A mild, drizzly and windy day, with strong southerly gusts, tempted a Mistle Thrush into tentative song in the valley at home for the first time this year 😊 #ukbirding

At Bull Point this morning, 2 Red-throated Diver feeding close inshore, 4 male Common Scoter flying W quite far out, and a Little Egret doing its best Cattle Egret impression, feeding among the Belted Galloway conservation grazers – white speck in the foreground😁 #ukbirding #devonbirds

New Year's Day patch birding at Bull Point yielded three Fulmar and single Gannet, Snipe, Sparrowhawk, Raven & Goldcrest among other species – very much a "winter on an exposed, blustery headland" feel to my notebook! Great to see new small-scale wetland creation by @nationaltrust.org.uk #ukbirding

Highlight of a sunny New Year’s Eve walk on the Exmoor coast near Trentishoe was a wintering Ring Ouzel feeding on hawthorn berries at the head of this sheltered combe #ukbirding #devonbirds

Five late(ish) Swifts heading ESE were the highlight of a couple of hours’ birding at Bull Point this morning, following an ethereal sunrise. #ukbirding

Reconnecting with my Bull Point birding patch after a spring & summer surveying elsewhere… This a.m: 1 Common Scoter, 4 Sandwich Tern, 430 Manx Shearwater, 20 Swallow, 9 Willow Warbler, 10 Whitethroat. #UKbirding

Homepage blog for @lundybirds.bsky.social updated with an account and photos of the dark-morph Booted Eagle that graced the island earlier this week, together with Golden Oriole & Woodchat Shrike, here: www.lundybirdobs.org.uk #UKBirding

The best sighting of the day was not a bird but this pristine male Orange Tip butterfly, still drying itself out in the sun after emerging in the garden at home. What extraordinary beauty in those transluscent hindwings! 🤩 💚

Bull Point quiet for late April. 35 Swallow, 9 Sand & 3 House Martin a poor showing for hirundines over several hours. Single Tree Pipit & Grasshopper Warbler, 4 Whitethroat & 8 Willow Warbler. Sunrise well round to the NE – over the Welsh coast already. Amazing how quickly that happens! #UKBirding

Highlights at Bull Point this morning: 1 Red-throated Diver W, 71 Manx Shearwater, 13 Willow Warbler, 9 Blackcap, 1 Whitethroat, 1 Grasshopper Warbler reeling, 3 flyover Yellow Wagtail, 7 flyover Tree Pipit, 120 Linnet, single Redpoll & 125 Goldfinch. Few hirundines. #UKBirding

The sightings blog for @lundybirds.bsky.social has been updated with details of the island's second-ever White Stork yesterday (Friday 11th April) and lots of other recent news, including a Lundy colour-ringed Wheatear seen in Mauritania: www.lundybirdobs.org.uk #UKBirding

Surveying this morning for NT-led Landscape Recovery Scheme linking Arlington Estate with West Exmoor. Great to find 3 territorial male Yellowhammers – very scarce these days in this part of N Devon. Also Red Kite, another locally scarcity, and an obvious influx of phylloscs & Blackcaps. #UKBirding

Yesterday a.m. (5 Apr) at Bull Point: Osprey E at 10:15, 18 Sandwich Tern, 79 LB-b Gull, 3 Manx Shearwater, 127 Sand Martin, 51 Swallow, 17 House Martin, 7 alba wagtail, 2 Tree Pipit, 51 Meadow Pipit, 160 Linnet, 138 Goldfinch. Everything going E into the wind, gusting at F7, except the terns – SW!

Proud to announce a new guide to Lundy’s commoner birds, aimed especially at helping day-trippers & families, has today hit the shelves of the island shop😊 With pics by Richard Campey⁩ and text by Tim⁩ Davis & myself, we hope this will also raise awareness of the Bird Observatory. #UKBirding

Quiet for passerines at a chilly Bull Pt this a.m. with an onshore N wind & leaden skies. Main interest over the sea: 15 Common Scoter W, continuing passage E of ad LBB Gulls, and a colossal patch count (for settled weather in spring) of 235 Gannets ENE. Also 1 Curlew & 2 Sand Martin E. #UKBirding

I took a winter break from posting but Spring Equinox has got me going again😃 At Bull Point, the first of 55 Sand Martins zipped through before sunrise. Also 3 Swallow (1st of yr), 141 LBB Gull coasting E, 219 Mipit, 47 Linnet, a songflighting Wheatear & a single subsinging Blackcap. #UKbirding

A couple more flights shots of the Pallid Swift, again captured brilliantly by Brennig Hughes

Seems like we’re getting towards the fag-end of Chaffinch migration at Bull Point, with just 128 through in a couple of hours from dawn this a.m. Also 96 Woodpigeon, 31 Redwing, 6 Fieldfare and a female-type Black Redstart on the very highest bit of the lighthouse. #UKbirding

Back on my mainland patch at Bull Point this a.m., strong passage of c.2K Chaffinch, 6 Brambling & 43 Siskin – all undercounts due to tricky viewing conditions with clear skies & low sun. Also my 1st patch Yellow-browed Warbler plus 2 f-type Black Redstarts feeding around the lighthouse. #UKbirding

