Friday 29 July 6.30 am-9 am Price: Adult £7, child £5 (payable on the day)
Booking essential
Set your alarm clock to experience the heath awakening and all the magic unfolding. Join us for BBQ breakfast on the heath afterwards. (Veggie options available.)
Encounter the iconic Dartford warbler , insects, reptiles and other birds.
Booking essential. Click here to book via Eventbrite.
Meet Point: reserve car park at Joney’s Cross, on the A3052 (SY058898). With kind permission of Clinton Devon Estates.
An injured wading bird has been rescued and given safe haven at Living Coasts in Devon.
Torquay’s coastal zoo and aquarium can provide the ideal estuary habitat for the whimbrel, now thought to be the only one in a public zoological collection in the UK.
The adult female bird was found on a roadside in Cornwall by a passing member of the public. She was taken to Rosevean Veterinary Practice in Penzance. Vet Paul Hall, who treated the bird’s potentially life-threatening injuries, said: “The bird was unable to fly because both major and minor metacarpal bones were fractured...
Selected dates and times only due to tide constraints
Price: RSPB member £12, non-member £15; Wildlife Explorer members £6, child non-member £8
Booking essential
Join friendly RSPB guides onboard the Sea Dream for 1.5 hours (approx) to experience this fantastic spectacle of nature on one of the world's great wetlands.
A few years ago, you would have been lucky to spot avocets anywhere, but today they are a conservation...
East Devon District Council's Countryside team would like to thank County Bird Recorder Steve Waite for leading an extremely interesting and informative Dawn Chorus Walk at Seaton Wetlands on Saturday 18 April.
A cold easterly wind failed to deter 24 keen individuals from enjoying this special walk, which began at 5.30am at Black Hole Marsh. The event got off to a flying start, as within ten minutes the group had a close view of a barn owl, while from the car park, wood pigeon, collared dove, blackbird, robin, blackcap and chiffchaff could all be heard.
Join Dartmoor National Park Ecologist Naomi Barker on a walk in the Haytor area to see if you can get a glimpse of one of spring's most evocative birds. Cuckoos have suffered a huge population decline in recent years and in many parts of the country their distinctive call is no longer heard. Naomi will guide you on a fascinating walk in which you will learn more about the work being done to find out what is causing the population decline in this species.
You will also learn about other birds nesting on the moor, such as skylarks and yellowhammers.
These love birds at Paignton Zoo Environmental Park are doing what comes naturally, but there can be a lot of hard work behind the scenes to make sure rare species continue to breed.
Paignton Zoo curator of birds Jo Gregson holds the European Studbook for the wrinkled hornbill. “It’s my job to collect and collate information from other zoos on hatchings, matchings and dispatchings for the species and to make recommendations for pairings.” Which means that Jo gets to play cupid.
There are 140 European Studbooks; the system is run by the European Association of Zoo &...
A new bird study on Dartmoor reveals dunlin numbers have increased in response to efforts to restore the moor's famous mires.
The dunlin is a small wading bird. They breed across northern Europe, Russia and North America, but globally their most southerly breeding location is on Dartmoor. In the UK their population numbers 9,600 pairs and they are completely reliant on good quality blanket bog for breeding.
The Dartmoor Mires Project is a pilot scheme exploring the feasibility and effects of restoring degraded blanket bog on Dartmoor, and is being coordinated by Dartmoor...
Summer at the Axe Estuary Wetlands near Seaton can only mean one thing – it’s time for the Wet ’n’ Wild Summer Festival on Saturday August 16, organised by East Devon District Council’s Countryside team.
The day starts at 8am (weather permitting) with a bird ringing demonstration by the Axe Estuary Ringing Group, and a chance to identify and learn about live moths caught in a moth trap during the previous night.
From 10am until 4pm there will be plenty of activities for visitors of all ages to enjoy, including willow weaving, storytelling, children’s craft activities,...
A guided walk around Exeter Higher Cemetery for anyone interested in its bird life. Meet near the chapel and bring binoculars if you have a pair. The charge for Friends of Higher Cemetery members is £1-50, visitors £3 and accompanied children, under 16yrs, £1. For enquiries please contact the Friends of Higher Cemetery on fohcexeter@gmail.com
A new app that encourages people to say “good morning Mr Magpie” via their mobile phone will help scientists evaluate the benefits that birds bring to the quality of human life.
Whether you view them with sorrow or joy, using your smart device to help build up a national database of sightings of the distinctive black-and-white birds will feed into wider research by the University of Exeter to assess how much value people place on having birds in their gardens.
Dr Richard Inger, at the Environment and Sustainability Institute on the University’s Cornwall...
