A childhood dream fulfilled for me last night with a short feature on Springwatch! Thanks to Jo and Josh for making it such a cracking segment! And everyone who came along on the night @finleyhutchins2.bsky.social @sibthorpia.bsky.social @jamesdrage.bsky.social @leelachanner.bsky.social #teammoth

Finally found my first nudibranch yesterday after 7 years of abject failure in the rock pools of Falmouth. This Orange-clubbed Sea Slug (Limacia clavigera) was hiding beneath some kelp. With @leelachanner.bsky.social

Polycera quadrilineata in Falmouth yesterday, with @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social. Spotted floating on the surface at the edge of the rocks, and seemed to be using the tide to move between different areas of seaweed. Time for some research...

An incredible night's mothing at Pendennis Castle yesterday resulted in migrants galore! 13(!) Eastern Bordered Straw were the highlight, with good numbers of lots of other migrants too. With @finleyhutchins2.bsky.social @leelachanner.bsky.social #teammoth

A fantastic puffin and seabird cruise with @harbourbirds.bsky.social! Plenty of auks, including the sought-after puffins; common and sandwich terns hunting; a couple of gannets; and a beautiful sunset by the Old Harry Rocks. Thanks for the suggestion @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social

Incredibly exciting news, one of our newly returned 2-year old Ospreys, male 5R0 has just briefly landed on a harbour nest platform with Scottish ringed female 6J8, a 2024 female from the Tweed Valley & was recently seen in the Usk Valley @careyssecretgarden.bsky.social @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social

Busy weekend with seabird cruise on Sat eve, then back-to-back spring and sunset safaris y'day & today! Seabird highlights - 3 Pom Skua, 3 Puffin, stacks of Guillemot + great views of Kittiwake & Razorbill Harbour highlights - Osprey hunting, sum-plum sanderling, Grey Plover, hunting Hobby & more

Springwatch is back tonight folks, 8pm, BBC2! I've got a feeling it's going to be a corker 👀 !

A nice walk to Ham Common at lunch delivered plenty of good inverts. The highlights being my vote for Britain's Favourite Butterfly (vote at britainsfavouritebutterfly.co.uk ), a Sawfly (Strongylogaster sp.), and what I think is Ptychoptera contaminata? @dorsetbutterflies.bsky.social

It ain't easy being green 🟢🟩💚 The Hairstreaks are being done unbelievably dirty by the main illustrations only being upperwing :( Go and vote for your favourite UK butterfly! britainsfavouritebutterfly.co.uk/butterfly/gr... britainsfavouritebutterfly.co.uk

BLOG ALERT: It has been a while since I have shared a blog post, mostly because this one took me so long to write. This a little bit about my trip to Uganda with @leelachanner.bsky.social . Trigger warning for an image of a dead animal! single-handed-naturalist.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-...

Are you aged 11–17 and do you love nature? There's still time to apply for our brilliant BTO Bird Camp in Dorset, 17–19 July, kindly supported by @harbourbirds.bsky.social Applications by Sunday at 23.59 please! www.bto.org/our-work/you... 📷 BTO England Bird Camp staff in 2023, BTO Youth

I had an eventful morning helping out on our Osprey Recovery tour with @harbourbirds.bsky.social . I was scanning the trees over Carey's when I picked out a funny looking kite. A few seconds of checking it confirmed it as a Black Kite!!!! My rarest find ever, and Dorset gets better and better!

Looking forward to this next weekend! Now open to under 30s too 🪶🤩 Book for free here: www.bto.org/our-work/eve... @btobirds.bsky.social @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social

Osprey soaring over Wareham Channel by Arne viewed from Ham Common Viewpoint. Spent a while circling low over Shipstal before being lost to view at 4:55. @harbourbirds.bsky.social

This month's main paper in British Birds: Observations on the use of a solar park by Corn Buntings in southern England Read more: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti... 📸Thom Shannon

The Swineham Red-Spotted Bluethroat showed briefly this morning at 9:49. My second lifer this week after seeing the Forster's Tern on Brownsea Lagoon on Friday. Dorset seems to have some pretty good birds! @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social @harbourbirds.bsky.social

Brilliant Spring Safari this AM: 5 WT Eagle, 1 Osprey, 3 Spoonbill, 1 Common Sand, 2 Whimbrel, 2 Marsh Harrier, c50 Avocet, 20+ Swallow, c20 Dunlin, c10 Common Tern, 1 FORSTER’S TERN (Brownsea Lagoon), 1 Red Kite, c300 Blackwit, 2 Greenshank @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social @birdguides.bsky.social

Interloper at Lytchett Bay @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social proved to be a good birding (and more importantly butterfly) companion this afternoon. Looks like you have another good un @harbourbirds.bsky.social (although we didn’t find any of his target birds, so may be a Jonah…!)

It was good to see my first few Orange-Tips of the year today at Lytchett Bay, as well as my first Bearded Reedling in Dorset at Swineham. With @mick666.bsky.social @dorsetbutterflies.bsky.social

Excited to have moved down to Poole to start working with @harbourbirds.bsky.social ! Also excited to be exploring a new patch, Ham Common looks to be a treat and I can't wait to be visiting regularly throughout the summer!

