December is always too busy, and things at #salopobs get neglected, so it was nice to grab half an hour in the long lost sunlight this morning, with a hunting juv Gos and flyover Great Egret as reward. Merry Christmas one and all ✨️🎄🥂 #lowcarbonbirding #ukbirding

A really nice day in the sun out in East Norfolk today. As well as the four Tundra Bean Geese, I also had 2 White-fronts, as well as 6 Bewick's and 29 Whooper Swans #NorfolkBirding #UKbirding

Happy Winter Solstice! It didn't really get light out today, so we made our own inside 🎄😍✨️

A friend found this Todd's Canada with the Greenland Whitefronts on Kintyre at Rhunahaorine this afternoon #happydays #ukbirding

Three male Hen Harriers of different ages visited the vole fields west of Patrington this morning #ukbirding

Nice lunchtime treat for the last week of work, a smart contrasty 1cy #CaspianGull at the Moody Lane recycling centre in Grimsby 😎 #lincsbirding #humberbirds

Sunk Island sunset #ukbirding

📉 Our new paper shows Bewick’s Swan numbers in NW/NE Europe have fallen to ~12,900 birds - a 56.7% decline since 1995, with further losses predicted by 2026 unless survival or breeding success improves. Flyway-wide conservation is urgent. 🦢 Download paper > tidsskrift.dk/Wildfowl/art... #Ornithology

Richardson’s Cackling Goose on Kintyre today with Canada Geese and Greylags, looks identical to the one from winter 22/23! #argyllbirds 🪶

Harrier heaven in the vole fields at work today: three each of Hen and Marsh Harriers along with Merlin, Peregrine and a dozen Kestrels 😍 #ukbirding 🪶

An hour ago, on Sunk Island in East Yorkshire, the sky lit up with #aurora. Dancing pillars and vivid reds to the naked eye, despite the almost full Moon! Welcome to winter! 💃

This time, the washes were ready! 🦢✅ After a 570km U-turn north to Aberdeenshire, likely due to low water at the Ouse Washes, the same swan has migrated south again & arrived to restored, higher levels. A real-world example of landscape-scale habitat assessment by migratory birds.

The Thurnham Moss Bewick's Swans showed nicely amongst a herd of Whoopers by Clarkson's Farm this afternoon. Unfortunately the same couldn't be said of an interesting wigeon on the Wyre... #lancsbirding #ukbirding

This is cool. Gotta love a Jack Snipe #motus #migration #ukbirding

Another sparkling night on the Long Mynd, and absolutely freezing! Milky Way and airglow shining over the crunchy snow (with apologies for Mr Musk's interference in the corner 🙄) #astrophotography #Shropshire

Goosing Canada style! 2K ‘white-cheeked geese’ to sift through at Martindale Flats on Vancouver Island today. Bulk of Ridgway's Cackling and Dusky Canada (22 neck collars read), with a single Snow. #CanadianBirding

The latest instalment in the harriers in headwinds series, a superb juv Marsh Harrier over the vole fields #ukbirding

Well, that was an exciting commute! #Snow #LongMynd #ChurchStretron #Weather

Glimpsed the 3% waning crescent Moon shining bright in a chilly sky this morning 🌘 #moonhour

A healthy 26/11 from the MV last night, 21/6 macros and 5/5 micros, in all shades of autumn umbers #teammoth #salopmoths #loveatumn

Mothtrap out for the first time in four weeks (work, wind, rain, moon), and there are 12 moths around it including a migrant Rusty-dot Pearl and 6 Decembers 😍 #teammoth #salopmoths

Yomping the Norfolk coast. Blackbirds everywhere; 'tseeping' from under every hedge. Woodcocks errupting at my feet. A Short-eared Owl winging in over brown waves at Cart Gap. Then in the gathering gloom a glowing rump and seven illuminated stripes. What late autumn is all about.

21 Cattle Egrets today! #lancsbirding w3w///recorders.slightly.local

Came across 11 Cattle and 17 Little Egrets in a field on Cockerham Moss Edge this morning, and I'm old enough for that to still be cool. Nice Merlin on the saltmarsh too #lancsbirding #ukbirding

I've taken on a couple of new WeBS @webs-gsmp.bsky.social sites this autumn, one hasn't been counted in my lifetime and the other was my childhood patch. Both had Great Egrets this weekend, unthinkable back in their/my day! #shropshirebirding @btobirds.bsky.social

A few glances outside #salopobs whilst getting ready for school and work confirmed today was another big pigeon day. I counted 5,400 heading SW in some massive flocks 0740-0750, but then we had to go 😟 What could have been... #vismig #ukbirding

