Rebecca On The Wing

Category: Science

  • Birdfair 2017

    Birdfair 2017

    Zahrah and I only managed to attend the third and final day of Birdfair 2016. This year, we were set on squeezing everything we could out of this incredible event. Kerr decided to join us too, so last Thursday the three of us set off for Rutland Water Nature Reserve. Due to a slight train…

  • The Whale and the Freezer

    The Whale and the Freezer

    Here’s another article I wrote during my time interning at Student and Graduate Publishing. My colleagues were so interested in the whale project at Tullie House that they asked me to write a piece on my volunteering experience.  I’ve just finished my second year studying Wildlife Media. It’s really quite a niche course and when…

  • Puffballs, Prints and Pellets

    Due to a lecture cancellation, Zahrah and I seized the day and paid Watchtree Nature Reserve a second visit. As the sun was actually shining, we made haste before the English climate returned to its usual cheeriness. As we’d found several roe deer skulls at the reserve last time, we headed straight to Pow Wood…

  • ‘Gossamer Days’ Article in Watermark Magazine

    ‘Gossamer Days’ Article in Watermark Magazine

    Every year, the Theatre by the Lake in Keswick, Cumbria, hosts the literary festival Words by the Water, which is a wonderful celebration of words and ideas from a variety of topics including science, art, politics and history. In parallel to the festival, students from the University of Cumbria produce a magazine publication with pieces inspired by…

  • Camera Trap: A week in January

    Camera Trap: A week in January

    In many cases, wildlife can only be truly photographed without the photographer. After falling in love with Kingmoor South, Zahrah and I decided to set up camera traps to see what we could find. We had just attached all three traps when we realised we’d forgotten to bring bait, but decided to leave them a…

  • Whale Bones and Walking Stones

    Whale Bones and Walking Stones

    As usual, I trundled to Tullie House Museum for my weekly volunteer shift. Right now everything is focussed on the whale project. Following the discovery of a 16m fin whale skeleton on a beach in Cumbria, Tullie House now has the makings of a smart new welcome feature in their entrance hall. The bones are being…

  • Birds at the bottom of the garden

    As of today, I’ve been living in my new house a week! It’s not the biggest or the most glamorous, but it’s certainly enough to feel like home. There is also a generously sized garden that oozes potential. Currently, the grass is several feet high and tickles the midriffs of the two apple trees, but…

  • Carna – Day Five

    Species seen:   Chaffinch – Fringilla coelebs Common Porpoise – Phocoena phocoena Common Seal – Phoca vitulina Common Shag – Phalacrocorax aristotelis Common Tern – Sterna hirundo Golden eagle – Aquila chrysaetos Grey Heron – Ardea cinerea Herring Gull – Larus argentatus Hooded Crow – Corvus cornix Lesser Redpoll – Acanthis cabaret Oystercatcher – Haematopus…

  • Carna – Day Four

    Species seen: Barn Owl – Tyto alba Bladder-wrack – Fucus vesiculosus Butterfish – Pholis gunnellus Chaffinch – Fringilla coelebs Common Blenny – Lipophrys pholis Common Hermit crab – Pagurus bernhardus Common Pipistrelle – Pipistrellus pipistrellus Common Sandpiper – Actitis hypoleucos Common Tern – Sterna hirundo Eurasian Otter – Lutra lutra Eurasian Rock Pipit – Anthus…

  • Carna – Day Three

    Species seen: Bog Myrtle – Myrica gale Chaffinch – Fringilla coelebs Common Frog – Rana temporaria Common Porpoise – Phocoena phocoena Common Shag – Phalacrocorax aristotelis Common Tern – Sterna hirundo Common Wood Sorrel – Oxalis acetosella Cormorant – Phalacrocorax carbo Eurasian Otter – Lutra lutra Green-Veined Butterfly – Pieris napi Grey Heron – Ardea…