Not much birding this weekend, meaning that the Red-necked Grebe, seen briefly and fairly distantly at Fen Drayton RSPB, Cambridgeshire, was the so-called highlight! A bit of video is the best I can do... 14/12/25. @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social #birds 🪶🐦 www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRgE...

Weather in Norfolk was poor today, meaning that birding was pretty limited and pretty gloomy. The highlight was this Siberian Chiffchaff, among a number of flocks of numerous species, at Titchwell RSPB, Norfolk, 7/12/25. #birds 🪶🐦

6/12/25 - a great day for me in terms of UK ticks: 2020 (Ring-billed Gull and Sociable Plover) and now, in 2025, this Lesser Crested Tern, at Dawlish Warren, Devon. #birds 🪶🐦

A quiet couple of weeks but managed to get 90 minutes of birding at Cley today, 29/11/25 and so nabbled my best UK views of Water Pipit, plus close-up of Jack and Common Snipe. #birds 🪶🐦

Stand-out bird today was the Hume's Leaf Warbler at Holme NOA, Norfolk, 16/11/25. Great views, in view most of the time, calling occasionally. Managed a video and some decent pics. #birds 🪶🐦https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZbp4JioG74

Friend @jonnycaribou69.bsky.social and I caught up with this untickable but amazingly bold Boat-tailed Grackle at Holbury, Hampshire today, 15/11/25. Yes, I know I'm just adding to the zillions of pics but I want you to know that I saw it too #FOMO #birds 🪶🐦

90 minutes at Ferry Meadows, Cambs, 9/11/25, gave @jonnycaribou69.bsky.social and me good views of YB Warbler, Whooper Swan and a very confident Great White Egret. Then to Titchwell RSPB for a good afternoon that brought us 79 species. #birds 🪶

decent views but no photos of the Dusky Warbler at Aylestone today, but the Lesser Scaup at Ditchford showed consistently well, while the American Golden Plover at Eyebrook finally gave itself up to @jonnycaribou69.bsky.social and me, hearing its distinctive call, 7/11/25. #birds 🪶

Views of the Pallas's Warbler at the Naze, Essex on 1/11/25 were predictably brief, though my circa 2 seconds of footage was turned into a series of smart stills by @darkus-markus.bsky.social (ta!). @birdguides.bsky.social #birds 🪶

Back to Suffolk for another look at the Brown Shrike, this time with @jonnycaribou69.bsky.social . Not the loveliest habitat (rusty barbed wire) behind a chicken-wire fence, but the bird showed well even in the wind and rain. #birds 🪶

Two great American waders in a day; the Pectoral Sandpiper at Hollowell took three goes to get, but when I eventually saw it, it was stupidly close! #birds 🪶 The White-rumped Sandpiper was much more distant at Blithfield Reservoir, Staffordshire.

my best views of a Brown Shrike in the UK, Upper Hollesley Common, Suffolk, 24/10/25. #birds 🪶

A rush off and a rush back for a mega Black-faced Bunting, Spurn, East Yorkshire, 21/10/25. #birds 🪶

A few hours' birding spread over a couple of days brought audio Dusky Warbler, two YB Warbler (Norfolk), a typically confiding Snow Bunting (Leics) and a lovely, active Jack Snipe (Northants), 18-19/10/25 @jonnycaribou69.bsky.social #birds 🪶

Dipper for dipping day, Scalby, North Yorkshire, 10/10/25. #birds 🪶

So I didn't get to try for the WT Needletail, but a late pm dash for my best (only good) views of a rare-for-the-UK Baird's Sandpiper paid off. My favourite moments are those when the bird is at ease, I sit still and just enjoy it coming towards me, nonchalantly. @jonnycaribou69.bsky.social #birds 🪶

Back to East Anglia for great views of the Turkestan Shrike at Dunwich then Greater Short-toed Lark at Snettisham, Norfolk, 5/10/25. White-tailed Eagle and Yellow-browed Warbler also great to see. #birds 🪶

A decent, if not earth-shattering start to October 2025: Red-tailed Shrike (mega rare) at Dunwich Heath and American Golden Plover (scarce), Pitsford Reservoir, Northamptonshire. #birds 🪶photos taken in less than ideal conditions

Lesser Grey Shrike, Winterton Dunes, Norfolk, 28/9/25. My 4th for the UK, and 2nd for Norfolk. #birds 🪶

Pechora Pipit, South Shields, County Durham, 21/9/25. Not a bird I contemplated seeing when I woke up this morning. #birds 🪶

Good few hours at Titchwell 20/9/25: two year "ticks" and a host of confiding waders at the shore. #birds 🪶

After a couple of abortive attempts, it was great to see the Lesser Yellowlegs at Etton-Maxey Pits, Cambs, making it a "Cambs tick" on 18/9/25. #birds 🪶Had only about 25 minutes with this before it flew off SE, calling in a very similar way to a Greenshank.

#ornithology www.nature.com/articles/s41...

great day in East Anglia today with four year ticks and what great birds! Curlew Sandpipers, Hoopoe, Wryneck and Red-necked Phalarope. #birds 🪶

Just back from France - great holiday and some brilliant bonus #birds 🪶! Citril Finch I've already mentioned, but the Lammergeier took some beating, as did the Wrynecks; Col des Tentes = fabulous! Video trip report: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h0y...

