Plover, not a fighter: protected bird 12th man on Tasmanian cricket ground as staff mow around nest

17 October 2026 at 20:00

While masked lapwings have a reputation for swooping during nesting season, Windsor Park oval’s resident plover just wants a good innings

At Windsor Park in Riverside, just outside Launceston in northern Tasmania, a masked lapwing has claimed prime real estate in the middle of a community sports ground, showing complete indifference to the weekend cricket matches taking place around it.

Warming a nest of eggs, the bird has been affectionately dubbed “Faf Swoop Plessis” by locals – a play on former South African cricket captain Faf du Plessis.

From little acorns … to his 1,000th article for the Guardian country diary

The Guardian - World news

By: Patrick Barkham

17 October 2026 at 13:00

As Mark Cocker approaches a landmark for the world’s oldest column in an English-language newspaper, he is still inspired by powerful encounters with nature

In the autumn of 1987, Mark Cocker sat in a field near Norwich and watched a jay burying acorns for the long winter ahead. He described the scene in his first country diary for the Guardian. Thirty-nine years on, some of those jay-planted acorns will be mature oaks now, and Cocker is completing his 1,000th diary for the world’s oldest column in an English-language newspaper.

In his next diary, he will reflect on the changing birdlife around Flint Clough, in the Peak District, where he first marvelled at rare birds aged 12 after devouring bird books in his bedroom. As a boy, he would find cuckoo, golden plover, ring ouzel and twite, a once-common bird which is now virtually extinct in England.

A rare family of barn owls moved into Manhattan's Upper West Side, captivating New Yorkers

PBS NewsHour - The Latest

By: Joseph B. Frederick, Associated Press · Josh Kelety, Associated Press

16 October 2026 at 23:52

This is the first documented instance of barn owls nesting in Manhattan in modern history, according to one expert, and the owls have attracted nightly crowds of people in the street eager to get a glimpse of the elusive birds.

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