Up, up and away...or found on the ground?

I am often contacted by people who have found a young garden bird (or birds) sitting on the ground and looking as if they have been abandoned by their parents. This can understandably cause concern.

The first thing to say is that this is very common, and in over 95% of cases, there is no need to be worried and you should not intervene. For example, this gorgeous young robin is clearly doing very well for himself and feathering up.

More...

Last week Richard attended a really informative meeting held at Rotherfield Farm near Alton, to hear about the conservation work they are doing to help re-establish grey partridge on the farm and increase lapwing numbers which have been in sharp decline over the last decade. The farm is owned by Sir James Scott and has been in the family for the last 200 years. It is a 5,000 acre estate, with arable, forestry and a large dairy.

Grey partridge are one of the 3 main indicators for modern day farming. The other two are brown hares and skylarks. Here on the farm we have hares and skylarks in abundance, but we lost our grey partridge about 5 years ago - so this was a fantastic opportunity for Richard to find out what we can do to help them recover.

Grey Partridge

More...