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Peanuts for peanuts — 30% off — order yours now!

The best garden bird food for less this march

We’ve just heard from our Official Garden Wildlife Partner CJ Wildlife that they’re offering 30% off their premium whole peanuts and 10% off all of their peanut feeders until the end of March. Peanuts are an excellent energy-packed source of nutrition for birds.  With nesting season looming, adult birds need to pack in….

Book Review: Ireland’s Birds; Myths, Legends and Folklore

Birds have always held a special draw for me. It was a a fascination with birds that first kindled my interest in wildlife as a youngster. I guess you could say that they were my first wildlife love, and while I’m interested in all sorts of wildlife today, birds will always hold a special significance. I….

Hooded Crow (Corvus cornix)

The hooded crow, grey crow or “hoodie” as it’s sometimes called, is almost identical to the closely related carrion crow (Corvus corone) except for its distinctive grey and black plumage. The two birds are so similar in fact that until recently they were considered to be different races of the….

Book Review: The Helm Guide to Bird Identification

Warblers: The Helm Guide to Bird Identification

Have you ever struggled to tell your bar-tailed from your black-tailed godwit? How about differentiating your dabbling ducks, or getting to grips with gulls and grebes? No matter how experienced a bird watcher you are, there are always species that will prove tricky, and there will be times (sometimes lots of them) when you’re….

Raptors in the firing line on national radio show

A social media storm is brewing surrounding an ill-informed and disturbingly inaccurate radio interview about birds conducted on the Pat Kenny Show on national Irish radio station Newstalk FM yesterday (Wed 14 January). On the show, host Pat Kenny (pictured left) introduced Biochemistry Professor, Luke O’Niell (yes, you read that right — a professor of….

Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)

An adult male chaffinch in winter

They say familiarity breeds contempt… and, in the case of the chaffinch that’s probably true. The male chaffinch in its full breeding regalia is one of our most colourful and striking birds. If it wasn’t for the fact that we see them so often we’d marvel at these colourful little….

Digging, for the birds!

Robin With Worm

Regular IW contributor Albert Nolan reflects on how a bit of winter digging benefits the bird life in his garden.   It was a day when you would have fought to have a shovel in your hand as the icy wind slipped easily through layers of clothes. I was finishing off a….

Gear Review: CJ Wildlife Apollo “Easy Clean” Seed Feeder

House sparrow enjoying the Apollo Feeder

Pros: Quality finish and materials. Robust construction. Easy and convenient to dismantle and clean (no tools required). Innovative “feeding rings”. Ventilation system keeps food fresh. Cons: None so far. Rating: Highly Recommended Price: from €21.95 for the 3-port feeder to €31.95 for the 7-port feeder An excellent all-round seed feeder that’s built to last from….

Book Review: Tracks and Signs of the Animals and Birds of Britain and Europe

Animal Tracks & Signs

There are no two ways about it, a lot of our wildlife is incredibly tricky to see. You can get lucky, of course. Occasionally birds, and even mammals, lizards or amphibians, will appear out of nowhere, seemingly oblivious to your presence as you marvel them in close proximity. These are,….

Cork school children contribute to international godwit study

Under the banner of Operation Godwit an international team of scientists has been studying the Icelandic black-tailed godwit since the 1990s. Unique combinations of colour rings placed on the birds’ legs on their breeding grounds in Iceland and on their wintering grounds in Western Europe allow individual birds to be….

Christmas Competition: bird food, feeder and a festive treat

Bird Food Competition

Thanks to our friends over at CJ Wildlife (Ireland’s Wildlife’s Official Bird Food Partner) we have a fabulous prize to give away to one lucky winner at the end of the week. Up for grabs are: A 10kg bag of CJ Wildlife’s fabulous “Hi Energy No Mess” seed mix A….

The Birdwatch Ireland Garden Bird Survey: how you can help monitor Ireland’s garden birds

Waxwing

This post is part of the Crossley ID Guide Britain & Ireland Blog Tour — yesterday the tour was over at Mark Avery’s blog here — tomorrow it moves on to BirdWords… the official site of Dominic Couzens… who’s one of the book’s authors. You’ll find the full tour schedule here. NB. I’ll be….