Notes

01 August 1990
Comments Notes Oystercatchers incubating on closely adjacent nests. In early spring 1987, in a quiet corner of Blackpool Airport, Lancashire, soil, sand and chippings were dumped and then levelled. Later, the area became partly covered by vegetation and up to five Oy...
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Notes

01 April 1989
Comments Notes Mating behaviour of Cuckoos. At approximately 08.00 GMT on 5th June 1986, on an alpine heath, in the vicinity of Ammarnas, south Swedish Lapland, I heard a 'gowk' call and saw two Cuckoos Cuculus canorus approaching in a wild and noisy pursuit flight f...
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Notes

01 November 1985
Comments Notes Interspecific aggression between Little Grebe and Dipper. On 19th August 1982, at Loch Beannacharain, Ross & Cromarty, I saw a Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis diving close to the shore of the loch around the mouth of the River Meig, whi...
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Letters

01 October 1985
Comments Letters Distinction between Mandarin and Wood Duck in female-type plumages. A comprehensive description of differences between Mandarin Aix galericulata and Wood Duck A. sponsa was given by C. Holt {Brit. Birds 11: 227-232). As he noted, however, some of the c...
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Letters

01 July 1984
Comments Letters Wing-span of White Pelican. In Stanley Cramp's 'Studies of West Palearctic birds. 185: White Pelican [Pelecanus onocrotalus]' (Brit. Birds 76: 253-262), I consider a reference to a 'wing-span of up to 360cm' (11 feet 10 inches) somewhat large f...
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Notes

01 November 1983
Comments Notes Division of parental care by Mute Swans In May 1978, at Marazion marsh, Cornwall, a pair of Mute Swans Cygnus olor reared three cygnets. In the first four weeks the family remained intact, keeping near the nest site in pools. During this period...
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Letters

01 December 1981
Comments Letters Wintering Bitterns in Britain The recent paper by Dr C. J. Bibby on wintering Bitterns Botaurus stellaris in Britain (Brit. Birds 74: 1-10) illustrated that the population is supplemented in winter by immigration to this country of Bitterns fro...
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Notes

01 February 1979
Comments Notes Opportunistic predation of Manx Shearwaters by fox  On 30th June 1977, while walking along the coastal path near Martins Haven, Dyfed, I came across several groups of black and white feathers. All appeared to have been snapped of...
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Letters

01 August 1978
Comments Letters Gallocanta Lagoon, Spain: an appeal We should like to draw the attention of British ornithologists to Gallocanta Lagoon, a wetland in northeast Spain. This lagoon, the very existence of which is scarcely known outside Spain, has in recent years...
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Notes

01 May 1978
Comments Notes Mutual cartwheeling by Sparrowhawks  At 08.25 G M T on 6th J u n e 1976, at Rostherne Mere, Cheshire, I observed a pair of Sparrowhawks Accipiter nisus soaring over a wood, the male (identified by his much smaller size) above the female. T...
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