Calling birders (and other naturalists) to come along and lend a hand.

BIOBLITZ FREE EVENT (normal admission applies) at NATIONAL TRUST STOWE GARDENS Sat 27/6/26 all day (10-5)

More details and booking here https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/oxfordshire-buckinghamshire-berkshire/stowe-gardens/events/3478bbee-d655-4de3-8159-2ae4c345d695

The results of the 2026 New Year Plant Hunt, organised by the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) are now available.  This is an annual event: each year, across a set of days around New Year, intrepid botanists of all ages and abilities set out to record which wild plants they can find in bloom. The 2026 Hunt ran from Thursday 1 January to Sunday 4 January 2026.

By recording the wild plants in flower in your local patch in the depths of winter, individuals or groups help the BSBI gather valuable data ‘about how our wild or naturalised plants are responding to a changing climate, and how this might impact the other species that rely upon them.’ Full details of this annual event can be found on the BSBI website https://bsbi.org/

The results for 2026 can also be found there: https://bsbi.org/take-part/activities/new-year-plant-hunt/results. Number 1 was Bellis perennis “Daisy” (which was the main one I found in Buckingham), with Dandelion and Groundsel making up the top three. In total 663 different plant species were recorded in bloom, the third highest total in the 15-year history of the Hunt.

Dr Kevin Walker, BSBI Head of Science, is reported as saying: “New Year Plant Hunt results show how our weather is changing, impacting flowering times and other wildlife that depend on our wild plants. Climate change is the chief suspect, as our recent collaboration with scientists at the Met Office confirms, but to be certain we’ll need more data. That’s why we are unrolling a new flowering plant phenology project, starting this spring. Our volunteers will be asked to record the abundance of the wild plants they find in bloom along a fixed route walked at regular – ideally weekly – intervals. This will help us learn more about how flowering times vary from place to place and year to year. The aim is to gain a better understanding of the full impact of changing weather patterns on our wild plants and all the other wildlife that depend on them.”

The next New Year Plant Hunt will take place from Thursday 31 December 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027.  Perhaps this is something a group of MKNHS members would be interested in doing together?

Sue Hetherington
January 2026

An electronic copy of the 2023 Bedfordshire Bird Report, can be found at the following link, courtesy of the Bedfordshire Natural History Society (BHNS):
https://mknhs.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2023-Bedfordshire-Bird-Report.pdf

Peter Nash of the BHNS adds that they hope to have the 2024 Report issued in the course of the next 6-8 months so will have then managed to finally catch up with the backlog.

“You may also be  interested to hear that the Bird Club has a new publication The Birds of Bedfordshire, due out very shortly (currently being printed) which is an avifauna covering the history of birds in the County, summarising previous publications but focussing on the period from 1990 to 2022 in particular with brief highlights from the 2023 and 2024 seasons.”

There is a flyer with more information available through the following link:
https://mknhs.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Bedfordshire-Bird-Club-Avifauna-Info.pdf

This in turn contains a link and QR code which can be scanned to enable purchases to be made. A special offer purchase price of £45 is in place until 31st December 2025 after which the price will rise to £50/£57.95 for collection/posting.

The world’s rarest wader has been thrown a lifeline after two Spoon-billed Sandpiper chicks hatched at WWT Slimbridge in Gloucestershire.

Click here for more information.: Fresh hope for Spoon-billed Sandpipers after chicks hatch, news via @RareBirdAlertUK

Making a beetle stack is a way of providing beetles and many other insects with shelter through the winter. This stack is simple to make and costs next to nothing, but will make a world of difference to garden wildlife.

Source: Build a Winter Home for Beetles – BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine

Female Parasitic bee, Nomada ferruginata, by Peter Garner, Thornborough and Coomb Community Woodlands, 2 May 2016

This page is a very useful guide to bee identification guides:

Source: Identification Guides | BWARS

Chaotic mobs of jackdaws suddenly get organised once enough birds join in, new research shows.

Click here for more information.: Jackdaw mobs flip from chaos to order as they grow, #ornithology research news via @RareBirdAlertUK

A new survey has revealed that the corncrake population has decreased by over 30% in the last 5 years.

Click here for more information.: Future of corncrakes uncertain – Discover Wildlife

Early return to breeding areas is widely acknowledged to be ‘a good thing’ but why? Some people suggest that early migrants can choose the best territories, others argue that early chicks have a disproportionately high chance of fledging but there are other explanations too. In their paper in Ecology & Evolution, Catriona Morrison and her colleagues ask how much of the advantage of being an early migrant could be associated with having an option to nest again, if the first attempt fails.

Click here to read the rest of the article.: Time to nest again? | wadertales

Federal Aviation Administration aims to stop millions of birds dying each year by changing static red lights, which attract birds, to flashing lights

Source: FAA aims to save millions of birds by changing static red airport lights | Environment | The Guardian

Hybrid goose

Above is a photo of a goose taken by Julie Lane on 4th May. I think it may be a cross between a Canada and a domestic goose as both are in the park but maybe its just a melanistic Canada goose. He/she was all alone so obviously not accepted as a partner by any other self respecting goose!

Ian Saunders has has emailed that in his opinion “Guess the Goose” in News – despite its slim build, I don’t think that Julie’s bird is a Canada hybrid, as all the ones I have ever seen have been dark, and look more like Canadas “gone off” than this mainly white bird (which would be albinistic, rather than melanistic).

Judging by its leg and bill colouration (which are both dark in Canadas), I would guess that it’s more likely simply an “ugly” domestic goose, or a hybrid between two (or more) domestic breeds.”

Ian invites other members to submit their opinions on the bird in Julie’s photo.

10May15 Julie’s response:
“In reply to Ian’s interesting and welcome contribution  I would just add that the reason I thought it might be a hybrid between Canadas and domestic geese is that historically those two hang around together in mixed flocks in the park and have done for many years. I thought that this might be the result of so much hanging around together!! He/she seems to be a slimline version of the domestic white geese (the ribbed affect on the neck is also a domestic goose attribute) with some dark feathers thrown in. I should have checked my terminology re the use of the word ‘melanistic’ which I was a bit worried about at the time, but when you think about it this goose could also be a very slim melanistic domestic goose or a albinistic canada goose!! Haha!!”