So far it has been an excellent spring for Ring Ouzel on Soil Hill, with this very handsome male now continuing into his third day! However, he is a particularly elusive individual, and my sightings have been restricted to brief appearances! #SoilHillBirding

I was beginning to wonder where the Soil Hill Wheatears were this spring... So it was a relief to find a fresh dumping of 10 this morning! Quite simply the finest bird in Britain! #SoilHillBirding #UKBirding

An excellent morning birding on Soil Hill, in pleasant spring conditions! The undoubted highlight was my 7th Soil Hill Osprey heading distantly north! A very nice backup cast, including this rather conspicuous Jack Snipe not even requiring the thermal to spot! #SoilHillBirding #UKBirding

Paraguay 2025 was an awesome trip, with 417 birds, 28 mammals and a host of other wildlife! We had such a blast that the trip report required 93 pages! I can absolutely recommend Paraguay as a fantastic birding destination! www.cloudbirders.com/be4/download... @neobirdconserve.bsky.social

I initially missed notifications about Common Scoters heading inland last night, so didn't start listening until 21:30! A flock heard over the house at 21:40 convinced me to head up to Soil Hill, but after an hour I only managed a single flock of 6 birds! #SoilHillBirding #UKBirding

A glorious return to Soil Hill for the week! I hoped for some Whooper Swan action, and I got some with birds distantly on Mixenden Reservoir! But the show was very much stolen by this handsome male Ring Ouzel, my 1st March record here! The Hill never disappoints! #SoilHillBirding #UKBirding

Nice to bump into a little flavour of the UK whilst out and about birding in Paris today! Enjoying the succulent Parisian lawns alongside two White Wagtails!

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker! Finally! After dipping in 6 (SIX!) different counties, in my seventh I was able to rectify my most obvious omission from my British list! #UKBirding

💥SOIL HILL PATCH TICK💥 💥NUMBER 133💥 💥ICELAND GULL💥 I was not expecting much today, it being a blustery February morning! But Soil Hill always produces! Absolutely incredible scenes when this stunning white-winger flew past! #soilhillbirding #UKbirding

Great Black-backed Gull!!! For just the second time in my 19 years watching Soil Hill! It's been a steady February on Soil Hill for my first visits of 2026, but I certainly enjoyed this brute heading north this morning! #SoilHillBirding #UKBirding

Despite several visits to South America, before visiting Paraguay, I had never managed to see a Tapir! However, that was laid to rest in spectacular style, with nine encounters during a month of traveling the country, including six in one night!

TAPACULO NUMBER 47!!! Arguably my most wanted bird from Paraguay was the Crested Gallito! Having heard but not seen this rather unconventional tapaculo in Argentina, I was keen to right this wrong in my quest to see all the Tapaculos! Mission accomplished in the Paraguayan Chaco!

Not been in Calderdale that much in recent times, so it’s was nice that the local rarity waited two weeks for me to return! An understandably very rare bird in the Pennines, I can now say that I have had a Halifax Shag! #UKBirding

In addition to Paraguay's excellent birds and mammals, we also had memorable reptile encounters! One snake is normally a good trip return, but Paraguay produced six, including three that could kill me; Painted Coralsnake, Painted Lancehead & Mato Grosso Lancehead!

A wet spring had turned the Paraguayan Chaco into a wader paradise! A flock of 150 Stilt Sandpipers was the highlight, but double figures also of Wilson’s Phalarope and hundreds of commoner species! An awesome sight!

When planning this 28 day trip to Paraguay I set myself a target of 400 species! This morning Spix’s Spinetail became the 400th species of the trip, with four days left to spare! 🍺🍻🍺🍻🍺

With no access to either site, it looked like the birding gods had decided we would not be seeing the Endangered White-winged Nightjar! But driving up to the gate and begging for entry got us a fantastic evening in Paraguayan Cerrado! Known from only 5 sites, it is a rare bird!

My photos are certainly not on par with those possible from the Pantanal, but there are only two pairs of Hyacinth Macaws left in Paraguay, making these birds very special! Well worth the trip to seek out these spectacular parrots whilst birding here!

