Tweet of the Day

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the house martin. House martins are often confused with swallows , but look shorter-tailed and lack the rusty throats. They're compact birds which build their with pellets of mud under our eaves and although they're so familiar to us in summer, we still can't be c...

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the corncrake. The rasping repeated call of the corncrake was once a familiar sound of hay meadows throughout the UK. However these birds were no match for mechanical mowers which destroyed their nests and they're now mainly found in the north and west where conse...

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the osprey. Ospreys are fish-eaters and the sight of one of these majestic birds plunging feet first to catch its prey is a sight to cherish. The return of the ospreys is one of the great UK conservation stories. After extinction through egg-collecting and shootin...

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the common buzzard. Common buzzards are stocky birds of prey which often soar on upturned wings. In Scotland they're sometimes called the tourists' eagle because of many golden eagles claimed by hopeful visitors. Common buzzards are increasing their range and numb...

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the sandwich tern. Sandwich terns are the UK's largest breeding terns and have shaggy black crests and a black bill with a yellow tip. They live in colonies on shingle or sandy beaches and were first described from birds seen in Sandwich in the 1780s by William Bo...

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the turtle dove. The soft purring song of the turtle Doves are mentioned in the Song of Solomon in the Bible: " The voice of the turtle is heard in our land". They are migrants from sub-Saharan Africa and are now a treat to see here in the UK where they breed in f...

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the yellowhammer. The yellowhammer is a member of the bunting family and its name comes from "ammer" the German for bunting. It's one of the few British birds to have its song transcribed into words and seems to be saying ..a little bit of bread and no cheese".

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall begins May with the corn bunting. Corn buntings may be plain-looking birds which sing their scratchy songs from cornfields, but their private lives are a colourful affair and a single male bird may have up to 18 partners.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Reed Warbler. Reed warblers are summer visitors from Africa, one of the few long-distance migrants that are faring well in northern Europe - possibly because we're creating more gravel pits and conservation reedbeds.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Marsh Warbler. Marsh warblers are astonishing mimics and when you hear one singing you could be forgiven for thinking that there's a flock of different species in the bush.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Savi's Warbler. Count yourself very lucky if you hear the buzzing song of a Savi's Warbler, these are very rare birds indeed, especially breeding pairs and the nests are almost impossible to find, so their song is the best clue that they're about.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Common Sandpiper. This bird can look slightly pot-bellied as it bobs nervously on the edge of an upland lake or on a midstream boulder. Get too close though and it will be off - flickering low over the surface on bowed wings.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Little Egret. The colonisation of the UK by these small brilliant-white herons with black bills and yellow feet, has astonished ornithologists because of its speed.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Wryneck. These strange birds - with feathers intricately barred and blotched in browns, blacks, fawns and creams - are so-called because of their habit of writhing their heads round at seemingly impossible angles.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Cormorant. Although cormorants are common on rocky and estuarine shores, increasingly they are breeding inland in tree colonies - where branches whitened by their droppings are a giveaway in summer.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Miranda Kresovnikoff presents the Lesser Whitethroat. A loud rattling song from a roadside hedge announces that Lesser whitethroats are back from their African winter homes.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Golden Oriole. Golden orioles look as exotic as they sound. The male is bright yellow with black wings and a reddish bill. The female is more greenish, but both are very hard to see among the fluttering leaves.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Great Skua. Great skuas are often known as bonxies - their local name in Shetland where most of the UK's population breeds. Almost two thirds of the world's great skuas nest here or on Orkney.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Gannet. The North Atlantic is the international stronghold for this impressive seabird - with its wingspan of nearly 2 metres, remorseless expression and dagger-like bill.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Arctic Tern. Arctic terns are superlative birds. They're best known for seeing more daylight than any other bird as they migrate between the Antarctic seas, where they spend our winter, and their breeding grounds in northern Europe - a staggering round t...

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the quail. Quails are summer visitors in varying numbers to the UK, mainly from southern Europe and Africa - and sudden arrivals of migrating flocks in the Mediterranean countries were once more common than they are nowadays.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Manx Shearwater. Around 90% of the world's Manx Shearwaters breed around our coasts, most on remote islands such as Skomer, Skokholm and Rum. The steep-sided mountains of Rum hold the largest colony in the world, and the grassy mountainsides are riddled...

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Barn Owl. Barn owls are mainly nocturnal hunters. They are ghostly creatures, with rounded wings and a large head which acts as a reflector funnelling the slightest sound from their prey towards their large ear openings.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Goldfinch. With its bright yellow wing-flashes and face painted black, white and red, the goldfinch is one of our most colourful birds.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Razorbill. Smart as a dinner-jacketed waiter and with a deep blunt patterned bill, the razorbill is a striking bird - though its looks could be compensation for its voice.