Well that was unexpected. Broad-billed Sandpiper at QE2 (Walton) this afternoon. Think was taken by a Peregrine a few minutes later. #surreybirds #rarebirdsUK. The definition of inland reservoir patch gold. Almost like the Enhanced Games!!

Leicester Cathedral A three camera system here like a classic sitcom. Camera 2 has a view down the historic Silver Street, and of some tables outside the Globe (apparently Leicester’s oldest pub) leicesterperegrines.org.uk/streaming/

Bleak but fair commentary www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

If you are short of time, listen to +29 minutes. www.mprnews.org/episode/2026...

Well worth ten minutes of your time. Some of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper footage is simply phenomenal, with some rarely documented behaviour. Talk about up close and personal. youtu.be/s0zZpbo1Jbg

Check this out. Absolutely stunning find.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza caused a mass die-off in Eurasian cranes during their autumn migration through Germany, France and Spain. More than 18,000 dead cranes were reported dead in Germany alone. The full demographic impact of this mortality on the crane population needs to be assessed.

Heads up! It's holiday gift season for many. Treat yourself or a friend to 'Birds of the World' and save 25%. Just go to birdsoftheworld.org and hit SUBSCRIBE. Then use coupon DECEMBER during checkout.

Slaty-masked Tinamou (Crypturellus resonans) new to science found in western Brazil. See also Ebird checklist in comments. mapress.com/zt/article/v...

Siberian Pipit - potentially overlooked on a wetland fringe near you #UKBirding #NextBritishFirst 🪶

Our paper in December's @britishbirds.bsky.social describes success in using sound recording for detecting Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers. We found Lesser Spots still present in woodlands where they have not been seen/heard for years. This is very exciting www.woodpecker-network.org.uk/index.php/ne...

“The highest levels were found in Irish breakfast cereal, followed by Belgian wholemeal bread, then German wholemeal bread, then French baguette. It was found across a huge range of products, from spaghetti, to cheese scones and ginger bread.” 🥖

Congratulations to my colleague at Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust Dr @hannahjsellers.bsky.social on the publication of the second paper from her PhD! Read the #OpenAccess paper: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Volume up 🔊... The wonderful sound of a couple of hundred Twite - known here in Shetland as 'Linties' - at Loch of Spiggie in one of the 40 'Bumblebird' wildlife-friendly crops grown by crofters and the Shetland Species on the Edge team in 2025. 👏 #BirdingScotland #UKbirding #Birds #UKWildlife

This Swallow at Balranald, N Uist this afternoon appears to be the American subspecies: erythrogaster due to the lack of a dark band across the lower throat.

A trip to Aylestone Meadows, Leicester for the Dusky Warbler, which showed well despite its reputation as a 'skulker'. A bogey bird put to rest, my 7th British lifer for 2025. Thanks to the finder @beidaihebirder.bsky.social for help locating the bird. Photo by @jcbirder.bsky.social #UKbirding

Proof lightning does strike twice. @beidaihebirder.bsky.social found the second Dusky Warbler at Aylestone Meadows, 100m from the site of the Christmas Eve 2021 bird. Proved patchworking works. #vc55birds #ukbirding

After a dawn raid on the Point, this little beauty was cowering in the buckthorn on my birding walk back, not far south of the Breach at Spurn. Thomas Willoughby’s brilliant pic. Bird of a lifetime. A British tick as well 😂

Eastern Yellow Wagtail on St Kilda today! Sound recording on a phone isn't easy, but the bird had a short raspy call, not dissimilar to a Citrine Wag. @hebridesbirds.bsky.social @birdguides.bsky.social

Hand held iPhone Bempton Swift.

Wow! Tracking a butterfly with motus!

Just published: Conservation genomics of two endangered buntings reveal genetic diversity before and after severe population declines. doi.org/10.1186/s129... Despite severe population declines, both species retained high genetic diversity but experienced increased inbreeding. #ornithology #birds

Nothing obvious here at present.

Yellow-browed Bunting trapped, ringed and released at the Swannery. It's flown to the hedge which runs alongside the Swannery grounds and the bird may be viewable from the permissive path heading west from Grove Lane.

