Gone fishing
I was pleased to find your article about Burgess Park in the August Bird Watching issue. I live in London, and Burgess is one of my favourite parks for birdwatching. The lake in the park attracts a variety of birds, and I enjoy recording the varying bird life as the seasons change.
Early this spring, the Great Crested Grebes enthralled us with their courtship displays.
Now they keep me entertained as they catch fish to feed their young ones. The action is fast, challenging enough keep them in the eyepiece and in focus, let alone capture on camera! More often than not, I fail to capture a sharp image. But here are a few close successes. Richard Kurtz
Familiar face
Regarding the albatross on the cover of the September issue. About five years ago my late wife and I were walking the coast path around Prussia Cove in Cornwall.
We’d almost reached Cudden Point, when I looked up and spotted what I believe to be the same bird. Got the binoculars on it and confirmed to my amazement that it was an albatross. It circled awhile then glided out to sea.
We went to New Zealand three years ago and never saw any.
John Anthony
App assistance
I have at last graduated to a smart phone!
I was therefore wondering what the best apps are for bird watching. There seem to be several options for species recognition and some to identify the birds from a recording of their calls and song. I can see the difficulty in the latter and most reviews I can find point out flaws. Are any call recognition apps worth buying?
I wondered if you have already covered a review of bird recognition apps in previous editions of Bird Watching. If not it would make for an interesting article in the future.
Gordon Woollatt
Myna triumph
After reading the interesting article by David Lindo, The Urban Birder, on the Common Myna. I thought I would share with you my experience of the myna bird in Malaysia. The photo was taken in Kuala Lumpur Botanical Gardens. There were plenty of Common Mynas, but to see a white mutation was amazing. We believe it was breeding as well, as it was entering a hole in the tree with food. Dave Bailey
Sea bird saviours
My wife and I receive your magazine monthly, and I would like to tell you about an unpleasant experience we have had.
We have a caravan in Cresswell, Northumberland which is opposite the beach. We regularly go ‘litter picking’ on the beach, with our granddaughter Thea, who was staying over the weekend.
As my wife and Thea were coming along the beach, the tide was going out and they noticed a bird coming in from the sea. The bird was a huge Gannet and they could see it was very distressed. Pat managed to bring the bird from the shallows. Its beak was totally closed, fastened by fishing line, and trawler ropes were around its wing and tied around its feet. The wing was bloodied and looked broken. Pat managed to free its bill, then cut the line off. It pecked and bloodied my wife’s finger in its distress. We continued to remove all the line and rope, but the bird was still obviously in great pain. We tried to phone various rescue centres with no results. We then returned to the campsite office and they managed to find a local rescue, and the bird was collected by them.
Is it possible to write a piece on ‘rescuing seabirds’ with a list of contacts that would be very useful for people like us? Frank Henderson, Newcastle upon Tyne
Big words
Yes, I do agree with all he complains about and then some! As a grumpy old Entomologist, may I ask that Bo be allowed a larger font so that I don’t require a microscope to read his grumps.
James Weaver