Often painted as a thief and a troublemaker, the magpie’s high intelligence and shimmering beauty are shadowed by misunderstanding and ancient fears

My sky is never empty. At dawn there may be just a lone crow beating a steady path north, or at dusk, the curiously undulating, huge wings of a heron heading to roost in a willow above the ditch. Duck

DOMINIC COUZENS ON THE...

One of Europe’s most eye-catching birds has bred in the UK for the first time in almost three decades. A pair of hoopoes – famous for their salmon-pink bodies, bold black-and-white wings and showy cre

NEST RECORDS

Seeing an Icelandic-ringed Oystercatcher in Scotland inspired Vanessa Wright to trace its journeys…