Birds
Who will dress Keir Starmer now?
It is worth upholding the stuffy point which should have prevailed at the start. It was always improper and unethical…
Porcelain-painting during the French revolution
People don’t accumulate stuff any more. When the late Victorian houses on our street change hands their interiors are stripped…
The sad history of the Hawaiian crow
Sophie Osborn describes how this sociable, inquisitive, loud-cackling bird became extinct in the wild – and her own efforts to save the California Condor from the same fate
Prayer for the Day is the best thing to wake up to
As the owner of a radio alarm clock, I could theoretically start listening to the Today programme before I’m even…
An avian allegory: Dinosaurs, by Lydia Millet, reviewed
Adapt or die. That brutal Darwinian dictum is too blunt to serve as the motto of Dinosaurs, Lydia Millet’s slim,…
Red kites should never have been reintroduced to Britain
Red kites should never have been reintroduced to Britain
Letters: The revelation that could force Boris to resign
The lie’s the thing Sir: Your leading article (‘Partygate’s hangover’, 2 April) maintains that if the Prime Minister receives a…
The scourge of urban gulls
These ‘endangered’ birds are taking over
A playful version of the universe: Pure Colour, by Sheila Heti, reviewed
Readers familiar with Sheila Heti’s work, most notably How Should a Person Be? and Motherhood, in which she examines both…
Made me buzz like an electron: Science – Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda reviewed
Given my affection for M*A*S*H, I can’t think why I haven’t listened to Alan Alda’s podcasts before now, besides the…
Why it’s boom time for bitterns
Bitterns are booming, both literally and metaphorically. These handsome brown birds from the heron family make a noise quite unlike…
Letters: China has peaked
China has peaked Sir: Niall Ferguson makes some good points about the nature of Xi Jinping’s imperial aspirations but misses…
Helen Macdonald could charm the birds out of the trees
When Helen Macdonald was a child, she had a way of calming herself during moments of stress: closing her eyes,…
Even the owl in my garden is self-isolating
My tawny owl has been self-isolating. I say mine but in truth she chose the nest box in my neighbour’s…
Starling murmurations are a display more dazzling than fireworks
It’s late afternoon in the car park of Workington Asda. A little crowd is gathering in one corner, most of…
Everything under the sun: The glory of garden centres
Don’t you just love garden centres? You have to be mad to go on a sunny Sunday morning in the…
Why vegans must not own cats
Is it ethical for vegans to own cats? It’s an interesting question because vegans look set to take over —…
A duck ducks and a swift is swift – so what about the lapwing?
Some birds seem inherently comical. I can’t help being amused by the duck taking its name from its habit of…
All hail the return of the crane
The RSPB regularly gets calls from people who have seen ‘a funny bird’. ‘It’s got a red head and it’s…
Letters: Judging students by achievement is a greater scourge than diversity at any cost
Harvard’s racial quotas Sir: While I largely agree with Coleman Hughes that racial quotas are counterproductive (‘The diversity trap’, 23 June),…
Jeremy Corbyn’s hat and the art of photo manipulation
Spin doctors The BBC has denied it photoshopped a Newsnight backdrop to make Jeremy Corbyn’s hat look more Russian. The…
Snakes, kookaburras and bandicoots: a garden in Australia’s rainforest
What you can see from a tin house in the Australian rainforest
The noisy, filthy, scary glory of geese
They’re noisy, filthy, scary – and glorious. No wonder we have such complicated feelings about them
The joy of winter birdwatching (and how it’s changing)
Our harsh December days are a temperate escape for some gorgeous birds