A very enjoyable start to a month birding in Paraguay! Really enjoyed reacquainting myself with Sporophila Seedeaters, one of my favourite Neotropic Genus! Tawny-bellied Seedeater was the most abundant today, a species I have only seen once before! @neobirdconserve.bsky.social

Well that’s a bummer! But what a record for Halifax! If only I was there to see it!

In the summer, I spent two weeks in the Amazon rainforest around the Peruvian town of Iquitos! A few targets missed, but overall very successful! For those interested, I have compiled my experiences in a trip report, now free to gander on Cloudbirders! www.cloudbirders.com/be4/download...

💥SOIL HILL PATCH TICK💥 💥NUMBER 132💥 💥RING-NECKED PARAKEET💥 I was not expecting much for my final Soil Hill visit of the autumn, but then two RN Parakeet flew south! An unexpected patch tick! Also my second Great Egret went north! Absolute scenes! #SoilHillBirding #UKBirding

I was 13 back in 2008, the last time I saw Pochard in Halifax! All it said in my notes was the word ‘Pochard’ plus the location! So it would have been rude not to clear up this record by twitching these three dapper drakes on Ringstone Edge Reservoir this morning! #UKBirding

Despite glorious conditions, it was a rather slow morning on Soil Hill! But Soil Hill always offers something to enjoy! And today it was a flock of four Lesser Redpolls feeding on thistles with Goldfinches! A nice change from the flyover views I usually get here! #SoilHillBirding #UKBirding

Spent the day getting my cetacean fix with the fabulous Risso's Dolphins at Point Lynas, Anglesey! Around 20 individuals drifting around the headland, pulling off some great acrobatics! Well worth a day away from Soil Hill...

A magnificent showing of Pink-footed Goose migration today, with 1016 counted in 19 skeins making their way over Soil Hill this morning! If they had looked down, they would have seen a solitary observer, standing perishing in the cold, yet loving every minute! #SoilHillBirding #UKBirding

Thick, low cloud and strong winds prevented any VizMig from getting going on Soil Hill this morning! Fortunately, the morning was salvaged when I flushed a Grasshopper Warbler, before it showed nicely! My latest on Soil Hill by two weeks! #SoilHillBirding #UKBirding

Finally a clear day to get up to Soil Hill for some succulent VizMig! And a great morning it turned out to be, more than doubling my previous Swallow record count with my new total standing at 249! Also a very enjoyable 1022 Meadow Pipits south! #SoilHillBirding #UKBirding

A delightful end to #Migfest2025 with a double Phalarope day! First the very showy Red-necked Phalarope off Sammies Point, before stopping off at Swillington Ings for a nice Grey Phalarope on the way home! #UKBirding

Raced up to Whiteholme Reservoir to twitch the first Halifax Curlew Sandpiper in 10 years, an overdue Calderdale tick! But upon arrival, I found not one, but two individuals gorging themselves on the ample shoreline! Fab support cast of Little Stint, Dulin & 18 Ringed Plover!

💥💥SOIL HILL PATCH TICK💥💥 💥💥NUMBER 131💥💥 💥💥MEDITERRANEAN GULL💥💥 First morning of the autumn back on the Hill and already a patch tick! Sadly it was rather distant, but stood out a mile from the stream of Black-headed Gulls! #SoilHillBirding #UKBirding

Paris is not exactly a city overflowing with birding opportunities, so I was pretty thrilled to bump into this Pied Flycatcher! Even more thrilled when it turned out there were two!

Day two of our Aquatic Warbler search in Brittany complete with zero Aquatic Warblers to show for our efforts! But we were able to enjoy a very very silly Coypu instead, so not a total loss! Not native to France, but better views than I have ever managed in Argentina or Brazil!

Six weeks in Peru resulted in 21 different monkey species! An absolutely phenomenal result! Hard to pick favourites, but certainly enjoyed seeing my first Saki Monkeys! Four different species encountered, all with equally bizarre faces!

