I have been meaning to start a thread on this for several weeks now but not got round to it, until now.
According to the August edition of Bird Watching magazine, Birdfair will see voting open on Britain's new national bird. Apparently we don't have one at the minute. But what makes a national bird?
There is currently a long list of 60 nominees and the voting at Birdfair & online will reduce that to a shortlist of 6 for further voting. I don't know who compiled the long list but some of the candidates on there, I don't know why they are there, to be honest.
Sure, there's some great birds on the list (and I will post up the full list if time allows) but to me they can't be our national bird. Our national bird should be iconic, typically British and one that many of the general public can recognise.
Swifts - quite easily recognised but in this country for a couple of months in the summer and then they're off again. Our national bird should at least spend most, if not all, of the year here, no?
Golden Eagle - how many Brits have seen a Golden Eagle? They're hardly a common bird throughout the British Isles.
Puffins - gorgeous little things but being coastal birds - and one that spends a lot of time at sea - how many Brits have seen one and thus can identify with it as our national bird?
And so on.
If I had to choose (and while I'm not going to Birdfair I will be voting online) something like the humble Robin is a good candidate. Or even the Mallard. Everyone knows what a Mallard looks like and while they are not garden birds they are present on pretty much any stretch of water or village duck pond. They are the quintessential duck. They also offer a bit more colour than Blackbirds or Carrion Crows so when other nations look at our national bird at least they don't see something drab.
What would you choose as the new national bird of Britain? What criteria should a national bird satisfy?
According to the August edition of Bird Watching magazine, Birdfair will see voting open on Britain's new national bird. Apparently we don't have one at the minute. But what makes a national bird?
There is currently a long list of 60 nominees and the voting at Birdfair & online will reduce that to a shortlist of 6 for further voting. I don't know who compiled the long list but some of the candidates on there, I don't know why they are there, to be honest.
Sure, there's some great birds on the list (and I will post up the full list if time allows) but to me they can't be our national bird. Our national bird should be iconic, typically British and one that many of the general public can recognise.
Swifts - quite easily recognised but in this country for a couple of months in the summer and then they're off again. Our national bird should at least spend most, if not all, of the year here, no?
Golden Eagle - how many Brits have seen a Golden Eagle? They're hardly a common bird throughout the British Isles.
Puffins - gorgeous little things but being coastal birds - and one that spends a lot of time at sea - how many Brits have seen one and thus can identify with it as our national bird?
And so on.
If I had to choose (and while I'm not going to Birdfair I will be voting online) something like the humble Robin is a good candidate. Or even the Mallard. Everyone knows what a Mallard looks like and while they are not garden birds they are present on pretty much any stretch of water or village duck pond. They are the quintessential duck. They also offer a bit more colour than Blackbirds or Carrion Crows so when other nations look at our national bird at least they don't see something drab.
What would you choose as the new national bird of Britain? What criteria should a national bird satisfy?