Currently in the French Pyrénées - three great French "ticks": Wryneck (I've now found 3), Citril Finch - most-wanted!!! and Egyptian Vulture (meh...). #birds 🪶 The Col des Tentes was one of the best places I've been for birding in France.

a long but easy walk at Boyton Marshes RSPB, 9/8/25, culminated in brilliant views www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RO3... of the long-staying Black Stork - glad to have joined the party! #birds 🪶

a late evening twitch to March Farmers RSPB, @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social , failed to produce the hoped-for views of Purple Heron, but this Bittern was a great consolation, 7/8/25. #birds 🪶

2/8/25 #birds 🪶 This Pectoral Sandpiper at Freiston Shore (great reserve!) @rspb.bsky.social rewarded the longer walk round to get a closer look. Nice to find it after about 20 minutes' scanning. Other goodies included Ruff, Whimbrel. @jonnycaribou69.bsky.social @rspbframptonmarsh.bsky.social

Not the heron I wanted to see, but this Grey Heron at Kingfishers Bridge, Cambridgeshire, was impressive in its determination to swallow a tench, which I think it eventually did! @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social #birds 🪶https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Omrmb3Xjjb4

Timed it all wrong to get good looks at waders at @rspb.bsky.social Snettisham, Norfolk, today, but this Turtle Dove came a lot closer. #birds 🪶#norfolk

An amazing find at the tiny Dernford Reservoir, Cambridgeshire 6/7/25: Spotted Sandpiper! @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social #birds 🪶 www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9E0...

hot weather isn't always great for birding, but I spent a pleasant two hours at home looking for a Cattle Egret - saw 30 species but no Egret. The swifts continue to delight... and it was nice to see swallows and a kestrel 2/7/25 #birds 🪶

Before the great find, @jonnycaribou69.bsky.social and I were watching Purple Emperors at Woodwalton Fen, Cambridgeshire, 22/6/25. #butterflies 🦋

not often you get a big find: friend @jonnycaribou69.bsky.social (and I) found a Collared Pratincole (rare for the UK) at @rspbframptonmarsh.bsky.social today! #birds 🪶GET IN!!!

14/6/25: an afternoon out in Suffolk, with Dartford Warbler and Caspian Tern as the highlights. #birds 🪶Three different singing male Dartford Warblers! www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJC9...

12/6/25: actually I think this might be the pick of my pics of the Nightjars tonight... #birds 🪶

12/6/25: awesome hour watching Eurasian Nightjars in Norfolk this evening. At least 5 males seen, and one female (presumably more were at the nest). Supporting cast of Tree Pipits and Woodcocks. #birds 🪶 www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZvw...

Surprising news that the Song Sparrow at Thornwick Bay, East Yorkshire had reappeared after a day's absence led to a successful twitch for a great bird. #birds 🪶https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlFasP9UYy8

a few hours in Norfolk today, 8/6/25. Good views of the Marsh Warbler at a windy Cley, no pics, then Little Tern, then to Kelling Heath where some Silver-studded Blues have started to come out, and Spotted Flycatcher and a few Tree Pipits at a Nightjar site near Swaffham. #birds 🪶

No pics, but a distant digiscoped video of the smart Red-backed Shrike that was reported at Fen Drayton Lakes RSPB, Cambridgeshire today, 7/6/25. #birds 🪶 @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6LG...

#birds 🪶 posting this trip report of the 3.5 days spent in Corsica last weekend (28/5-1/6/25). Some gorgeous species and views. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqwb...

late May and a visit to the amazing island of Corsica. Mostly for birds, but it delivered on other wildlife too - sharing some of the #birds 🪶 to start. First the main draws... Corsican Nuthatch, Marmora's Warbler, Corsican Finch and Moltoni's Warbler

a windy Bank Holiday spoiled the birding, but still, great to see my first "wild" beaver, in Canterbury, and a Grey Wagtail on the same river, 25/5/25, then on 26/5/25, Ouse Fen delivered its usual fare of herons and other water birds. @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social #birds 🪶

Classic early morning Welsh woodland birding today, 18/5/25. Common Redstart, Pied Flycatcher, Spotted Flycatcher and Wood Warbler. Depleted numbers, perhaps, but here they're to be found in decent numbers. #birds 🪶@rspbcymru.bsky.social

The White-winged Black Tern at Summer Leys wasn't too far from my route home from Wales this evening, though the bird didn't do the decent thing and give much of a close-up (18/5/25). #birds 🪶

Glorious Whinchat at World's End, Wales, yesterday 17/5/25. #birds 🪶

Congratulations to Jack Nicholas (2021), Matt Morgan (2024) and Arden Berlinger (2020), who have all been named in Cambridge crews to row on the Tideway on 12/13 April. (1/3) #BoatRace2025 #CUBC #LightBlues 📷 Headshots: Row360

Pembroke is pleased to announce the appointment of Luke Fitzgerald as its next Janeway Director of Music, succeeding Anna Lapwood. Luke joins Pembroke from Coventry Cathedral, where he is currently Acting Director of Music.

11/5/25: Red-footed Falcon at Swaffham Prior Fen. At last some good close views! #birds 🪶 www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G5e...