One of the highlights of the Peruvian Amazon was spending time with the Boto and Tucuxi! Never easy to photograph, especially the Tucuxi, but I did my best! Frustrating when they would surface right next to the boat, only to be gone again in seconds!

PYGMY MARMOSET! When planning my trip to Amazonian Peru, this was the mammal I wanted to see the most! And they did not disappoint! Fantastic characters!

It’s my 2,180th species in South America, but this is the one that started my love of birds on this continent! Watching the BBC documentary ‘Andes to Amazon’ back in 2000, I saw the Wire-tailed Manakin lek on my parents TV and knew I wanted to see it! Today was finally that day, although no the lek!

OCELOT!!! ABSOLUTE SCENES!!! Southern Peru had already been excellent for mammals, but last night it reached a new level when I had an this beauty walking down the trail towards me! My first South American cat species! An incredible encounter!

It was a fantastic decision to invest in a thermal for my first trip into the Amazon!Whilst it hasn’t yet produced a Jaguar or Tapir, the mammals have been fantastic! But my dream was to find a sleeping Tinamou… and last night I managed this fabulous White-throated Tinamou!

TAPACULO NUMBER 46!!! The Rusty-belted Tapaculo lurks in the Amazon rainforest of five countries, the most of any Tapaculo! Because of this it has long been a sore spot when working my way through said countries Tapaculo lists! But no more! Phenomenal views in Amazonian Peru!

Had a fantastic morning searching for and then ticking off Inca Wren! And at the same place also saw one of the wonders of the world! Absolutely amazing place! 10/10 would recommend to a friend!

TAPACULO NUMBER 45!!! SCYTALOPUS NUMBER 36!!! Following swiftly on from the last, Vilcabamba Tapaculo is the latest addition to my Tapaculo total! And another rather showy individual as well, displaying its glorious grey and brown plumage!

TAPACULO NUMBER 44!!! SCYTALOPUS NUMBER 35!!! After a years hiatus, I finally returned to my quest of seeing all the Tapaculos! The latest? The Ampay Tapaculo, which decided to show phenomenally well in the Andes of southern Peru! One of my best encounters yet!

It seems to have been a good breeding season so far for the birds on Soil Hill! 8 Whitethroat pairs with 6 confirmed carrying food is a new personal Hill record! Plus 1st time confirming Song Thrush! But none of that compares to this sexy beast I found! 😍😍😍 #SoilHillBirding #UKBirding

It took a cumulative four hours over five days, but I finally FINALLY managed to get one sequence of photos of the Soil Hill Garden Warbler! It then resumed its usual phantom behavior, singing away from the depths of the vegetation! #SoilHillBirding #UKBirding

A drizzly morning saw a new Grasshopper Warbler singing on Soil Hill! A late singer, normally they’ve gone silent by the end of May! My nemesis Garden Warbler continues into its 4th day and still no photo! How can a bird be so vocal but so impossible to see?! #SoilHillBirding #UKBirding

💥SOIL HILL PATCH TICK💥 💥NUMBER 130💥 💥GARDEN WARBLER💥 Despite singing throughout my visit, a frustratingly windy morning meant in 90 minutes I only saw it once with no photos! But still... SPECIES 130 FOR SOIL HILL!!! And Garden Warbler is my 10th Warbler!!! #SoilHillBirding #UKBirding

Another glorious day at Blackstone Edge Reservoir upon Humber... An incredible flock of 15 (FIFTEEN!!!) Sanderlings were enjoying the ample muddy shoreline today, showing very well at times! Inland birding can be hard work at times, but sometimes it's absolutely fantastic! #UKBirding

It was foggy, rainy and windy at Blackstone Edge this morning! Almost unbirdable! Fortunately on the near mud it was just possible to make out a new Sanderling scurrying about among the Dunlin, making it all worthwhile! And then I fled to more sheltered conditions! #UKBirding

The Blackstone Edge Reservoir wader bonanza continues for another day! Nothing unusual, but 13 Ringed Plovers and 6 Dunlin certainly kept me entertained! The Dunlins also continue to be in fine voice, serenading me with their buzzy songs!