A bitterly cold but fabulous day in Lincs/Cambs ⛄️ Snow Goose at Deeping in Whooper flock, which also contained 3 Bewick’s Swans. LEO close to the hide. Green Sand in drainage ditch. Briefly a Tundra Bean Goose at Thorney toll. Finishing at Eldernell with Short-eared Owl & large Crane Flock.

9 ticks this year ✅ Least Sandpiper Booted Eagle Black Kite Broad-billed Sandpiper Zitting Cisticola Black Stork Leach’s Petrel White-throated Needletail Black-winged Kite Woodchat Shrike was a WMBC ✅ 8 White-rumped Sands at Belvide were outstanding, followed by a single bird at Blith.

After the painful August dip, Black-winged Kite finally makes it onto my list! Not bad for the last tick of 2025 ✅ 💣 A great day at Ludham Bridge with @mybirding.bsky.social Also 7 Crane, 4 Bewick’s Swans, 31 White-fronted Geese, Bearded Tits, Whoopers, Pinks, Marsh Harrier, Red Kites.

New Year's Day at Titchwell. Brass monkeys out, even the waders were huddled on the marsh rather than by the sea edge. Best of 67 species: Water Pipit, Med Gull, Water rail in front of the hide, Woodcock. No Merlin sadly. That sunset! There's a pub selling mulled wine on the walk back, rude not to 🪶

Wishing everyone a happy bird filled 2026 🪶 Ended on 253 with 11th hour Black-winged Kite. A cracking bird, blew my mind when it hovered like a Kes! Marsh Sand & Serin my other 2 lifers. Best #PatchBirding finds: Garganey & 4 Cranes. Lesser Yellowlegs: one of many enjoyable #LowCarbonBirding trips

Disillusionment with local birding continues, so I'm mostly just birding whilst walking between other stuff. New streets bring a missed excitement & unpredictability. A Goldcrest flying low across the pavement in front of me, pic a one-eyed individual at the old pit top this year 1/2 #UrbanBirding🪶

I went to see Sentimental Journey yesterday, with my local cinema meetup group. I enjoyed it. It has of course, the elder Skarsgard @carrcole.bsky.social

Closing in on the end of my 7th year a birder. Been reflecting on hubris felt as a birder walking miles, using bus & train, laden with gear. What I always need are some laughs (ducks are great for that) & ID challenges. Refound the over-wintering Scaup, Caspian Gull & 4 Pintail +2 #PatchBirding 🪶

Just started using @duck-duck-go.bsky.social It gives excellent search results, you can opt out of ai & you get to torch your search history, which is fun 🔥

So last Rattray one for now. On 20th October this year I found a nightingale at Rattray. Around an 8th for Aberdeenshire and first since 2007. Then as my photos hit the various channels it was identified as an Eastern Nightingale. 2nd for Scotland and 4th for Britain. #BirdingScotland #RareBirdsUK

The UK charity Hen Harrier Action @henharrieraction.bsky.social launches Xmas fundraiser to buy more satellite tags. Commentary on why this is important & a link to the fundraiser ⬇️⬇️ #RaptorResearch #WildlifeCrime raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/12/11/t...

🚨Hoylake beach update🚨 After a LONG six years, we’re finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel!! An agreement has finally been reached between @NaturalEngland and @WirralCouncil which means around 2% of the 41ha of vegetated foreshore at Hoylake will be cleared.

Notts birding & twitching incl year list species 255, WF Geese ☑️ A Cattle Egret over the A1133 was lovely to spot. Fieldfare galore, Yellowhammer, Brambling & finally 2 distant Smew just before the light went. Hawfinch from earlier in week. Walked 7 miles twixt train station & sites #UKBirding

OMG !! Should I be as excited as I am ?? Just glanced out of my urban window & noticed a female and a male Blackcap! Passing through the Ash & Holly. Pics are from my garden, of previous over-wintering birds. The benefits of having unruly privet, holly, and ivy. 100% natural bird feeders 💚 🪶

Last day in London. Brent Res for Jacksnipe or Woods in SE? The latter as the hides at Brent need a key. A quick scan at the site, I spotted this female Crossbill. Further on, a Firecrest in a tit flock. Visited St Dunstan, a wild place with a Wren spire & no roof. Grey Heron grabbed my attention 🪶

