# shakespearesbirthday earthday wednesdaywisdom lockdown covidー19 aprilfoolsday hatecovid19 lovecorvids2020 covid_19 stayathomeandstaysafe coronalockdown mothersday uklockdown

Morning birders. Today's is our most populous water fowl: the Mallard. And as it's here's Pericles (Act 3):

...the grisled north
Disgorges such a tempest forth,
That, as a duck for life that dives,
So up and down the poor ship drives.

xx

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2020-04-23

Happy lockdown birders. Today's is the effervescent and iridescent Kingfisher. And as we're celebrating some I also give you the equally frothy verse of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Love to all. xx

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2020-04-22

Morning lockdown birders. How about a good old sing-song:

Sumer is icumen in
Lhude sing cuccu
Groweþ sed
and bloweþ med
and springþ þe wde nu
Sing cuccu.

Have you guessed today's I call this one Alan (after The Whicker Man). Stay safe. xx

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2020-04-21

Good morning lockdown birders. Today's is Britain's favourite: the Robin redbreast. As Emily Dickinson put it:

If I shouldn't be alive
When the robins come,
Give the one in red cravat
A memorial crumb.

I call this one Bert Ward obvs. Stay safe . xx

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2020-04-20

Morning lockdown birders. Today's was requested by who wanted another corvid (and why not?). So here's a good old Cornish Chough (*pace* Wales). I'm quite chuffed with it. Stay safe and take Kernow ('care now'... geddit?... oh forget it!). xx

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2020-04-18

Good morning lockdown birders. Today's is a member of the flycatcher (Muscicapidae) family, the lovely Redstart. And seeing one of these fellas is always a good start to the day! Stay safe. xx

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2020-04-17

Morning lockdown birders. Today's is the 'nightingale of the north', the mellifluous Blackcap. A small warbler with a mighty song, an avian Jimmy Somerville. I call this one Bronsky because he’s hard to beat. Stay safe. xx

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2020-04-16

Happy Easter lockdown birders. Without today's you wouldn't have easter eggs or easter chicks. It's a big fat easter hen, a Sussex Light. I name this one Ed, after me, for I am, at heart, a chicken.! I've also chucked in a Tortoiseshell butterfly as a free gift. xx

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2020-04-12

Morning lockdown birders. Very excited to find a Long-Tailed Tit's nest in the park where we take our daily constitutional. So today's is the Long-Tailed Tit, the longest tailed of all the tits... I call this one Anna Karenina, one of the longest tales I know. xx

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2020-04-08

Morning lockdown birders. Today's is the one most close to my heart, the Curlew. Born & raised in Haworth (100 years away from the Brontes & 10 miles away from Ted Hughes) I wandered the moors listening to 'the curlew’s tear turned its edge on the silence' . xx

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2020-04-07

Morning birders. Today's is the onomatopoeiacally-named Chiffchaff. This one's named Callas, after my favourite warbler. xx

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2020-04-03

Morning birders. Today's is the Rook, named after the chess piece as it can only fly in straight lines or turn at 90 degree angles. No, that's an joke (...or is it?). Keep safe y'all. xx

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2020-04-01

Morning birders. Today's is the Song Thrush. This one's a tad more sparkling than Thomas Hardy's 'darkling' version. (Which is not an excuse to shamelessly plug my recent collaboration with the great ) No no. xx https://t.co/N1p2pUmz2T

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2020-03-31

Good morning birders. Today's is the George Clooney of garden birds, the Bullfinch. Lucky are you who find him at your feeder. I call this one Rosemary after George's famous sister. xx

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2020-03-29

Morning ornithologists. Today's is the Robert Redford of the crow family, the Jay. This Jay is called Jay, after Jay Gatsby, a fancy pants if ever there was one (as played by Robert Redford).

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2020-03-28

Morning birders. Today's is the ominously named 'Corvus corone', the ubiquitous and highly intelligent Carrion Crow. I call this one 'Khyber', after my favourite Carry On.

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2020-03-27

Morning lockdown birders. Today's is the Goldfinch. As the poet Patrick Kavanagh once wrote:

The goldfinches on the railway paling were worth looking at
A man might imagine then
Himself in Brazil and these birds the birds of paradise

Keep safe folks. xx #

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2020-03-24

Morning lockdown birders. As it's today's is Mrs Bullfinch. Google would give her a sunflower though she'd really prefer some sunflower seeds - so why not stick some in your feeder. xx Requests welcome.

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2020-03-22

Morning lockdown ornithologists. Today's is the small but perfectly formed Goldcrest as requested by . It is the wee-est of all wee birds so blink & you might miss it, but once seen never forgotten. Requests welcome. xx

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2020-03-20

Morning all. For all you ornithologists I've drawn a little Jenny Wren as requested by . Look out of the window and maybe you'll see a real one. Another bird tomorrow. Requests welcome. xx

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2020-03-19