Was incredible to see this movement of spotless policemen skipper butterflies on the Mweya Peninsula in Uganda yesterday evening! Fortunately @leelachanner.bsky.social had seen it before, and shared this paper about the phenomenon doi.org/10.4314/met....

Dynamic balance of plants and megafauna on the geological time scales and not a succession👇 "Revisiting Europe's temperate forests: Palaeoecological evidence for an herbivory-driven woodland-grassland mosaic biome" www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 🧪 ⚒️ #Geology #Paleobio #Macroecology

More blogged birding exploits. This time from a little trip to Norfolk with @joesn.bsky.social #UKBirding single-handed-naturalist.blogspot.com/2026/02/trip...

My blog about a couple of days of very enjoyable January birding. Thanks for reading and reposting. #ukbirding #birds

See below for an excellent birding blog (unbiased perspective from a potentially biased individual)

I've started a blog to start the new year, and the first post is up about my trip to France for the new year. I haven't quite got the hang of brevity yet, but don't let that stop you from getting to the treat at the end: single-handed-naturalist.blogspot.com/2026/01/new-...

A trip to the Grotte de l'Hortus in Hérault this morning provided a long awaited lifer in the form of a wallcreeper. It was joined on the crags by a supporting cast of three blue rock thrush, peregrine, and crag martins. With @leelachanner.bsky.social

A crested tit hollering in a shrub outside the window where I'm staying in the Pyrenees was my first bird of 2026! Hopefully many more to come

Been working on a little video looking at IDing Aythya ducks over the past month. Feel free to give it a watch here as a little early Christmas present (if you're a fan of niche ducks): youtu.be/f4aF7_zONIM?...

Been working on a little video looking at IDing Aythya ducks over the past month. Feel free to give it a watch here as a little early Christmas present (if you're a fan of niche ducks): youtu.be/f4aF7_zONIM?...

I can't recommend this enough! Come work with a brilliant team of young people enthusiastic about the natural world

The Ring-necked Duck which has been enjoying Helston boating lake recently came very close yesterday! #ukbirding @cbwps.org.uk

Great couple of days birding down here in the South West. A quick trip down the Lizard on Tuesday for the Steppe Grey Shrike was followed by a day trip across to Scilly yesterday, where the Eyebrowed Thrush showed incredibly well despite the rain!

Bonkers day-trip to St Agnes yesterday provided two lifers. The mourning dove didn't move much but the spotted sandpiper, american pipit, and hoopoe all put on a show to make up for it. With @leelachanner.bsky.social @liamlangley1.bsky.social and quite a few others!

Impressive showing from the Arctic Tern that's been about at Argal Res for the past few days @cbwps.org.uk @leelachanner.bsky.social

Just back from a pelagic trip out to the Whittard Canyon area on the continental shelf edge with @scillypelagics.bsky.social @scottinscilly.bsky.social @nomadbirder.bsky.social Madeiran Storm Petrel reclassified from MEGA!!! to scarce summer visitor in one evening with 84 counted last night! 😂

Had a great time at Spurn's #migfest this weekend. Not too many birds but good to spend some time with friends new and old. with @joesn.bsky.social @finchleybirder.bsky.social @samodonnell25.bsky.social @desertwarbler.bsky.social @amiranuseibeh.bsky.social and many many more

Lovely to see a few knot this morning at Snettisham, accompanied by a spectacular supporting cast of glossy ibis and little stint with @joesn.bsky.social @rspbtitchwellsnett.bsky.social

Another invert treat from the BTO weekend in Shropshire. A Dark Sword Grass from the moth trap!

Had a great time last weekend in Shropshire with BTO Youth, I was just looking through my pictures from the weekend and saw this shot of a comma. Birding highlights were hobby, yellow wags, and whinchat @finchleybirder.bsky.social

Last Monday I ran into this male Lesser Stag Beetle on the path up to Pendennis in Falmouth. Not the first lesser stag I've seen in Fal over the past few years, making up for the lack of greater stags I've seen in London over that same time.

Please give this a watch so I didn't spend all afternoon collecting ticks for nothing!

If you would like to see our crack team catch some flying insects, watch this!

Lads it's Tottenham :)

ICONIC

Do you have any birding equipment that is in need of a new home? Donate it to BTO and we'll help to redistribute it to a young person, school or university across the UK. ➡️ www.bto.org.uk/equip... #BirdingGear The Equipment Donation Scheme is kindly supported by @opticron.bsky.social

Pilning Wetlands 10:45 - 13:00 turned up a first whitethroat, sedge warbler, reed warbler, and yellow wagtail of the year for me. Along with 6 little ringed plover and c.40 black tailed godwit on the scrapes (which flew off about midday). #AvonBirds #LowCarbonBirding @bristolbirding.bsky.social

I've recently moved to Bristol and have been trying to explore the surrounding area. A trip to Ubley Warren on Saturday in search of reptiles didn't disappoint with adder, grass snake, and plenty of common lizards seen! @leelachanner.bsky.social

A surprising highlight of my walk along the South West coast path between Swanpool and Maenporth was a pair of Bloody-nosed Beetles breeding! Spring seems to have well and truly sprung here in Cornwall #UKWildlife