Caspian Gull, Eagle Pond, Snaresbrook 01.12.25 First & last time I saw this bird was on 11.01.20 Couldn't believe my luck yesterday, the bird was sat close too waiting for loaf. White Wag on East Warwick res island, Walthamstow wetlands too 🤍 @birdguides.bsky.social #GullOfTheDay 🪶 #LondonBirds

Brilliant views of Little Auk today in Scalloway. Nice to see one that looks so healthy. Bird was feeding/preening/diving all within feet of me off the pier. 😎👍 #YellBirding #Shetland

Beautiful female King Eider in Scalloway giving outrageous views this morning. 😍 #YellBirding #Shetland #RareBirdsUK

In London tomorrow for a gig. Birding before & after naturally. Visited KG V Reservoir for the first time. All 4 uncommon/scarce birds seen. Grey Phalarope, BN Grebe & Scaup. Black Redstart made it 50 species for the day. Well worth the palaver of getting a permit. #LowCarbonBirding #LondonBirds 🪶

A grand day at Titchwell take 3 🎬 70 species, best being a confiding year tick Firecrest (too fast, too close for a snap), a lovely 1w ♂️ Brambling. 2 poss 3 Merlin on the marsh. One blasted through flushing a flock of Wigeon & perched up. 22 Ruff & a smart Water Pipit. So much to enjoy & learn 🪶

#PatchBirding today. Returning Caspian gull was slumming it on a tern raft, calling & displaying. Have I noticed Dunnock undertail coverts before? Goosander roost 50+ Still watching clips of a lovely round bellied Pipit from Friday & finally decided that it is a Water Pipit 1/2 #LowCarbonBirding 🪶

An excellent rainy day birding, listen. Recordings that augment experience in the field. And how else am I likely to hear all those (or any) Tengmalms? Bliss

All day birding at Titchwell. 68 species today, 76 for the trip. Got off to a good start spotting a Firecrest whilst walking into the reserve 🔥 Other highlights: Brambling (nice call), 2 Merlin ♂️ & a ♀️ type. No owls sadly, despite continuing to scope the Marsh from the bus stop #LowCarbonBirding 🪶

Cley Marshes for a talk about Emma Turner. Birding in hail & watching birds' reactions. A Common Gull looked skyward, Marsh Harrier stayed put, Avocet carried on feeding. Enjoyed Pinks, Gulls & Harriers roost at sunset. Waxwing pic by Turner, the first time they were photo'ed. #LowCarbonBirding 🪶

Common Sandpiper, Greenshank & Lesser Yellowlegs at Etton-Maxey Pits back in September for #WaderWednesday On pig jaw pit, named after someone finding a pig jaw there, but I can find no further info. One of the #LowCarbonBirding ticks that constitute 90% of my 2025 year list 🪶

Enjoyed #PatchBirding Teeming with birds this morning. Yummy flocks to look through. Caspian Gull the scarcest, preening in a line of Cormorants & Lapwings. Siskin nos building & Goldcrests were getting shirty. Thrushes & ducks. Floodgates were closed & Mallard pairs floated across flooded paths 🪶

Watching Labour MPs take a wrecking ball to nature makes me so angry & so sad. Their action tonight voting down amendments to the #PlanningBill intended to protect wildlife & habitats from destruction is so reckless & so counterproductive. People didn’t vote Labour for this 👇

Hen Harrier Susie, whose chicks were stamped to death on a Yorkshire Dales grouse moor in 2022, has been found dead on a N Pennines grouse moor with gunshot injuries. 18+ months of silence about this crime from the police & Natural England. #RaptorResearch raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/11/14/h...

Influx of Dusky Warblers at present with 3 at Flamborough yesterday! Just twitched the Leics bird. The most exciting split second I've had in a while. Great site with YBW etc recently. A fair few birds & habitat to enjoy. GS Wood the only bird that lingered for a snap 🪶 #LowCarbonBirding

Worrying reports of bird flu (avian influenza) are coming in, including an outbreak in Whooper Swans in the Fens. Other waterbirds are also being affected, and cases are rising. 📷 Sick Whooper Swan by Kane Brides #UKBirding #BirdingWales #BirdingScotland

Lots to enjoy at the patch. Scaup, Siskins, Caspian Gull, 8 Snipe, 2 Green Sand, showy Water Rail, Goldeneye displaying & calling. At dusk Goosander numbers are increasing 45+ so far & a small murmuration of Starlings. Pied Wag roost building at the train station #LowCarbonBirding #PatchBirding 🪶

Today is World Vegan Day! If you are concerned about climate change, reducing meat and dairy in your diet is one of the most powerful individual actions you can take. "The effect of our modern meat production on the environment is truly terrifying." Jane Goodall news.janegoodall.org/2017/04/28/w...