A flood of 44,110 Woodpigeons past #salopobs this morning was a new site and county record, and almost overwhelming at times. 5 Egyptian Geese high east were a bit of a surprise #vismig #ukbirding

It was great to spend a few days in the west Norfolk wildlands recently, with spectacular numbers and variety of birds #landscaperecovery #ukbirding

Flock of 21 Whoopers went WNW past us in Lincs this morning on a direct line from Welney to the Ribble... #migration #climatechange #ukbirding

Masterful use of the headwind by one of today's Sunk Island Hen Harriers #loveautumn #ukbirding

Woodpigeons on the move again on this beautiful sunny morning: 18,800 flew SW at #salopobs along with 1,240 Starlings, Chaffinches, Skylarks and a few more thrushes #loveautumn #vismig #ukbirding

Lots of colourful circles in the sky over #Shropshire today. Lunar halo and fireworks over Church Stretton and a late afternoon rainbow over the Wrekin #atmosphericoptics #ukweather #stormhour

Cackling Goose at Nerabus, Islay this afternoon. Very dark brown and nice little gular stripe fits tavernii?

After a few days away, this morning's #vismig was headlined by 426 Chaffinches +Brambling, 4,430 Woodies and 620 Starlings. All under the, er, watchful eye of the zombie Fallow buck 👀 #salopobs

The cruelty of bird migration laid bare at Cley this morning as a tired Woodcock reached the end of its sea crossing to be met by a hungry Peregrine. Knocked into the water the Woodcock ultimately succumbed to the rough breakers while the Peregrine left with just a tail feather. #NorfolkBirding

Another great #salopobs morning with 61 species recorded including 💥19,120💥 Woodpigeons SW, 2 Great Egrets, Brambling +225 Chaffinches, 79 Fieldfares, 2,310 LBBGs... ebird.org/checklist/S2... #vismig #ukbirding

Yay. Priceless. The right column at the right time. And a gleefully English two fingers to the haters.

A magical morning at #salopobs (even though I overslept 🤦🏻‍♂️) with 4 Whoopers SE (obs yeartick 128), a Great Egret high south, 10,060 Woodies, 20 Crossbills, double Gos 😍 ebird.org/checklist/S2... #loveautumn #vismig #ukbirding

Finally a clear spell and two comets from the garden! Comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon🍋 looking great near Arcturus in the west, and the slightly less inspiring Comet C/2025 R2 Swan🦢 near the Milky Way #comet #astrophotography

It's Woodpigeon time again! Great morning at #salopobs headlined by 10,460 Woodies heading SW along with the first Brambling of the year and 248 Chaffinches. 2,520 LBBGs out of roost tried to distract, and the juv Gos looked as overwhelmed as I felt! ebird.org/checklist/S2... #ukbirding #vismig

Checked in on the country's largest LBBG roost last night as 9,380 poured onto The Mere, #Ellesmere at dusk along with a handful of accompaniments. Great to engage with fascinated passers-by too 😍 #lovegulls #shropshirebirding #ukbirding

Failed to intercept the Northern Bottlenose Whale in the Humber off Immingham today. Had to make do with a Shag #lincsbirding #humberbirds

All the 8s... 18/8 to the MV today of which TEN were Figure of Eights, a record count of this declining moth #salopmoths #teammoth #vc40

Figure of 72 on the wall by the mothtrap just now! (that's 9 x Figure of 8!) #salopmoths #teammoth

Found Shangri-larid on the Shropshire Cheshire border today. A tired migrant Jack Snipe tried to distract us from the 3,000 LBBGs and 8+YLGs, before handing the baton to 1,231 Pinks 🤩 #gullsandgeese #shropshirebirding #ukbirding

Merveille du Jour playing dead by the mothtrap this evening. Natural selection at its best #salopmoths #teammoth

Merlin, Snipe and a handful of Redwings flew in off the sea at Rossall this morning, some of the latter absolutely exhausted, maybe having overshot and come back? #migration #lancsbirding #ukbirding

A bird-filled day on the Fylde started well with a Black-throated Diver close in off Fleetwood, and ended with 5,000 Pinks (27% juvs in a sample of 318) and 56 Whooper Swans #lancsbirding #ukbirding

Cappuccino for Tom was the highlight of 18/10 to the MV this morning. Love the viking/antelope horns #salopmoths #teammoth

Happy one year anniversary of the night the #aurora turned the Shropshire countryside red 💥💃💥 This was the view to the east from the field in front of #salopobs, just before a flock of Common Scoter peeped overhead 🤯