Brilliant morning at Cley. Osprey low over our heads. Wood sandpiper and water rail right in front of us. Spotted redshank, raven, yellow-legged and Mediterranean gulls, 5 green sandpipers, 16 ruff, 2 dunlin, 34 curlews, Sandwich tern, 3 spoonbills, all 3 egrets etc. Plus a clouded yellow butterfly

Happisburgh today in the sunshine: first Pied Fly of the autumn (Blacksmiths Lane), Whimbrel, juv Marsh Harrier and trickle of Swallows north, Yellow Wag south, Lesser Whitethroat, 200+ Med Gulls, Hummingbird Hawkmoth. Lovely to be back!

Minsmere RSPB has recorded its highest number of fledged Sandwich Tern chicks since 1974, with at least 205 young birds successfully leaving the nest this summer:

Supplementary feeding of European Turtle Doves Streptopelia turtur: provisioned field plots are preferentially used and do not have higher frequency of the parasite Trichomonas gallinae... www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Juvenile Robin, growing up....

New record for the oldest Barn Owl in Britain and Ireland! 😮 At 18 years old the female was ringed in 2007 in Nottinghamshire when she was a chick before being recorded again in Lincolnshire this year! Read the full story ➡️ www.bbc.co.uk/news/a... #Ornithology #BirdRinging 🪶

Pleased to see this Ruddy Darter in the garden this afternoon, not recorded one before. Tawny Owls are often heard but rarely seen in the garden but today a pellet appeared on the lawn.

Barn Owl monitoring on the Sandringham estate, despite parts of East Anglia reporting a bad year, these boxes did well from 21 boxes, we had 15 in use, with 11 with chicks, total of 31 young, with the largest brood being 4. @btobirds.bsky.social @norfolknats.bsky.social @wildernorfolk.bsky.social

Want nesting Swallows... build a pond!💧 With no accessible water or wet mud nearby we built a pond by one of our field shelters, hoping they nested. Swallows are a common rural bird but, declined by 25% in the last 30 years. They are frequent on the reserve in autumn but never nested... until now!

Another fine 'tern fest' off Lowestoft North Denes this evening, 100s of common tern passed south between 6 and 7pm, including 2 arctic tern, one landing on the groyne. Plus a single juv little tern and several sandwich. Little gull also present in the car park again.

12 August marks the start of the Snipe shooting season in GB (not NI). Historically, drainage has massively reduced breeding numbers. Species is amber-listed. @bbs-birds.bsky.social trend for 1995-2023 is +17%. Blog about Snipe & Jack Snipe: wadertales.wordpress.com/2016/09/20/s... #ornithology

This is your sign to spend time in nature 🤗

About a month ago, we noticed a Woodpigeon nest building in the back hedgerow & have been avoiding the area. However, after a run of recent Sparrowhawk & Jay activity, we had a peek today. It seems the nest/bird has been predated....

Batman Hoverfly on Sage plant in the garden and a Robin just sitting on the fence.

Volucella pellucens, a large hoverfly with a striking cream-coloured band across its middle on Wild Marjoram in the garden. Long-tailed Tits have been absent from the garden for awhile but family parties can now be seen moving through the hedgerow.

This flood lagoon has been created as part of a new housing development on the outskirts of Kings Lynn. I was surprised by the amount of water in it, and by the variety of birds which have already made it their home #UKBirding #norfolkbirding #ukwildlife #birds

The second half of August will see the peak period for autumn migration of Tree Pipit. Usually detected when calling in flight, they can occur across a range of habitats on migration #ukbirding

monitoring Sculthorpe Moor as well has engaged with the families there for Discovery Day. 56 birds were encountered: 5 Blackcap 9 Chiffchaff 21 Reed Warbler 4 Sedge Warbler 1 Whitethroat plus 3 juvenile Kingfisher and 2 Marsh Tits @btobirds.bsky.social @hawkandowl.bsky.social

Crane flocks are starting to return to WWT Welney for the autumn. #Norfolkbirding

Early morning visitors.

Join us on 3rd September at 18:30 for our webinar, Curlews and Climate Change. Chaired by Professor David Hill, we will be joined by Harry Ewing, Research Ecologist in the Wetland Ecology Team at the British Trust for Ornithology, and BTO Director of Science, James Pearce-Higgins. buff.ly/oRABafR

Colour ring reading at Snettisham today brought a mix of Bar-tailed, the usual Black-tailed Godwits, Knot, Turnstone and Mediterranean Gull, including one of ours from Scolt Head. @btobirds.bsky.social @washwader.bsky.social @rspbengland.bsky.social

This adult Swallow is very well used to people given where they choose to nest & seemed to be proudly showing off the growing brood while I had a few minutes alone with them in a hide NWT Cley Marshes today. 🥰 It only flew when startled by some noisy human arrivals! @the-wildlifetrusts.bsky.social

This afternoon NWT Cley this Swan 🦢 family in a regular spot. I was amazed how small those wings are given their size! @the-wildlifetrusts.bsky.social @swanwatchuk.bsky.social #Cygnets

The Wren family were out in the Wisteria this morning - three juveniles with an adult, that we could see....