Pechora Pipit wasn’t on my radar this morning, so a quick trip south under the Tyne for this mainland mega was somewhat of a a surprise! #NEBirding #RarebirdsUK

It is remarkable that, in a region as heavily studied as the Mediterranean, it is still possible to discover places were a "raptor river" takes place tinyurl.com/mu77m7hc Mellone et al. 2025. Akritas Cape: a new raptor migration hot spot in the Balkans. Bird Conservation International

New raptor species for the Americas! More than ten years ago John Webster photographed a harrier at Christ Church, Barbados. It was filed as a Northern in eBird all these years, until spotted by Paul Buckley and confirmed by Dick Forsman. Via DF. ebird.org/checklist/S2...

A patch Fox taking advantage of a water bucket early this morning. Spare a thought for our urban wildlife in these temperatures and leave some liquid refreshment out. #FoxOfTheDay

1960s acid jazz album cover. These birds are way too hip. Agami Herons, Agami Island #CostaRica #birds #nature #herons

A female Western Gull was recorded riding 150km in a garbage truck from San Francisco to a compost facility in Central CA, probably to forage. TWICE. An innovator, an icon, a genius. This is one of my favorite @waterbirdsociety.bsky.social papers I've ever handled as managing editor #ornithology

A new point in history has been reached, entomologists say, as climate-led species’ collapse moves up the food chain even in supposedly protected regions free of pesticides. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

💥🔥😍 Male Eyebrowed Thrush at Gutcher, Yell today. Could be extremely elusive, but does occasionally hop out of cover onto the lawn. Amazing find by Christian! 😎👍 #YellBirding #Shetland ##RareBirdAlertUk #Birdguides #RareBirdsUK

The recent wet weather has given the patch some respite in the last few days. Hopefully a bit more to come🤞but has produced some nice surprises. A rather magnificent Chicken of the Woods/Sulphur Polypore on this mornings walk.

Our new paper led by Rachel Carmenta explodes the myth that poverty drives biodiversity loss - we show that it is wealth that has a disproportionate role 🌍 authors.elsevier.com/c/1l3Im6gsyP...

Of all the things I was hoping to find today in Georgia today, a Bateleur was not one of them! This juv drifted in from Azerbaijan and over David Gareja before returning that way. First for Azerbaijan and 3rd for Georgia!

This is insane - a cautionary tale for bird photographers intent on changing bird behaviour for a better photograph! 🪶

Competition on Madrid-Barcelona: Average fares down 40%; rail’s share of the air/rail market increases from 59% to 82%. 300+ mile journey where cheapest ticket is the same price as a 12 mile journey by train locally. inspain.news/competition-...

Great find by @saloplarus.bsky.social of Shropshire's first Black Kite at Wood Lane. It hung around the tip there late morning, often chased by 2CY Red Kites and Corvids. #shropshirebirding #ukwildlife 🪶

Thanks to @beidaihebirder.bsky.social finding it, nice to see another inner-City Ring Ouzel at Aylestone Meadows, Leicester. These far from award winning, but managed some snaps from a respectable distance with my P950 superzoom bridge camera #vc55birds

Kicking myself for not taking a camera out this morning after finding this confiding beauty on the patch. C’est la vie. The mobile phone had to do. #AylestoneMeadows #vc55birds

For UK peeps not following climate science across the pond, these came yday: An executive order to override state energy laws that mention climate: www.whitehouse.gov/presidential... Ending one $4M grant to study climate because it "focuses on alarming scenarios" www.commerce.gov/news/press-r...

HULK ADAM SMASHES DIRE WOLVES. Man alive this vexes me, and I am a bit sweary and irritable in this. Enjoy. arutherford.substack.com/p/dire-wolve...

Announcement: Bradgate Park Raptor Viewpoint becomes the first official raptor viewpoint in Leicestershire & Rutland. Located near the War Memorial, the new viewpoint offers a chance of seeing a special new addition to the breeding avifauna of Leicestershire & Rutland, the Eurasian Goshawk!

Area 4x size of UK impacted by #floods in Queensland, Australia. 150k+ farmed animals feared dead. "To see the roos & the wildlife that had no chance of getting out & the sheep that have floated down from a neighbour's place. It's bloody devastating." #ClimateEmergency www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04...

Hoopoe, Blackcap and Blackbird all came aboard the Scillonian III at 49.954895,-6.082266! #UKBirding photos by Ashley Bown