Dog-walkers have proved to be effective bird-spotters, too. Over the years, they've provided valuable records, including a crane in the Railway Meadow, dippers in the Oddford and Fonthill Brooks, lesser spotted woodpecker at Billhay Bridge (between Pyt House and Semley), sedge warbler at Stubbles, golden plover and stonechat in various fields round the village, mandarin duck with young on the Nadder at Stubbles, merlin and hen harrier the concrete road.
All records go to the Wiltshire Bird Report. Please keep them coming! Sadly, sick or dead hares. Research by the University of East Anglia has found evidence that a deadly rabbit virus has spread to Brown Hares. Since September, sick and dying hares have been reported in Dorset. If you find a freshly dead hare that hasn't been roadkill, or see a sickly one, please take a photo and email it to Dr Diana Bell at the University (D.Bell@uea.ac.uk) with the location (the app OS Locate will give you precise coordinates/lat&long). If you are able to double bin-bag a corpse for them to collect and post mortem, it would be very helpful.
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Photo: Avocets (Izzy Fry)
The headers display photos taken by our members. Do get in touch via the Contact Form if you'd like to submit a photo for selection.
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