Another great pre-work ringing session @theparkstrust.bsky.social Furzton Lake this morning with 14 birds of 4 species caught, including 5 Greylag and a charming female Mallard #birdringing #birdbanding

Been a wicked first 3 weeks working for @ldnwildlifetrust.bsky.social. Highlights include learning to scythe, planting trees in Dulwich Wood (a genuine ancient woodland in zone 3), marvelling at urban fungi, and watching a Blue Tit mob a Kestrel - and win. Can't wait for more! #KeepingItWild.

I've had a fantastic month ringing for my Buckinghamshire Wildfowl Study. 74 birds of 6 species caught across the county, and there's still 2 months before fieldwork season ends (and I get a bit of a break! 😴). Huge thanks to all that have supported. #birdringing

Lowndes Park on usual form this morning with a small but quality catch of waterbirds, including a Black-headed Gull and a Leucistic Canada Goose. #birdringing #birdbanding

Has it ever been said that Coots are like buses? Following the first Coot to be ringed for my wildfowl study 2weeks back, I was very happy to catch and ring a 2nd today at @theparkstrust.bsky.social Furzton Lake. Pic including those iconic lobate claws for @marthaharbison.bsky.social . #CootStudy

1/2 How old? 😮 Discover bird longevity records up to 2024 in our newly released BTO Ringing and Nest Recording Report! ⬇️ #Ornithology 🪶 📖 www.bto.org/ringing-...#Ornithology

Finally! Whilst out Swan-ringing this morning, I managed to catch and colour-mark the first Coot for my Bucks Wildfowl Study. Compared to London, where I have caught countless Coots for @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social, Bucks birds have proven (almost) impossible to hand-catch! #CootStudy

Frosty but beautiful first ringing session of 2026 for my Bucks Wildfowl Study. Thanks to @mangobirdy.bsky.social for scribing!

Over the Christmas holidays I began ringing Passerines in my old stomping ground of Mid Devon. I believe these birds are the first to have been ringed in the area for 5 years or more, since the passing of the late John Haigh. Fingers crossed for some good recoveries.

Potentially helpful (phone-scoped) size comparison between Great Black-backed (left) and Herring Gull (right) yesterday at my old birding stomping ground, Shobrooke Park. #birding

Xmas Eve called for the annual trip to @rspb.bsky.social Bowling Green Marsh, via Topsham. Wigeon, Redshank and Lapwing in abundance; a Raven buzzing the fowl, the BHGooseXCanada lives on (perhaps 7 years old at this point), and a Norwegian-ringed BHGull coming to pasty crumbs. Happy Christmas.

Latest Greenland White-fronted Goose population estimate: 13,303. Now 13,302 (that we know of). I dread every ringing recovery that lands in my inbox - another bird lost to illegal shooting in Iceland. We can’t afford to lose any more. 📸David Dinsley

Starling murmuration this evening at Marsworth Reservoir. #birding

The results are in! This year, I've spent a lot of time ringing wildfowl for my county-wide study. As a result, during summer '25 alone, 100 waterbirds have been ringed/controlled across Buckinghamshire. Totals: CANGO: 42 new, 1 retrap GREGO: 16 new MALLA: 29 new MUTSW: 9 new, 3 controls

It's been a pretty poor year for Barn Owls here in the South-East, but it was excellent to find this ringed female on one of my recent box visits with the @borgowl.bsky.social crew.

Only just recovered (from lack of sleep) after an awesome week's ringing on @skokholmisland.bsky.social, targeting Manx Shearwater but also doing some dazzling and passerine trapping when conditions allowed. There's a reason they call it 'Dream Island'!

A pretty good ornithological day - Canada Goose ringing first thing, a wildfowl survey mid morning, nest box checks mid afternoon then ring reading more geese before sunset. Via a cuppa, of course.

Last week I visited one of my best sites for Greylag, which are very localised birds here in Bucks. Current ringing totals for the site so far in summer '25 stand at 20 birds caught: 7 Mallard, 6 Canada Goose (1 retrap), 7 Greylag. #birdringing #ukbirding #birdbanding

Quality over quantity this morning while ringing at Lowndes Park - few birds on site, but several Chesham ringing firsts: Canada Goose pulli, Mallard pulli and Greylag Goose (a difficult species to catch here in the Chilterns). Big thanks to @mangobirdy.bsky.social for scribing and taking photos!

