Hatch of the Day

We always hear of a few unusual nest sites every year, but this is my favourite so far! Most nest recorders spend their time looking in bushes and hedges, but not Dick Appleton, who took these photos.


He spent this Saturday peering into some rafters... But these weren't just any old rafters, but Old Trafford rafters! This Mistle Thrush was spotted feeding young high up in the roof of the stand on Saturday, so as Man United eased past Fulham 3-0, this particular family had a bird's eye view of the match. We hope to update you on their progress (the birds that is) over the next week or so...


Thanks to Bill Meek for letting us know about this bird, and to Dick for the photos. Oh, and BTO Principal Ecologist Rob Robinson is to blame for the corny headline...

Tawny Owl vs Stock Dove - the winner?

We did promise an update on the Tawny Owl video diary, and this clip is well worth watching!

We may put up more updates as they come up, but keep an eye on the BTO site for more Tawny Owl vs... stories!

Recycling Goldfinches

No sooner has the snow gone than the breeding season has started! A while ago now we heard of early nesting by thrushes and pigeons, but the real early birds are starting building now. Around Thetford we have several Long-tailed Tits building nests and in Norwich there are already Blackbirds sitting on eggs! We also saw this video recently of Goldfinches raiding an old nest for material for this year's effort.



So it's always worth keeping an eye out for early nesting! For more details on nest recording, visit the pages of the Nest Record Scheme.

Tawny Owl video diary

Over the coming weeks the BTO will be following the exploits of a pair of Tawny Owls using a nest box in Cambridgeshire via webcam. The birds have been in the box since early winter, with the first egg laid on 28 February! You can follow the Tawny Owl video diary on the BTO website.

This clip (from just before midnight on 1 March) shows the male bringing food to the incubating female. Other clips now online show the first and second eggs and even the original mating (over 18s only)...

We will update the progress of these birds during the coming weeks, and keep an eye out for some amazing footage of their previous interactions with other species...

We'd like to hear of other early nesting attempts, so do get in touch. Recording of nests is of immense value (even common species), so why not think about contributing to the BTO's Nest Record Scheme? It's easy and even better free!

Red-necked Phal breaks longevity record

OK, so it's actually just an excuse to put up these stunning images sent in today by Iain Leach!


NT14343 was ringed as a nestling on Fetlar (Shetland) in July 1996, and photographed by Iain on the island in June 2008 and June 2009. So when last seen it was a month short of being 13 years old, which is a fantastic age for a bird that spends a great deal of its time at sea.


This is also a European longevity record, beating an Icelandic bird aged 9 years. Amazingly, the previous BTO longevity record was held by NT14346, a bird of the same brood of four as this one, last seen on Fetlar in 2003.

Thanks again to Iain for the photos and for the excellent reports.