Jody Bourton
Blog posts in total 23
Posts
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Join in the birthday bash
I realised this week that I share an important landmark with RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch. Just as this weekend sees the 30th birthday of the world's biggest bird survey, I too will be celebrating 30 years on the planet. So, while I may well be enjoying some nightlife this weekend, I'm also pl...
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Why ice can be nice
It's been an eye-wateringly cold start to 2009. However this has led to some glorious crisp days and with the sun low in the sky it brings out all the shapes and contours of the surrounding countryside. If you take a camera out with you it makes for some great photo opportunities. Like many ...
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The Midwinter merry-go-round
I was laid low by the wretched flu again last week but being housebound afforded me an unexpected opportunity to do some wildlife watching. Although winter can be a bit barren, it doesn't mean there aren't things going on out there in the wild. And with lemon and honey drink in one hand and b...
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Festive song
I've come down with a stinker of a cold and have been up all hours coughing. It was in the early hours that I found myself aware of a bird singing. In winter, and at night - what could it be?
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Why I'm 'quackers' for mallards
This week, Nature's Top 40, continues its countdown to the UK's number one wildlife spectacle. Wildlife experts have been ranking suggestions from the public in order to compile a list of Britain's most amazing natural sights and sounds - and this got me thinking about what I might pick as m...
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See a salmon spectacle
I've just heard that salmon are now spawning on the rivers Wye and Usk after their epic journey. This is one of the few stages of salmon migration that you can actually witness for yourself. In Wales, a good place to see them right now is on the river Usk at Brecon promenade.
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Create your own toad abode
With winter just around the corner, some of our best-known species are getting ready to hibernate - and your garden could provide the perfect place for many creatures looking for somewhere to shelter during the cold spell. With wildlife, mess is definitely more! In fact it's probably a good idea not to tidy your garden too much at all at this time of year because the leaves and debris makes an ideal hiding place for a whole range of animals. Indeed, it doesn't just provide shelter but also a walk-in larder of bugs and insects for species like frogs, toads and hedgehogs to munch on while they're sheltered.
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Raven conversations
Newborough Forest on Anglesey served up a treat as we looked into one of the largest raven roosts in Europe as part of this year's Autumnwatch. Just being at the roost is a pretty amazing experience but it's the sound that gets you. As the ravens come into the roost the noise just keeps build...
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Barry gets the groove
Phew! We're already halfway through this year's series of Autumnwatch and we've been busy criss-crossing the country solving some of nature's mysteries.
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The fungus among us
With it raining so much this Autumn, it's been a good year for fungi - and there are loads around at the moment. Fungi are really interesting to find and I'm always intrigued by the array of shapes and sizes they come in. I recently found a whole lot of large fungi around a tree - which ...
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My slimeball mystery
Things are hotting up here as we get ready for the new series of Autumnwatch - and I can't wait. This year, presenter Simon King will be witnessing some truly amazing autumn spectacles and trying to unravel some great wildlife mysteries. Expect small ninja deer in surprising places and a garg...
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The eel's mammoth journey
When I was a boy messing about on the River Taff (at the weir just near the Millennium Stadium) I remember distinctly finding a tiny eel, but at the time I wasn't sure what it was. It was in fact a juvenile eel called an 'elver'.
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Rubbish wildlife and ravenous ravens
It's been an unusual week, to say the least. Saturday saw me on a rubbish dump waiting for seagulls to land. We were making a radio programme about seagulls that inhabit rubbish tips and were with some scientists who were using cannon netting in order to capture and ring them.
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A sting in the tale
This week, I hated wildlife. I jumped up and down and shouted like a loon directly at an animal,,,, but in my defence, it had just stung me. Picture by Ian Francis.
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The effects of flooding
There has been an extraordinary amount of rainfall in parts of the country which has resulted in rivers bursting their banks and many places being flooded.
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The birds, the birds!
I woke up bleary-eyed the other day to be met with what seemed like hundreds of birds on my house. It was a scene straight out of the famous Hitchcock film - The Birds. They were in fact a flock of house martins that must have contained 50 or more individuals.
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Otters are chart toppers
This week I heard on the grapevine that otters had been voted Britain's favourite mammal, straight in at number one.
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Rivers in flood
Rain, rain, rain, it's been non-stop. The rivers are in spate and are full to the brim, which is relatively unusual for the height of summer.
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The beauty of a big sky
August should have been a lot dryer than it has been and I wanted to talk about the swarms of caddis flies that should be around about now or going in search for dippers. Alas, the rain has been non-stop of late. Clouds have been a frequent reminder of this and today I got a real glimpse of thei...