First good local find of 2026, a 2CY Caspian Gull at the Gann Estuary late afternoon. Lisa picked up an adult almost next to it just a minute later, a superb double! #BirdingWales

Final day of the @wisebirding.bsky.social tour of Senegal. Another boat trip on the Saloum Delta this morning, and a trip to Sipo Island. Swallow-tailed Bee-eater, Broad-billed Roller, Purple Roller & West African Crested Tern the highlights. Next stop: Blaise Diagne Airport, Dakar....home time.

A brilliant day 7 of our @wisebirding.bsky.social tour of Senegal. A boat trip on the Saloum Delta produced the much prized White-crested Tiger-Heron, Beaudouin's Snake-Eagle & Goliath Heron. Birding near Toubakouta this pm produced an armful of new birds including Pygmy Sunbird, a stunner!

Early success on day 6 of the @wisebirding.bsky.social tour of Senegal: the mythical Quail-plover! Incredible views of 2 birds, field guides do not (and cannot) do them justice. They walk with a jerky gait like a chameleon. Simply stunning.

Day 5 of the @wisebirding.bsky.social Senegal tour. A long journey south today from St Louis to Kaolack for the incredible spectacle that is the Scissor-tailed Kite roost on Kousmar Island. A rough estimate of 5,000 birds came in!

A very watery feel to our 4th day on the @wisebirding.bsky.social tour of Senegal, with a day long visit to Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary. A long list of good birds, including Black-crowned Crane, African Jacana, Kittlitz's Plover & African Wattled Lapwing. Tomorrow we head south!

Quality all the way today on day 3 of the @wisebirding.bsky.social tour of Senegal. Starting at Podor, we worked west to St Louis via Richard Toll & Les Trois Marigots. Some big trip targets seen including Temminck's Courser, Saville's Bustard, Allen's Gallinule & a bonus Standard-winged Nightjar.

4 of my favourites from day 2 of the @wisebirding.bsky.social tour of Senegal, along the Senegal River on the border with Mauretania: Dark Chanting Goshawk, Cricket Warbler, Horus Swift & Red-throated Bee-eater.

A brilliant 1st day on the @wisebirding.bsky.social Senegal tour even though much of it was spent travelling. Verreaux's Eagle Owl, Little Grey Woodpecker, Sennar Penduline Tit & finished up with 3 roosting Golden Nightjars! Watching the pair wake up at dusk, stretch, yawn, & fly off was magical.

Looking forward to heading back to Senegal tomorrow to co-lead the @wisebirding.bsky.social trip there with local guide Carlos, the top guide in the country! Hopefully re-aquaint myself with these beauties and perhaps a few new birds too. Some amazing birds and bird spectacles await 😊 🇸🇳

Another top Oman target bird is the enigmatic Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeak. Never easy to see, and wary, I was delighted to get great views of this male yesterday. #Oman #omanbirding #birds

My favourite Oman bird is Desert Owl. It's a stunner that lives in beautiful, remote, wadis. It can be hard to see: I only saw my first one on my 4th Oman tour. We heard (but didn't see) it on our 1st tour, so I was really pleased to find this one last night. Hoping it performs like this for tour 2!

@skomerisland.bsky.social autumn bird migration is back! 3 days on the island in September, watching migration in action and learning how to identify tricky species with expert guidance. Details below 👇

Well that’s the first of this year’s Oman tours wrapped up, with a total of 230 species. We ended in style yesterday with great views of Sociable Lapwing and this cracking Caspian Plover. Now onto tour 2 with some time for mammals too 🤞🏻 #Birds #Oman #WiseBirding

30th November marks Remembrance Day for Lost Species and we are remembering the Slender-billed Curlew. We want to keep the name of the Slender-billed Curlew alive and hold it in our hearts as we learn from the loss. This cannot happen again on our watch. 💔 📷 Chris Gomersall

Always a treat to come across Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse during daylight hours. Our @wisebirding.bsky.social group had amazing views of 7 birds in Mudayy, Oman, yesterday #oman #omanbirding #birds

Off this evening for my 8th visit to Oman, a fantastic birding destination. Working for, and with, Chris from @wisebirding.bsky.social, good birds are guaranteed and hopefully this lovely quartet will be enjoyed 😊

A family party of 6 Whooper Swans has been resident at Sandy Haven, Pembrokeshire, for a few weeks now. Wonderful birds. #BirdingWales

Skomer Island guided birdwatching trips 2026, an update! Anticipating that boat/landing tickets will go on sale on 1st December, if you'd like to book a place on one of my day trips you need to get in touch soon. Availability on scheduled dates as follows:

We were saddened to hear the news that Mike Alexander has died aged 77, after lifetime dedicated to protecting wildlife and wild places in Wales. Mike will be missed by many at the Trust, but his incredible legacy will live on. Read more: champ.ly/7M2Z8TbO

The impacts of avian influenza are profound and far reaching. Hopefully 🇮🇸 Gyrfalcons will recover in time but this is near catastrophic #RaptorResearch 🌎 🪶 Avian flu taking a severe toll on Iceland’s falcon population icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/news/20...

