Free UK shipping on all Alula Designs this May bank holiday weekend (offer closes midnight Monday). Available on all designs including our new retro arcade game design aluladesigns.co.uk

A successful trip to RSPB Ouse Fen this evening produced 2 Wood Sandpipers, a drake Garganey and a fly-through Osprey. #UKBirding @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social

There's a mini jobs bonanza just now at BTO! 🐦 Apply to become our next Scottish Raptor Monitoring Coordinator, Biological Data Manager or Research Support Officer via www.bto.org/jobs Birds Science People; it is a powerful combination – will you be part of it?

Super morning out in Cambs. Started with the 6 Dotterel near Gamlinga, plus flyover Tree Pipit. Then Grafham where had a stratospheric adult Little Gull feeding with swifts, 5 Whimbrels east, plus the long staying Great Northern Divers. And finished with 18 Black Terns at Dernford Res #UKBirding

Nice session at Wilbraham Fen, Cambs, this morning; a brief Wheatear, 2 singing Grasshopper Warblers, Cuckoo, Whitethroats on territory and first Lesser Whitethroats of the year @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social #BirdTrack

Yesterday's Ring Ouzel on Chesterten Fen still present this morning and showing a bit better. Such smart-looking birds. When not on the ground is somehow completely disappears in a tiny Hawthorn bush #UKBirding @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social

Male Ring Ouzel on Chesterton Fen horse paddocks this afternoon. A long hoped for find, just over a mile from home. #UKBirding @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social

Sound recording Gannets at Bempton Cliffs today. Songbirds they ain't! xeno-canto.org/1094241 #UKBirding

Nothing beats birds… except FREE SHIPPING 🐦🔥 This weekend only — shop your favourite bird designs with delivery on us. Ends Monday at midnight, so don’t hang about 👀

Spending a lot of work time thinking about Bird Atlas 2027–31, like how to collect breeding evidence. So it was nice this morning to see Mute Swans nest building and a pair of Treecreepers engaged in courtship feeding (never seen this before), both logged in #BirdTrack

Seeing a bit of Mandarin appreciation on here reminded me of this design I did a while back. #MandarinSegment #BirdArt

Are you a skilled birder and want to help others to improve their skills? 🐦 Apply for our Training Officer role via www.bto.org/jobs The successful candidate will join the team at BTO HQ in Norfolk who deliver courses, both in person and online. Application deadline: Sunday 5 April. #Ornithology

We’re pleased to announce the release of the 2024 Seabird Monitoring Programme report, in partnership with JNCC, in association with the RSPB. Click here to read the report: www.bto.org/our-work/sci... Read on for key findings ⬇️ #seabirds @btobirds.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social

First Dark-edged Bee-fly of the year in garden today

Lots of Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming activity this morning. In this spectrogram you can clearly see how GSW drumming both speeds up and loses intensity: initial taps are 0.065 seconds apart, later ones 0.045. 14 taps in just 0.7 seconds. #UKBirding #bioacoustics

Drew a blank looking for Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers in Cambs this morning, but 2 Firecrests (1 singing) were nice compensation. #UKBirding @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social

Back from a great @lesserspotnet.bsky.social weekend in Kent discussing the monitoring, ecology and conservation of our smallest woodpecker. Infectious enthusiasm and a wealth of skills and experience shared, topped off by actually seeing them! xeno-canto.org/1086062 #ornithology

Out deploying audio recorders today in the hope of detecting Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers in Cambs. First singing Chiffchaff plus Comma and lots of Brimstones.

1/ Five leading charities forge partnership for bird conservation for the Bird Atlas 2027–31! 🐦 But what is the Bird Atlas? ⬇️🧵 #Ornithology @btobirds.bsky.social @birdwatchireland.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social @rspbscience.bsky.social @scottishbirding.bsky.social @birdsinwales.bsky.social

New 'letter to the editor' criticising a previous paper published in Ecological Indicators is well worth a read: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Includes this quote 'At least two of them (Marazuela Pinela and López Espí) are self-proclaimed silvestristas—the Spanish term for songbird trappers'

For a limited time only (until midnight Sunday), Sand Martins will be delivering all Alula Design products for free as they head north. Order now to avoid disappointment. aluladesigns.co.uk/ #BirdArt #UKBirding #Freepost

The Woodpecker Network is encouraging birders to detect Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers by using passive acoustic sound recorders:

A nice surprise at work today when @arjuncdutta.bsky.social found these Tundra Bean Geese at @btobirds.bsky.social HQ. Instructive trying to age them with @sconebirding.bsky.social #UKBirding

Been working a lot on woodpeckers recently, which inspired this new design for @aluladesigns.bsky.social

We are receiving increased reports of dead auks, including Puffins, particularly in North East Scotland. It's quick and easy to report any dead or sick birds you find through the 'Deceased bird' function on the home page of the BirdTrack app Photo: Puffin by Richard Selman / BTO #ukbirding

1/ Survey! 📝 How are automated species identifications from passive acoustic monitoring verified and quality-assured in practice? #bioacoustics Take part here ➡️ forms.gle/Ak3eYgZivUPa...

