Tweet Of The Day

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes-Games presents the Little Auk. Little auks are black and white relatives of the puffin but only about half the size. They're one of the most numerous seabirds in the world, with around twelve million pairs of birds. In autumn and early winter we see them in the UK as they head south into the North Sea.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes Games presents the Goshawk. A favourite bird of Martin Hughes-Games, the goshawk is a powerful deep-chested relative of the sparrowhawk: its name derives from "goose-hawk", though in practice goshawks rarely catch geese - they prefer woodpigeons, rabbits and squirrels. A female goshawk is a hefty bird, as big as a buzzard and much bulkier than her smaller mate.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes-Games presents the Twite. Twites are birds of heather moorland and crofting land - a Scottish name is "Heather lintie", as they nest in the shelter of wiry heather clumps and feed on seeds. To see twites, you'll need to visit some of our most scenic spots; the Scottish Isles, the moorlands of northern England or the western Irish coast.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes-Games presents the Tree Sparrow. With its russet cap, white cheeks and smarter appearance, the tree sparrow looks like a freshly-scrubbed house sparrow. Unlike house sparrows whose sexes look very different, the male and female tree sparrows are identical.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes-Games presents the Black-Tailed Godwit. A black-tailed godwit in its summer finery is a stunningly attractive bird, russet brown with a long orange and black bill. A few pairs of black-tailed godwits breed in the UK, most of them in damp grazing meadows such as the Ouse Washes in East Anglia. When breeding is over the male and female split up and spend the winter months apart, often in widely separated locations.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes-Games presents the Hawfinch. The Hawfinch is a large thickset finch with a massive bill. It uses this to crack open hawthorn and cherry stones as well as hornbeam seeds to get at the soft kernels inside. In doing so, it exerts a force of around 180 pounds per square inch.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Martin Hughes-Games presents the Willow Tit. Willow Tits are declining rapidly in many areas: they are very similar to marsh tits, so alike in fact that no-one realised that they existed here until 1897 and their identity as a breeding bird in the UK was confirmed three years later.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Martin Hughes-Games presents the Marsh Tit. The marsh tit is badly-named. It doesn't live in marshes, and is most at home in older broad-leaved woodlands. "Oak tit" might be a better name. Unlike some other tit species they don't travel far, holding and defending their woodland territories throughout the winter.ProducerBrett Westwood,MRS SARAH PITT,Sarah Blunt.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes-Games presents the Dunlin. Dunlins are a stirring sight, en masse, as their flocks twist and turn over the winter shoreline. When the tide turns they take to the air in a breath-taking aerobatic display. Around 350,000 Dunlin winter here, travelling from Scandinavia and Russia.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes-Games presents the pied wagtail. In winter, pied wagtails can often be seen roosting in towns and cities in large flocks. By day, pied wagtails are often obvious in fields feeding on insects but they're equally at home on our streets gleaning prey from pavements and road surfaces.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Martin Hughes-Games presents the Linnet. Linnets gather in large flocks to feed on weed-seeds and the seeds of oilseed rape and flax left behind after harvesting. You can often identify the flocks from a distance as the birds circle over a field, by their tight formation and bouncing motion.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Martin Hughes-Games presents the Common Crane. Common Cranes were extinct in the UK in the 17th century. Now, they are being re-introduced to the Somerset Levels and Moors. The aim is to release a hundred birds into the wild over five years and establish a strong population.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes-Games presents the Golden Plover. If, among a flock of lapwings circling over a ploughed field, you see smaller birds with wings like knife-blades and bell-like calls ... these are golden plovers.

Martin Hughes-Games presents the Black-Headed Gull. Black-Headed Gulls are our commonest small gull and throughout the year you can identify them by their rather delicate flight action, red legs and the white flash on the front edge of their wings.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Martin Hughes-Games presents the Siskin. Siskins are visiting our gardens as never before. These birds now breed across the UK and cash in on our love of bird-feeding. They are now regular visitors to seed dispensers of all kinds.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes-Games tells the story of the flocks of waders which are drawn to the UK's estuaries. Britain's estuaries contain around 2,900 square kilometres of mud and sand-flats. Washed daily by the tides, these places are packed with food, molluscs, worms and crustaceans that support thousands of waders.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes-Games presents the Bar-tailed Godwit. Bar-tailed godwits are waders which occur around the globe and are now known to make the longest non-stop journey of any migratory bird.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes-Games presents the barnacle goose. Yapping like terriers, skeins of barnacle geese leave their roosts on mud-flats and fly inland at dawn to feed in grassy fields.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Martin Hughes-Games presents the Redshank. Redshanks spend the winter on our estuaries and wetlands, taking food from the surface of the mud and probing the ooze for creatures which live beneath.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes-Games presents the story of the curlew. The UK is a vital wintering ground for flocks of curlews. Some birds fly in from as far away as Belgium and Russia, probing our coastal mudflats and thrilling us with their mournful cries.