Cracking female Red-backed Shrike at Rimac, Lincs late morning. Checked out the view from the salt marsh platform & spotted an interesting flood. Went for a closer look & a Water Pipit stood out nicely. My first Fieldfares of the winter on the flood & in flight too @lincsbirding.bsky.social 🪶

No Country for Old Bollocks

Photos to make a change from my shaky cam clips of behaviour. Happened upon a bench with food on it, not the best for birds, but I watched for a few minutes. Interesting to note the long, slightly undulating flight of the Marsh tit. Nuthatch & a Kes next to the train tracks too #LowCarbonBirding 🪶

This weekend's focus has been checking local tit & finch flocks to see what else they may hold. Answer: a couple of Chiffys & many Goldcrests! Best today were 3 Crossbills, a flock of Siskin & Redpolls, a Marsh Tit & the carrier flocks of LTTs are lovely, of course. #LowCarbonBirding 🪶

Attenborough NR today intending to look more at 1w large gulls. Soon got distracted by the BHGs, GWE & 19 Goosander. Spotted the first ♂️ Marsh Harrier I've seen there. The returning Adult Caspian Gull was present, as was at least one 1w. Still no Jack snipe for me. #LowCarbonBirding #PatchBirding 🪶

Decent morning at Holme with 72 species recorded. A Red-necked Grebe on the sea was my first of the year. Redwings, Fieldfare and 81 Brambling counted as they migrated overhead. #NorfolkBirding

Hits & misses round North Point Pools & Warham. Fascinated watching Cattle Egret murdering frogs when it was photobombed by a Glossy Ibis. Yellow brows 2 Humes 0. 2 distant Spoonbills. Thought Pallid might show, I was busy enjoying a Barn Owl. Cranes on a train & perched Marsh Harriers from a bus 🪶

www.artsobservasjoner.no/Image/3005980 This is news to me. The regular Northumberland wintering Black Scoter spends the summer off Varanger, Norway.

Just added Common Crane to the train list. Large flock just north west of Manea, Cambs train station. Couldn't help but say, "Wow!" out loud on a train full of people 😅 🩶 #LowCarbonBirding 🪶

These 2 patch gulls are keeping me happy on lean days this week. Returning now adult Caspian & an adult YLG. Both lured by the promise of crayfish #LowCarbonBirding #PatchBirding

Rather than post the usual shots of the Rutland Baird's Sandpiper I thought I'd offer up some alternative angles of what must be currently the most photographed bird in the UK. @rarebirdalertuk.bsky.social @birdguides.bsky.social

Headed to Flamborough for the start of migration week. Somehow it took me 3 hours to walk 1.5 miles from Bempton train station. Best bird was Whinchat. Those broad field margins were cracking too & no doubt why there were dozens of Yellowhammers 💛 Whooper, Gannet chick, 100s of Tree Sparrrows too 🪶

'Photographic ornithology' How can bird photographers contribute to shorebird research? New WaderTales blog based on paper by Winfried & Wolfgang Daunicht, published in Wader Study journal. wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/10/09/m... #ornithology @waderstudy.bsky.social

@trumpetdust.bsky.social youtu.be/QG1_pYpdz6Y?... I am much happier listening to stuff like this these days

Second visit to Unst was better birding. Thought I'd found a couple of Glossy Ibis till the dread word 'still' got added on bird guides. Nice to watch 2 Red-throated Divers close in & see juvenile Common Gulls on the beach. A flock of Twite in the fields & a probable 4th YBW in Helligarth wood 🪶

Eshaness, Shetland. An unexpected place to see a Red-breasted Flycatcher. Very different to Flamborough willows or behind the Crown & Anchor. Bird, a tiny dot against the backdrop of volcanic cliffs. Fulmars looking more at home. RB Fly was species 250 for the year, goal reached. #microblogging 🪶

Back in blighty, hoping to keep up the post-Shetland energy. The returning Casp can have yellow legs, but this bird more so. Bill spot, pale iris, that crop bulging with crayfish, a YLG. The first duck I looked at (apart from all the Wigeon) was a Garganey. 2 Goldeneye & 2 Goosander #PatchBirding 🪶