Tweet Of The Day

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 trip of over 70 thousand kilometres.

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 in places with their nest burrows.

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.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Puffin. Far better-known for its comical looks than its calls, the puffin is a bird that that is recognised by many and has earned the nickname "sea-parrot" or "clown of the sea".

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Kittiwake. In June you can find kittiwakes breeding on sea-cliffs around the coast. You may well hear them before you see them, shouting their name from vertiginous cliffs.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Nightjar. Take a walk on a heath on a warm summer evening and you may hear the strange churring sound of the nightjar.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the female Cuckoo. The "cuckoo" call of the male is perhaps one of the most recognisable of all bird sounds. But the sound of "bathwater gurgling down a plughole" is much less familiar and is the call of the female looking for somewhere to lay her eggs.

David Attenborough presents the Sedge Warbler. Sedge warblers like tangled vegetation near water. They're summer visitors here but seek out similar habitats in Africa where they spend the winter. Before leaving our shores in autumn, they gorge on insects, often doubling their weight.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the European Storm Petrel. The storm petrels as a group are the smallest seabirds in the world and called "Jesus Christ birds" because they give the appearance they can walk on water as they flutter over the sea surface dangling their legs whilst looking for food.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the Guillemot. Guillemots breed on cliff ledges and the chick is encouraged to make its first flight at the pointing of fledging by being encouraged to jump by its mother or father calling from the sea below.