2nd day of a 3-day Norfolk long weekender, another enjoyable one. Finished with Dusky Warbler (pic) and Yellow-browed Warbler at North Point Pools, Wells-next-the-sea #RareBirdsUK @norfolkbirds.bsky.social

Cracking views of this Pallas's Warbler at Beachy Head this afternoon. Also great to catch up with @dungenessowen.bsky.social and @stephenmessage.bsky.social on a brief visit to Dungeness this morning. #RareBirdsUK

My highlights on Dungeness today included Catching up and having a chat with @westcoastbirds.bsky.social after decades Enjoying Martin’s Crimson Speckled behind The Sanctuary First sarnie of the autumn on the bonfire…

It was great to track this ringed Firecrest at St Brides, Pembrokeshire, back to @skokholmisland.bsky.social. A first-winter female, she was ringed there on 1st October. #BirdingWales

2026 guided trips to @skomerisland.bsky.social are now available for booking! The 2025 season may only recently be over, but it's already time to plan ahead for 2026. Expecting the tickets to go on sale on 1st December, I have set my dates for guided day trips as follows:

Stonking views of the Mullock (Pembrokeshire) Glossy Ibis today #BirdingWales

Wonderful to see this family party of 6 Whooper Swans at Sandy Haven today, all the way from Iceland #BirdingWales

Glossy Ibis still today in fields at Mullock, near Marloes #BirdingWales

A excellent 2.5 hours at Strumble Head this morning. Lots of large shearwaters too far out to ID (for me, anyway) but of the closer shearwaters 91 Greats, 1 Corys, 5 Sooties and a handful of Manxies. Also an adult Little Gull and 2 Whooper Swans. #BirdingWales

Seeing a Turtle Dove in the UK is always a treat, although checking for leg rings from half-arsed reintroductions tempers the thrill slightly... This bird at St Brides, Pembrokeshire, today thankfully seemed to be ringless #BirdingWales

A good few hours in the field today around Dale, highlight was this smashing Firecrest in the village #BirdingWales

A fantastic week's holiday in the far west of Cornwall. As well as the birds, always nice to catch up with friends, which included Paul St Pierre, @juddhunt.bsky.social, @philb609.bsky.social & Alex Bevan. Today it was the turn of Pete and @debalmer.bsky.social, great to share a coffee with them 😀

A fairly ropey handheld phone 'scoped pic of today's Brown Shrike. Great find by @peninsulabirds.bsky.social, a new bird for Wales and, by default, Pembrokeshire. #BirdingWales #RareBirdsUK

The Brown Shrike at St Davids today - a belter and a bit of a show off. Found it whilst driving down to Porthclais to look for Yellow-browed Warblers. First for Wales if accepted. Hope it sticks around. #birdingWales

Fantastic to find 2 American Golden Plovers on Dale Airfield, Pembrokeshire, this afternoon. Such an elegant wader. #BirdingWales #RareBirdsUK

#manxshearwater #birdingwales

Excellent pelagic to the Celtic Deep with @westcoastbirds.bsky.social yesterday. Highlights were of course the 10+ European Storm Petrels and Manxies, but also saw Arctic, Common & Sandwich Terns, Gannets and had regular Common Dolphin encounters. Tad choppy so only took a few photos! #birdingWales

We kicked off our events schedule this week with a fantastic few days in partnership with @officialblack2nature, with 14 young people joining us for three nights. We're so proud of everything they learnt and for throwing themselves so enthusiastically into the events.

I am privileged to be able to land on RSPB Grassholm Island to undertake fieldwork with Northern Gannets. Very occasionally this necessitates an overnight stay, leading to the opportunity to see the sun set there if the weather plays ball. Magic! #BirdingWales

First pelagic trip of 2025 off the Pembrokeshire coast today, a really enjoyable day with the highlight being this Wilson's Storm Petrel (thanks to @markhipkin.bsky.social for the excellent photos). #BirdingWales

Thrilled to see this juvenile Eurasian Curlew on @skomerisland.bsky.social today. At the same time sad that this is the only place that Curlew breed in Pembrokeshire (4 pairs this year). Not a single pair across the whole of the mainland... #BirdingWales

All trips now fully booked. To be added to the waiting list, please email [email protected].

Now just one place remaining on the final trip of the season on 14th September 👇 #BirdingWales

Just one pelagic trip to the Celtic Deep with places remaining this year. Surely 14th September gives us the best chance of large shearwaters, if recent years are anything to go by? #BirdingWales

What. A. Bird. 😍

One bird. 399 pieces of plastic. 55 g. This is not our record.

Final full birding day of the @wisebirding.bsky.social tour in Armenia. Started with a bang with a singing Bimaculated Lark overhead as we stepped out of the vehicle! The stunning setting of Mount Aragats provided us with Radde's and Alpine Accentor, and many Horned Larks. #WiseBirding #Armenia

Day 9 of the @wisebirding.bsky.social tour in Armenia was all about Armash Fish Ponds, with. Armash was heaving with birds. We saw all of our main targets, including White-tailed Lapwing (pic), Grey-headed Swamphen, Moustached Warbler & Blue-cheeked Bee-eater. #WiseBirding #birds #birding #Armenia

We saw all of our day 8 targets on our @wisebirding.bsky.social! Caspian Snowcock, White-throated Robin, Finsch's Wheatear, Grey-necked Bunting and a host of other top birds including a bonus Trumpeter Finch. Can day 9 top that? And can you spot the Snowcock 👇? #WiseBirding #birds #birding #Armenia