Want to learn what birds are singing? Join our Bird Sound ID in Early Spring training course ➡️ www.bto.org/training #Ornithology

Free UK delivery on all Alula Designs clothing and mugs this weekend, from 9am Friday to midnight Sunday. Visit aluladesigns.co.uk/ for our latest designs #Birds #BirdArt #UKBirding

1/ Spotted Flycatchers are in trouble, declining by 92% in the UK between 1967 and 2020. New work led by @cateden91.bsky.social & involving BTO has revealed the importance of rivers for the survival of this Red-listed migratory species. ⬇️ #Ornithology 📖 www.bto.org/Spotted-Flyc...

⭐️An exciting opportunity for a fully funded PhD with BTO British Trust for Ornithology and Liverpool John Moores University, to study the population-level movement patterns of over-wintering #Curlew!⭐️ #ornithology #movementecology

✂️ Yesterday I finally responded to @agakowalska.bsky.social’s challenge to make a collage from a single piece of packaging. I present to you a green (tea) woodpecker, made from a big Yorkshire Tea box. It was fun and I’ll be rooting through our recycling bin for more materials later on ♻️

A four Aythya lunchbreak - as well as Tufted Duck and Pochard, drake Scaup and Ferruginous Duck at Milton Country Park. Top find by @jonheath.bsky.social #UKBirding

Sorting through some old stuff and found this incomplete Egyptian Plover painting. Really need to get back to painting! #BirdArt

A snowy but unsuccessful attempt to see the Black-winged Kite at Ludham (missed it by 15 mins!). Consolation in form of Bewick's Swans (a group of 6 over, then same or different 4), Water Pipit and 6 White-fronted Geese. #UKBirding

For various reasons 2025 has been a challenging year and my lowest birding effort for years. Somehow still saw 200+ species and found a couple of local rarities. Hopefully more birding in 2026! Happy #UKBurding

Red-necked Grebe, the best from a 10k walk around Flamborough today. Also hundreds of Guillemots already on the cliffs #UKBirding

Also at Filey, one of two Purple Sandpipers feeding in the wrack #UKBirding

Birders' Christmas 'robin' - the Eastern Black Redstart at Filey. It put on quite a show, actively feeding at the base of the cliffs and among the rocks #UKBirding

Thanks to @lothianrecorder.bsky.social for picking out the White-winged Scoter at Ferny Ness. Extremely distant in low light and on the edge of ID range with my optics. Photo shows general view, not the WwS, probably #UKBirding

Flat calm at Ferny Ness, Lothian today. 50+ Long-tailed Ducks, including the first I've ever heard displaying in the wild. 20 Slavonian and 1 Red-necked Grebe, 1 Black-throated and 4 Red-throated Diver. Unfortunately the Velvets were mostly too far out for me to find the White-winged. #UKBirding

1/ Can you help us count Bewick's and Whooper Swans for the International Swan Census on 17-18 January 2026? 🦢 Visit the vacant site map to request a site at app.bto.org/gsmp/pub... #Ornithology @webs-gsmp.bsky.social

Last call for UK priority shipping: the Alula Elves are closing the shop at midnight tonight to go birding, so get your final orders in now!

You'll grouse if you're not swift about it. Last orders for Alula Designs for standard UK delivery (16th December), first class (19th) and priority (21st). aluladesigns.co.uk/ #ByBirdersForBirders

The new update to the BirdTrack app introduces several features aimed at helping us collect accurate bird data and alert you to those slip of the finger data entry errors #ukbirding

BTO's Acoustics Pipeline has identified Bush-crickets in ‘bat’ data collected for the Landscape-scale Species Monitoring of Agri-environment Schemes Project & assessed the effects of agri-environment management on these species➡️ www.bto.org/Bush-cricket... #bioacoustics @naturalengland.bsky.social

Hard to believe that 30 years ago today I started work at @btobirds.bsky.social. In that time I've been fortunate to work on some amazing projects with great colleagues and awesome volunteers. Hopefully more of the same with atlases and acoustics on the horizon

Nice to see some water on the Ouse Washes yesterday, and plenty of Whooper Swans. But sadly 2 dead juv Whoopers likely avian flu victims. Reported via #BirdTrack and Defra website #UKBirding

Birdsong is not only beautiful, it’s also full of information. This is where Acoustic Monitoring comes in. Will you support the development of this new and important work? Find out more and donate today ➡️ www.bto.org/acoustic... #bioacoustics #ornithology

After missing a flock of Brent Geese over the patch this morning I was very pleased to pick up 2 adult winter Little Gulls over Ditton Meadows - a mega patch tick! Super views of a displaying Kingfisher too #LowCarbonBirding

One minute of Wigeon whistles #Birds soundcloud.com/user-9092529...