BIRD IDENTIFICATION COURSE


HOW TO IDENTIFY BIRDS CONFIDENTLY!  Saturday 8th December

Join author and bird expert Neville Davies on this one day workshop, learning how to identify the birds, what makes a bird, identifying calls, bird signs and much more. We will start by looking at bird feathers, flight, beaks, skulls, feet and eggs and their different uses. Artefacts will be brought along for you to see and hold.  You will learn skills to narrow down the bird you are looking at by use of field guides and clues such as wing bars, eye stripes, colours etc, and importantly, how to eliminate species to the one you are actually looking at. There will be a power point presentation and a question and answer session.

We will break for lunch provided by The Three Pools staff followed by an afternoon in beautiful habitats where we will put our ID skills into practice and also learn the different calls. We will also have the chance of looking at bird signs such as pellets, feather remains, wood chippings, plucking posts and other tell-tale signs of a bird’s presence. You will also be taught how to use stealth so that you don't scare off the birds and how to scan across large open areas for birds, binocular adjustment and lots more.

0900       Introduction and workshop.
12noon  Lunch (provided)
13.00     Afternoon exploring the local habitat (easy walking pace, stopping to look at birds).
1700      Close and questions
Bring binoculars if you have them, good footwear and suitable clothing for the day (including waterproofs). Unfortunately no dogs please to minimise disturbance.  Cost £20 per person including lunch.

ABOUT THE COURSE LEADER
Neville has been studying flora and fauna for over thirty years and is the author of five books on Ornithology. He regularly leads guided groups both in the UK and overseas in Spain, Mallorca and Lesbos, and writes a weekly two page wildlife article for the Majorca Daily Bulletin newspaper.

These courses fill up quickly so please email me on avevigilar@hotmail.co.uk to book your place.


                                                   Photo: Copyright Neville Davies

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A well-travelled Great White Egret

Image
  This handsome fellow is a Great White Egret, one of a pair I watched at the Goldcliff Reserve (Newport) on Friday June 9th. What stood out about this one was a red colour ring on the lower left leg with the letters ABP. I put the picture on my Twitter page (@ecology_cymru) and was pleased to receive a quick reply, and it seems this individual has done a fair bit of travelling already. It was ringed at Ham Wall in Somerset - https://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/reserves-a-z/ham-wall/ on 29th April 2022, and since then, recovery records have shown it to have visited North Yorkshire, Lothian, Northumberland, back to Wales (Powys), then up to Doncaster, and as of only four days before I seen it, in Derbyshire. Now that is not bad going for a bird barely two years old.  ABP ringed as a chick at Ham Wall Nature Reserve (picture                                  courtesy of the RSPB ringing project) I was also pleased to receive an email from Alison Morgan of the RSPB, who provided me
Read more

The pine nut crackers

Image
(Article written for the Majorca Daily Bulletin as part of my weekly 'Wild Mallorca' column. Pictures copyright Neville Davies) Adult male Son Real Woods Mallorca Mallorca has a member of the finch family that is packed with character, quite large and with a unique shaped bill. Here, the Common Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra balearica) is a sub-species that in Catalan goes by the name of 'Trencanpinyons', or 'pine nut cracker', or Piquituerto común in Spanish. They have a length of 15 - 17cm with a wingspan of 27 - 30cm and a weight  between 40 and 53g. The familiar 'chip chip chip' calls always give away their presence, and they utter these calls both when feeding and flying to and from feeding areas in their small groups. Cases Velles on the Formentor road is my favourite site to visit to see these colourful finches, and where Mediterranean Flycatchers and Firecrests can also be added to the day's list. Mondrago is another good site as like Cases Ve
Read more

A sting in the tail

Image
 Article for the Majorca Daily Bulletin for the week beginning July 25th 2023. I decided to write this week about my experience of getting stung by Jellyfish in the cove at Cala San Vicente (Mallorca), as this week parts of the cove have been closed off to swimmers for that reason. Read below a section of the chapter taken from my forthcoming book, 'Not quite living the dream'.   The scene of the crime - the beautiful little cove of Cala San Vicente. So, here I am one late afternoon with my three-quarter length shorts and white pasty legs on show, all set to go into the sea. I watched an Osprey that was showing well in the area and a Booted Eagle had passed high over the ridge. At the water’s edge however, I noticed a large number of purple coloured Jellyfish  about the size of a hand. They seemed to be motionless and washing up gently onto the sand. They all seemed to be on the left side of the cove by the protruding rocks. I had heard stories of people getting stung by Jellyf
Read more