Cracking day down in Walthamstow for the annual goose-roundup. Big thanks as always to @whiteleggdan.bsky.social and Phil Belman for organising. Great to finally ring a Barnacle Goose, too! #birdringing #ukbirding #londonbirds

Ringed some more Mallard this morning including 2 females, which are far harder to catch than drakes (here in Bucks, at least). The deep purple-blue of a Mallard's speculum is easily one of the most astonishing examples of 'common' British bird plumage. #birdringing #birdbanding #ukbirding

Wildfowl ringing season started nicely again the other morning with some hand-caught Mallard. #birdringing #birdbanding

During the last 2 months I've been all over the south east getting more ringing experience with species I've had fewer opportunities to work with. A great way to learn more, meet new folks and catch up with others!

utterly scandalous and frankly quite terrifying

Lovely morning at Lowndes Park hand-catching/re-sighting wildfowl for my ringing study. I was only expecting Canada Geese, but (after months of evading me on site) I also caught a stonking male Mallard. I'm recording max tarsus of Mallard atm as I've noticed some variability between local birds.

Sunday was a good re-sighting day, travelling around the county keeping tabs on my ringed wildfowl (and seeing some other birds, too!). #birding #ornithology #birdringing

Shobrooke Park: #birds #birding m Wigeon [site-1st], m Tufted Duck, the usual 2 Domestic Mallard drakes, 3 Nuthatch incl pr, Green Woodpecker, 2 Goldcrest incl 1 singing, c3 singing Chaffinch, singing Linnet, Song Thrush, 2 lingering Black-headed Gull, 4 Herring Gull 3ad imm, nest-building Rooks.

Lowndes Park: #birds 1st post about my beloved local patch... this pm, singing Blackbird and Great Tit and 6 Robin. Single 'sneering' Greenfinch on 22nd and 23rd. Returning intersex Mallard on 23rd. 'Scruff', probably the oldest of the geese in my ringing study, is doing okay.

British Antarctic Survey From the new Private Eye, out now.

Beautiful re-sighting trip yesterday in Aylesbury. A good number of colour-ringed Mute Swan recorded. #birdringing #ornithology #birdbanding #birds

Cracking ringing day today. Started off with mist netting some Blue and Great Tits, then checked on 3 of my wildfowl sites ahead of upcoming visits. Blessedly, despite the spread in other parts of the UK, I've found no signs of bird flu - long may this continue. #birdringing #birds #ornithology

today: read a review for a production of Caryl Churchill's 'What if if only' which complained that - within the play - not enough happens. I despair. #playwriting

a lot of my summer ringing work is for @borgowl.bsky.social - a fantastic local organisation. owl season is always great fun - working with landowners, monitoring barnies county-wide, and driving round in a classic defender. not much could be better!

⚠️ A reminder to please report all sightings of dead birds for possible testing for Avian Influenza. In England, Wales & Scotland, contact Defra, in Northern Ireland contact @daera-ni.gov.uk & in Republic of Ireland gov.ie. Please ALSO report them to @birdtrack.bsky.social. Thank you. #UKBirding

*insert Northern Exposure theme tune here*

awesome recovery!

aside from all the birds I also help with local cat re-homing schemes - here's some recent friends... #adoptdontshop #housecats #cats

haven't put anything about my writing here yet, so... Jan25 saw the longest ever run of one of my plays - a fragmented & quite silly piece named Missing Lane Markers on the A47. 2 4 star reviews. very meaningful after 10+ years of writing nonsense and hoping some of it finds reality. #playwriting

Rook. Peterborough Service area.

We ringed more Magpie last summer than would usually be expected - all younger birds, all in mist nets. #birds #birdringing #birdbanding

Quick throwback to a bitterly cold Saturday in November, when I helped some ringing colleagues with their ongoing Black-headed Gull study... such brilliant, compact, handsome birds. BHGs ringed in the UK often travel vast distances into Europe - a few even reach Russia.

Here's some of the birds ringed as part of my Bucks wildfowl study. The focus species are Mute Swan and Canada Goose, but sometimes there's a bit more variety... The project aims to reveal more about how these birds live, move and breed. #birds

To the best of my knowledge, we broke the 🚨 world longevity record 🚨 for Mediterranean Gull on Saturday, with this bird re-trapped at Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex. Ringed at Folkestone, Kent, as an adult in February 2001, it’s now in at least its 28th calendar year, with no sightings since 2001! (🧵 1/2)

hey bluesky. haven't a clue how to use this site, frankly, but I know it'll be better than musk-ville, so here goes nothing. I'm an ornithologist and writer based in the UK. expect photos of geese and musings on contemporary playwriting; maybe more, maybe less. thanks x