to the point of being regarded a pest, but now is something of a rarity. What is unsettling about this decline is that it was in part hastened by direct persecution.
By alicebg, Oct 17 2017 07:19PM
Okay, so this is not an obvious bird at all. True to its name, the Nightjar is a thing of dusk and darkness, so to actually see one you need to be either very lucky, or you have to plan it. Either way, it's an experience you're not likely to forget.
By alicebg, Sep 14 2017 07:27PM
With autumn fast upon us (and boy, has it checked in early), thoughts turn to the great influx of winter migrants that makes the UK such prime birdwatching territory, even in the coldest months. At the head of the vanguard sits the Fieldfare, a spectacular bird that is routinely underrated and frequently overlooked.
By alicebg, Aug 3 2017 07:05PM
(image courtesy of thebritishbirds.com)
Definitely an obvious bird, the Cuckoo has as high a profile as any avian in the UK. A migratory avatar of spring, celebrated in words and music and studied to the nth degree, its strange whooping call familiar to everyone, even those who have never heard it live. None of this, however, should distract from the fact that the Cuckoo is by far Britain's strangest bird.