1/3 Recently back from @lundybirds.bsky.social An excellent trip with a good range of scarcities, incl. the long-staying Greater Short-toed Lark, Yellow-browed Warblers most days, and an elusive Wryneck. Rather low numbers of 'common' migrants but enough to keep multiple Merlins well fed. #UKBirding

Hardly any visible migration at Bull Point this morning. A few Meadow Pipits and 6 Swallows was about it. On the plus side, an evident influx of 8 grounded Song Thrushes, with a few more Chiffs & Goldcrests about, along with this delightful (if rather distant) presumed 1st-yr Whinchat. #UKbirding

Also at Bull Pt this a.m. the first migrating Chaffinch flocks of autumn (75) plus first trickle of Redwing (4), Skylark (4) & Siskin (9). Offshore, steady passage W of 68 Common Gull & 96 Black-headed Gull, and 5 Cormorant E. Few grounded migrants after a starry night and clear dawn. #UKbirding

The unusual sight of 2 migrating Great White Egrets passing feeding Gannets off Bull Point this a.m. Also in the shot (the fuzzy brown dot between the egrets!) is a Meadow Pipit flying in off the sea, likely having left the Welsh coast earlier. I didn't even notice it at the time! #UKbirding

BTO Winter Gull Survey (WinGS) on Taw Estuary last night, avoiding gales & horizontal rain forecast this pm... Frustratingly (but as expected) most gulls came in when almost too dark to count, let alone ID, but >3K on our sector. Beautiful light & plenty to watch whilst waiting for gulls😁 #UKbirding

Dramatic skies at Bull Point early this morning. Unsurprisingly, not much on the move but 66 Linnets, 65 Meadow Pipits, 4 alba wagtails & 4 Swallows battled through the brighter breaks, as a noisy flock of about 20 Gannets plunge-dived among Harbour Porpoises off the lighthouse. #UKbirding

A very high spring tide & heavy rain combined to make today one of the soggiest Taw Estuary WeBS counts I can remember. Plenty of Wigeon in on the recent easterlies. Also notable were single Great White Egret & Great Crested Grebe (local scarcity) and an Osprey tucking into its breakfast. #UKbirding

Recently back from a bucket-list trip to see the spectacle of migration across the Strait of Gibraltar. 1000s of Honey Buzzards + numerous Black Kites, Short-toed & Booted Eagles, Egyptian Vultures, White & Black Storks, Bee-eaters & much else. Essential kit: comfy chair, multi-clicker, neck yoga 🤩

From a murky but dry Bull Point this a.m. in a F5-6 ENE, 15 Common Scoter and – patch gold! – 2 Wigeon. Virtually no passerine movement; zero hirundines! This heron flew in from W, struggling to hold steady in the wind, with a GBB in hot pursuit but stabilised in the lee of the headland😁 #UKbirding

3/2 😉 The supporting cast included a gorgeous juv Sabine's Gull, Long-tailed Skuas + numerous European Storm-petrels zig-zagging & dipping over the chum-enriched wake of 'Sapphire'. Thanks to Joe Pender, Bob Flood and the whole Scilly Pelagics team, including @scottreidscilly.bsky.social #UKBirding

2/2 As a young birder, the notion of South Polar Skuas in UK waters was the stuff of myth & legend. Were they really ID-able in the field? Would I know if I ever saw one? 4 decades on, I can reassure my younger self on both counts! This 1st-yr bird put on an epic show off Scilly on 24 Aug #UKbirding

1/2 Last weekend I realised a long-held dream, joining Scilly Pelagics for 4 unforgettable days of seabirding. Staggeringly close views of Great, Cory's & Sooty Shearwaters + Wilson's Storm-petrel. South Polar Skua & 2 Scopoli's Shearwater (pic) the cherries on the icing of a huge cake. #UKBirding

Superb views of Cory’s, Great & Sooty Shearwaters from the Scillonian today and Pectoral Sandpiper at Lower Moors, St Mary’s at 18:25. Presumably the one reported from Porth Hellick earlier. @UKbirding

Bull Point from before sunrise today saw the first obvious return passage of Swallows, with 85 through by 9am. Also 41 House & 2 Sand Martins. Otherwise rather quiet on land & offshore. A few Willow Warblers & Whitethroats, c400 Manxies & 40 Gannets. And a close encounter with a Roe Deer. #UKbirding

A seawatch from the tip of Morte Point early this morning in a fairly stiff SSW breeze yielded 1,354 Manx Shearwaters, 137 Gannets and 19 Fulmars but just 2 Whimbrel & 3 distant ‘comic’ terns by way of greater variety. #UKbirding

Working on NT Arlington estate today setting up survey routes for baseline bird monitoring ahead of landscape-scale nature recovery work. Excited to find 2 singing Yellowhammers (wiped out across most of Devon since 1980 by changing farming practices) and successfully fledged Barn Owls #UKbirding

