went for a lovely little paddle with merlin today

merlin the app that identifies birds. i was out for around 4 hours and it identified an incredible 154 different species including; pergrine falcon, sparrowhawk, marsh harrier, eurasian kestrel, cormorant, buzzard, kingfisher, 4 different flavours of owl, a black swan and something i've never heard before a eurasian bittern.

it makes the weirdest booming noise and when i got back to hq i looked him up and apparently.... "The Eurasian Bittern is considered a rare and shy, but recovering, breeding bird in the UK.

Once extinct (i'm presuming in the uk) in the late 19th century and again near extinction in 1997 with only 11 booming males, intensive conservation has led to a major recovery, with a record 283 booming males recorded in 2024, mostly in East Anglia, Somerset, and North West England".

you don't realise just how incredibly diverse and wonderful our lovely countryside is. well i didn't anyway.

birdtastic

up the arsenal

Posted By: Tombs, May 2, 18:23:28