Oddie backs red grouse for Britain’s national bird

Bill Oddie is clearly a little hot under the collar the moment, as he makes his case for the red grouse being adopted as Britain's national bird. His suggestion has arisen because the famous naturalist and former comedy star of the Goodies is concerned that certain wealthy people in society are killing the feathered moorfowl for sport. By elevating the bird to national 'emblem' status, he feels that they are likely to receive more protection and the people who are currently killing them may think twice about their actions.

Speaking earnestly and very obviously from the heart at the Oxford Literary Festival, Oddie asked the assembled audience how they thought that people would react about "blasting the national bird to buggery?" His comments were in reaction to what he perceives as the actions of a number of rich "dishonest, cruel" people in society, who have been hunting the red grouse for what he views as being purely for the reasons of sport.

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Bill Oddie demands end to Malta's ''cruel and destructive'' mass bird shoot tradition

The Mediterranean island's three-week killing frenzy sees 10,000 gun-toting hunters blast hundreds of thousands of migrating birds out of the sky

British holidaymakers flocking to Malta this summer are being urged to back a ban on the country’s annual mass bird shoot.

Each year the Mediterranean island hosts a three-week killing frenzy where nearly 10,000 gun-toting hunters using the motto “if it flies, it dies” blast hundreds of thousands of migrating birds out of the sky.

It is the only EU country to have a recreational spring hunting season allowing birds to be shot.

Wildlife expert Bill Oddie has called on the 450,000 UK tourists who will fly to Malta in the coming weeks to press the authorities to scrap the yearly bloodshed.

He said: “Maltese gunmen call this annual massacre a ‘tradition’, and indeed it is – a cruel, wasteful, destructive tradition that may only abate when there are no more birds to kill. It must not get that far.”

There are 9,800 registered hunters in Malta. This works out as 80 hunters per square kilometre of land where hunting is permitted – a bigger concentration than anywhere else in the world.

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Bill Oddie tweets for birds on Twitter

As the zoo's aviary woke up, Oddie and head bird-keeper Adrian Wallis were on hand to interpret the chirps of its tropical residents and summarise the results in 140 characters.

September sees a flurry of activity in the bird world as migration season begins, and so the event was held to mark the occasion.

According to Oddie, trained ears can pick up on the subtle differences that alter the meaning of a bird call.

"Every bird has a bit of a vocabulary. They have seven different areas of sound, and they will all have meaning. It might be a young bird asking for food, or a bird saying 'this is my territory'," he said.

"That Red Billed Toucan was calling for a girlfriend. Sounds to me like he is shouting for some company!" read one of Oddie's Tweets. Another said: "Very territorial call from the Scarlet Chested Sunbird - protecting its nest"

Watch video and read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/9551273/Bill-Oddie-tweets-for-birds-on-Twitter.html