A yellowhammer error

On Wednesday evening I presented at the Paths for All ‘Walking with Nature’ webinar. I had been invited to speak about Citizen Science surveys that people could do on their local paths and it was a really nice opportunity to tell others about the recording schemes we have supported volunteers to take part in on the National Cycle Network over the years at Sustrans – Birdwatch, BeeWalk, Big Butterfly Count, UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme, iRecord and Nature’s Calendar. The presenter before me had mentioned that she had had yellowhammers in her garden, so I also said I had recently seen my ‘first yellowhammer of the season’. As I heard a yellowhammer call while I cycled down route 754 today, I thought I would learn more about them this afternoon – the first thing I learnt was that they are NOT Spring visitors to the UK. For some reason I had it in my head that they were – I hope no one was too misled by my mistake in the webinar! I’m always learning with this Award. I included in my talk that people might want to consider doing their John Muir Award while exploring a place for Citizen Science surveys – at two-and-a-quarter years in to my Explorer level I’m maybe not the best advert, but little by little, hour by hour, I really enjoy learning and noticing more.