Cuckoos sang me happy birthday for a decade. Now they are silent
Britain’s shifting weather patterns are a particular problem for these ingenious, misunderstood birds.
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Will bird flu be the next pandemic?
While attention was focused on Covid, a new variant of avian influenza emerged: one that can infect many different species…
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Spring reflection: Heeding the dawn chorus
Every year the first blackbird feels more poignant, its notes pregnant with nostalgia.
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Nostalgia reveals nature’s true value
A sentimental perspective helps identify those essential creatures and habitats we have carelessly lost.
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Antarctica’s penguins may yet be safe from bird flu, but other threats remain
If the birds are lost, it will be due to commercial over-fishing and our failure to take simple steps to…
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The bird that wasn’t there
Soon after the Bay thrush was discovered in 1774, it was lost. But we can no longer blame ignorance for…
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The NS Poem: Birds of the Arctic
A new poem by Simon Armitage.
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Dead birds falling from the sky is a bad omen for humanity
A new variant of avian flu derived from intensive poultry farming is decimating British wildlife.
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Mysteries of the owl and octopus
A new school of natural history seeks to understand the deep intelligence of the Earth’s most enigmatic creatures.
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Summer reflection: the silence of the seabirds
In my lifetime, seabirds have symbolised one thing above all: pollution.
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From the NS archive: Londoners and birds
11 March 1922: Robins are selfish birds. Sparrows, on the other hand, are sociable.
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Why we must fight the threat of a “silent spring”
My sleepless hours are filled by birdsong, but it's a solace that may soon be lost.
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Where have all the jays come from?
How a success story from this year’s Big Garden Birdwatch hides a wider disappearing act.
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Where have all the sparrows gone?
For millennia the house sparrow has thrived alongside humanity, now its halved population offers a warning.
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Birds aren’t real and this man wants the world to know
The Birds Aren’t Real movement is a combination of post-truth satire and Gen-Z s**tposting. But is Peter McIndoe on the…
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