WELCOME
OCTOBER HAS a good claim to being the best birding month – there’s still plenty of daylight to get out in, the weather is often warm and fine, and the whole avian world, from rarities to more familiar species such as the Oystercatcher above, seems to be on the move. That’s the theme of our 16-page Marvels of Migration special, and we hope it will encourage you to get out and see this superb natural spectacle taking place. Elsewhere, Ian Parsons takes a look at the Nuthatch (p22), a quietly extraordinary bird that is an increasingly common sight in gardens, while, as always, Dominic Couzens (p34) turns up facts you didn’t know about the Capercaillie. If that gives you an appetite for the birds of the Scottish Highlands, turn to page 62 for details of our great value readers’ holiday at the Grant Arms – we hope we’ll see you at this wonderful base for a wildlife holiday.
Matt Merritt, Editor