- Malpass, M and J. An appetite and a half [Extraordinary photo essay featuring a Goosander battling to eat a Pike]
- Harbard, C. Beck from the dead. [The definitive rediscovery of Beck’s Petrel Pseudobulweria becki]
- Grantham, M. Regular returns [Everything you wanted to know about spring migration - part one]
- Vinicombe, K E. Purple Heron [How to ensure you recognise one when you see it]
- Mitchell, D. Protecting the Priolo [A look at the plight of the Azores Bullfinch Pyrrhula murina and how you can help to save it]
- Howlett, D. A volunteer abroad [How one man worked as a field volunteer on the Azores Bullfinch project]
- Marven, N. On location: watching wood owls [A tale of South African owls and other birds]
- Young, S. East is best, not west [How much better England’s east coast is than its west in winter]
- Reader holiday – Azores 7-14 October 2008
Better Birding
- Find your own ... White Wagtail
- On the move – raptors return
- Past rarities – remember these?
- Tip from the top – Bill Thompson III
- Must see – Pied Flycatcher
- BTO/CJ Garden Birdwatch – How to sex a Dunnock
- What's on - April events
- Optical events - April guide
- Birding courses and workshops
- April high-tide tables for Britain and Ireland
Where to watch birds
- Taylor, D. Christchurch Harbour, Dorset
- Archer, P. Waterford, Ireland
- Dee Estuary, Cheshire and Flintshire
News and related items
News digest – nine species added to the new British list; Corn Buntings recover; road threat to Socotran wildlife.
Fraser, M. ListCheck - updating the world view of birds. [Relationships: Widowbirds and bishops Euplectes spp. National lists: Senegal, Congo-Brazzaville and São Tomé and Principe; Subspecific status: Dunlin Calidris alpina]
Tools of the trade
Product review: Viewranger mapping tool for smartphones.
Internet: top of the blogs; what’s new on the net; good migrations.
Accounts of recent rarities in Britain and Ireland
Bastin, N. King Eider is Devon’s first [King Eider Somateria spectabilis Appledore, Devon, from 19 February 2008]
Harbard, C. Winter warblers: a new trend? [Rare Phylloscopus warblers: February 2008]
Monthly highlights summary: February 2008
Recent reports
Monthly round-ups from eight regions in Britain, and from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, January 2008, including photos of Franklin’s and Mediterranean Gulls Larus pipixcan and L melanocephalus, Bitterns Botaurus stellaris, Firecrests Regulus ignicapillus, dark-breasted Barn Owl Tyto alba guttata, Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus, Black-bellied Dipper Cinclus cinclus cinclus, Ross’s Goose Anser rossii, Ring-billed and American Herring Gulls Larus delawarensis and smithsonianus, Spotted Sandpiper Actitis macularius, Black Brant Branta (bernicla) nigricans.
Highlights summary for the Western Palearctic in January 2008, including photos of Tricolored Heron Egretta tricolor in the Canary Islands, Blue-winged Teal Anas discors and Least Sandpiper Calidris minutilla in the Azores, Hume’s Warbler Phylloscopus humei in Italy, and Pygmy Owl Glaucidium passerinum in The Netherlands.
Free checklist
Birds of Britain: the Complete Checklist by Dominic Mitchell and Keith Vinicombe. Second edition, fully up to date to March 2008, with nine new species added (all with detailed supporting evidence), plus a further 23 updated accounts for species at variance with the BOU list, and an 18-page tick list (with 12 columns per species). SRP: £3 when sold separately.