First post in a while... At Bull Point this a.m. a fall of 32+ Willow Warbler, with a few Whitethroat & Blackcap, plus 1st Spotted Flycatcher of autumn. Significant W-bound passage of mainly juv Herring & LBb Gulls plus a patch-record flock of 29 Oystercatchers😁 #UKbirding

At Bull Point this morning: 20 Swift, 92 Swallow, 34 House Martin, single Tree Pipit & Yellow Wagtail over, and a huge offshore feeding movement of 6,130 Manx Shearwater W 07:00 to 09:30, of which >5K just in the first hour. Missed the start of it, so could easily have been closer to 10K. #UKbirding

A wonderful 10km walk over part of Devon Exmoor today. Warm & dry after early fog lifted. 11 singing Redstart & 4 Pied Flycatcher but – slightly worryingly – no Wood Warbler, though there’s still time in this odd spring. 3 singing Garden Warbler & 2 Tawny Owl (seen) the best of the rest. #UKbirding

Didn't expect to run into a singing Hoopoe at Bull Point this morning...🤩 Typically elusive but after hearing it only at first, eventually caught up with it visually – perched and in flight. Also singing Lesser Whitethroat, Grasshopper Warbler and steady W-bound passage of hirundines. #UKbirding

Bull Pt early a.m: hirundines & finches piling through pre 08:30, tacking into strong S wind ahead of a front from W: 453 Swallow, 92 H Martin, 85 S Martin, 201 Goldfinch, 4 Tree Pipit. Grounded: Cuckoo, Grasshopper & Garden Warbler, 2 Whitethroat, 2 Sedge W. Offshore, 10 Common Scoter W. #UKbirding

Seawatch to 09:50 today at an unseasonably🥶🥶Bull Point: 4 Swift, 26 Whimbrel, 1 Common Sandpiper, 64 Lesser B-b Gull (incl a couple of intermedius types), 2 dark-morph Arctic Skua, 61 Fulmar, 11 Gannet, 183 Manx Shearwater, ringtail Hen Harrier😳1 Sand Martin, 97 Swallow, 16 House Martin. #UKbirding

A superb week with @lundybirds.bsky.social 13-20 Apr brought an amazing run of early overshoot migrants: ad male Golden Oriole, 2 Night Herons, Purple Heron & Woodchat Shrike. Also Cuckoo, good pushes of Willow Warbler & hirundines, plus first Swifts. On the other hand, I didn’t see a Whitethroat…

Bull Point early this morning: 3 reeling Grasshopper Warbler, 3 flyover Tree Pipit, male Ring Ouzel (all 1st of yr), 5 Redwing, 14 Willow Warbler, 11 Sand Martin, 14 Swallow, 13 House Martin, 122 Goldfinch, 206 Linnet, 2 Siskin. Quiet offshore apart from a single Red-throated Diver W. #UKbirding

Morte Point 06.30-09.30: 1 Shelduck, 1 Common Scoter, 10 Sandwich Tern ENE, 5 Red-throated Diver, 37 Manx Shearwater, 55 Gannet, 50 Sand Martin, 58 Swallow, 5 House Martin, 177 Linnet, 138 Goldfinch, 2 Siskin. Hirundines & finches mostly going SW into the wind, increasing to gust F7/8. #UKbirding

At Bull Point this a.m., a flock of 18 Common Scoter W & 3 R-t Diver the best offshore. On land, 16 Chiff, 5 Wheatear, 5 Sand Martin, 4 Swallow & a Willow Warbler. Also my first patch redpoll of the year. Two Carrion Crow headed off high towards Lundy & 6 Jackdaw came in very high from N. #UKbirding

These Mandarin turned up in our garden yesterday – a 1st in 23 years! They’ve discovered our ponds & were hoovering up seed under the bird feeders at dusk. There’s suitable nesting habitat around, so maybe they’re here for a while. A stoat, also seen this evening, might have other ideas… #UKbirding

Lundy’s mega March fall from Tuesday (26th). This a screenshot of the Bird Observatory’s post on the “other place”. Full details on the Obs recent sightings page here: lundybirdobs.org.uk/index.php/re... #UKbirding

Bull Point this a.m: quiet for early diurnal vis mig but small fall of nocturnal migrants: 16+ Chiff, 5 Willow Warbler, 5 m Blackcap, 11 Wheatear. 14 Manx Shearwater, 3 Common Scoter offshore. Hirundine passage after 08:00: 56 S Martin, 6 Swallow, 1 H Martin. Lundy on the horizon! #UKbirding

Along the River Caen from Velator to the Taw Estuary this pm: 50+ Sand Martin, 8 Swallow, 2 House Martin and a gorgeous breeding-plumaged Water Pipit. Still 20 Redshank, 4 Greenshank, 55 Shelduck & 14 Teal, but wintering Wigeon all seem to have migrated now. #UKbirding

3 Sand Martin, 3 Swallow & small numbers of grounded Chiffchaff & Goldcrest the best at Bull Point this a.m. A lightish NW is typically a productive wind for visible migration of pipits, wagtails, finches & hirundines here in spring, but a cold front sank just a bit too far S overnight. #UKBirding