In January, we went to Snettisham in Norfolk, where we acquired a lot of interesting items to my collection, including a ringed knot.  A knot is a small, dumpy wading bird that comes to the east coast in its millions in winter, but I think we were a bit too late to see the gigantic flocks.  The ring number of this knot was SR19614 and we managed to save the wings, the feet and the skull. We sent the details for this knot to the BTO(British Trust for Ornithology) The bird was ringed my the Wash Wader Ringing Group aged at least two years, sex unknown on 11th February 2012 at…

Pica pica, the devilish, jewel thieving crow, from a group of avians that have been classed as the birds of ill omen. Its absolute junk.  When you observe a magpie close up you’ll realise it has got to be one of the most iridescent and beautiful birds we have.  My mummy picked this young one up on the road on the way to work.  We’ve managed to save its tail, skull, legs and wings.  For me the tail is the most amazing because the purples and blues and greens show up better than on the wings. It has also  been the quickest skull we have ever prepared, but when it was knocked down…

In January when we went to Snettisham in Norfolk, we found a dead short-eared owl washed up on the beach.  We took it back home and we’ve managed to save both the wings, the feet and the skull.  The skull is wider than a crow’s but not as long, as the beak is not as long, but hooked over instead.  The wingspan of this owl was around 100cm, as each wing was about 47cm.  This is the 5th commonest breeding species of owl in the UK, at up to 2000 pairs.  They are one of the two species of moorland owl in Britain, along with the barn.  They are also…