If the RSPB report on the effect of climate change on the British bird population last week depressed you, look at it this way. The black-throated diver, snow bunting, capercaillie and dotterel may find the UK climate inhospitable in future ('it doesn’t bear thinking about,' said the editor, who is particularly fond of the diver.) but we would instead start to see the purple heron, hoopoe, Scops owl and serin in our country. The owl is a particularly striking bird, which we have accorded our front page this week. Eye loves its menacing look, so amusing in such a tiny owl (about eight inches tall). It reminds us of how the editor looks after a day of reader complaints. For those of you who follow the Harry Potter epics, you may not know that Ron Weasley's mail carrier bird is a Scops. Obviously a star bird, and we would welcome it to our shores.