Field guide to the most commonly encountered mammals and birds

Here, we provide some basic information regarding commonly observed species (plus some others about which we have had queries).  

Feel free to contact us by email if you have any questions regarding species you have encountered on the site.

For more information about mammals, we recommend the Mammal Society's species hub, here. For birds, excellent resources are available from the RSPB (here) and the BTO (here).

 

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Magpie (Eurasian)

(C) Charles J Sharp (shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license)

 

Scientific Name: Pica pica

Appearance: Striking, long-tailed black and white crow. Plumage black from head to back and breast. White underparts, and large white ‘shoulder’ patch. Tail and wings blackish with metallic gloss of green, blue and purple. Bill black. Sexes alike.

Song: Soft, chattering, squeaky, musical song rarely heard. Harsh, chattering, mechanical rattle is most frequently heard vocalisation.

When heard: Resident. Rattle vocalisation produced year-round. Presumably, soft song is produced during the breeding season from February through to August.

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