(1/) New theme alert! For the next few Wednesdays, we will be sharing BBS trends for some of our most familiar wetland birds. We start with Canada Goose, which increased by 129% across the UK between 1995 and 2023. @btobirds.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @rspbscience.bsky.social #Ornithology

This autumn's first BTO Migration Blog looks at what we might expect in the second half of August, as the first wave of Pied Flycatchers arrives on the east coast #ukbirding www.bto.org/our-work/news/blog/migblog/14-aug-2025

At #EOU2025 @eounion.bsky.social conference next week, we'll show new evidence implicating forestry in declines of British Marsh Tits during the era of woodland conversion in 1950/60s-1980s. This was period of steepest decline in Marsh Tits. Why? What was going on back then? #ornithology 1/5

Female Blackcap checking out the Blackberries in the hedgerow this afternoon. A few Cranesbill flowering in the meadow and the only butterflies in the garden today were Green-veined White, but there were five of them.

Next up for #WeBSSpeciesSpotlight ...🥁 Teal The Teal is our smallest duck, with WeBS results showing peak numbers between October and February ❄️ Keep an eye out, as we have just seen our first Autumn arrival at the @btobirds.bsky.social reserve in Norfolk today! #ornithology

Great days birding at Welney. Highlight includes 7 cranes, 50+ ruff, colour ringed wood sandpaper (from Norway) and nice selection of birds common birds. Willow emerald damselfly and tansy beetle were both new for me.

(1/) This week, we focus upon the vocal and conspicuous Greylag Goose. This distinctive species increased by 240% across the UK between 1995 and 2023. @btobirds.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @rspbscience.bsky.social #Ornithology #CitizenScience

A Nuthatch has been visiting the garden daily for a few weeks now, normally only an occasional visitor. Water Mint flowering, sadly it's not doing so well in the pond this year. Lots of acorns on the Oaks.

Easterly winds across the North Sea last week led to a small arrival of Pied Flycatchers along the east coast between Essex and Yorkshire and an uptick in the BirdTrack reporting rate. Reports usually peak in mid to late August but later influxes can occur in the right conditions #ukbirding

The very much unexpected highlight of this year's trip to Norfolk was this leucistic "white-winged" Wren at Weybourne yesterday morning, showing well intermittently as it skulked around the bushes nearby. Never seen one like it! A stunning little gem of a bird. @nenbc.bsky.social

11 years, 1 month & 11 days is the longevity record for Swallow in Britain & Ireland! 😮 🪶 You can share your sightings with us by using @birdtrack.bsky.social at www.birdtrack.net 📷 Swallow by Philip Croft/BTO

Comma on the Oregano early this morning and the Meadow Cranesbill is still flowering and attracting bees like the one in the lower flower. At Felbrigg NT the Mute Swan was cruising by the dam wall and a Grey Heron was trying to disappear in the long grass.

Conservationists have been left stunned after confirming the nesting of Spoon-billed Sandpiper at a previously unknown location for the species:

Monitoring with a late evening visit to Sculthrope Moor for pan African migrants - Acro Warblers and possible Hirundines resulted in- Sand Martin - 1 Swallow - 36 Sedge Warbler - 4 Reed Warbler - 15 @btobirds.bsky.social @hawkandowl.bsky.social @norfolknats.bsky.social @wvbs2025.bsky.social

Chiffchaff in the garden at the weekend together with a Meadow Brown. Seem to have lots of Common Toads visiting the garden at the moment even found a couple in the greenhouse.

Kestrel sitting on the roof of the house watching for voles as they emerge from the long grass. Mint Moth on Sage Plant.

Another lovely day #NorfolkBirding with an unexpected #TurtleDove

Mute Swan family at Felbrigg NT, still with 7 cygnets and a Mallard just looking on.

Help @rspbscience.bsky.social study bird disease (trichomonosis) outbreaks If you see a sick or dead bird in your garden, please report it here: gardenwildlifehealth.org @bto-gbw.bsky.social @zslscience.bsky.social 📷 Ben Andrew

Norfolk birder & photographer Steve Gantlett is collating an archive of photos of rare birds in Norfolk. The aim is to ensure that the best possible pictures of each species are preserved for use in future publications - if you think you can contribute then please get in touch with Steve.

BIG NEWS: For the first time in six years, Britain's rarest breeding bird has successfully nested in the UK! A pair of Montagu's Harriers have raised four healthy chicks, all of which have taken their first flights.

Monitoring Ingoldisthorpe today, 58 birds with migration on the move with lots of juvenile warblers - Blackcap - 15 Chiffchaff - 5 Reed Warbler - 17 Sedge Warbler -4 Whitethroat - 9 @btobirds.bsky.social @norfolknats.bsky.social

(1/) This is a reminder to please submit your BBS and WBBS data by 31 August at the latest! This deadline is in place to ensure that your Regional Organiser and the BBS Team at BTO HQ have enough time to verify your data. @btobirds.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @rspbscience.bsky.social #Ornithology

Early morning visit by a male Bullfinch who spent some time picking and eating the Honeysuckle berries - he did not eat them all so maybe he will be back. Delicate flower of the Ragged Robin which is growing on the edge of the pond. Good to see plenty of bees about.