Does anyone *recognise* this bird call soundcloud.com/james-lowen-... please? From a Norfolk crop field after dark. Ideal would be the link to an identical XC/ML cut, please. Bird called twice; only taped the 2nd time. Ideas so far inc Stone-curlew, Curlew, Whimbrel, Barn owl, Tawny Owl. #UKBirding

My Beyond Birdwatching column for November (in Bird Watching magazine) wonders whether Cypress Carpet, a recent colonist, might 'grace your garden moth trap this year?' I was actually hoping that it might arrive new for OUR garden... and so it did, albeit late last month rather than this! #teammoth

Overshooting 1.5°C wasn't 'inevitable.' We've been pushed by fossil fuel giants & governments that pander to them. Every delay, every oil field, every broken promise made this crisis worse. Keir Starmer, will you promise to leave Rosebank undeveloped? www.theguardian.com/environment/...

This might also explain the slow and steady decline of common insects. I am sure they cannot avoid these pesticides either and low levels could disrupt behaviour or reduce survival rates www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Most pleased with this nfg Cypress Carpet in Norwich. Not unexpected, given the surge in #Norfolkmoths records but last night’s front felt like it might confer one. And it did. Also Silver Y (rare this year) and Diamondback, hinting at #migrantmothuk arrivals. #teammoth #muchadoaboutmothing

The boys are back in town. Oddly, they are all called Merv. #teammoth #norfolkmoths #merveilledujour #muchadoaboutmothing

F@k, yeah! Red-flanked Bluetail, Wells Woods, right now. made me fall to the floor, knees too week

Tooling up for another day in the Shetland iris beds and burns, with the expected highlight being Redpoll. @dbradnum.bsky.social @moorebirdsbybike.bsky.social @beardybirder.bsky.social

We don’t seem to be in a rush to get outside and find birds today. @dbradnum.bsky.social @beardybirder.bsky.social @moorebirdsbybike.bsky.social #Shetland

Yeah, I’ll have some of that.

Surely this piece of grassy detritus on the cottage window is a good omen for today? #ukbirding

Spotted from 200m away!

Rustic bunting cannonballing around Urafirth (Mainland, Shetland) this evening. Not otherwise seen since 3rd? @beardybirder.bsky.social @moorebirdsbybike.bsky.social @dbradnum.bsky.social

searching for shetland’s pot of gold on muckle roe… @dbradnum.bsky.social @moorebirdsbybike.bsky.social @beardybirder.bsky.social Two ybw so far and a couple of migrant moths…

Collared dove, Asta, Shetland. #ukbirding @dbradnum.bsky.social @beardybirder.bsky.social @moorebirdsbybike.bsky.social

And breathe. After 2.5h soggy dipping yet hoping, male Siberian thrush at Asta, Shetland. @dbradnum.bsky.social @beardybirder.bsky.social @moorebirdsbybike.bsky.social #ukbirding

Good marine wildlife-watching last night from the Aberdeen-Lerwick ferry, inc 2 white-beaked dolphins, 2 Leach’s petrel, half-a-dozen Euro stormies & a dozen Sooties. @beardybirder.bsky.social @moorebirdsbybike.bsky.social @dbradnum.bsky.social

We got blown off course a bit en route to Shetland. #YoungTurk #ukbirding @beardybirder.bsky.social @moorebirdsbybike.bsky.social @dbradnum.bsky.social

The mantidfly Mantissa syriaca, photographed in Iberia during the summer. Look into my eyes...

One day. One day.

We've been engaging farmers with moth monitoring from the Chilterns to Pembrokeshire. Using portable bucket traps and an AI based app - farmers love uncovering hidden biodiversity! Read my blog here: www.ceh.ac.uk/news-and-med... @ukceh.bsky.social @mjopocock.bsky.social #mothsmatter #TeamMoth

An astonishing 20 Clancy’s Rustic in last night’s Norwich garden moth trap, double the previous record set earlier this month (which was remarkable enough to merit a tweet). Here are some of them. #NorfolkMoths

Lesser Grey Shrike, Winterton Dunes, Norfolk. Friendly. #UKbirding #NorfolkBirding

Having had a poor year of Norwich garden mothing & despite being able to run 1 trap (rather than the previous night’s 4!), the lonely little synergetic contained a hidden but particulary pleasing Migrant Sable (Diasemiopsis ramburialis). Just 1 Norfolk record prior to 2025 (but 3 this week!)

And another one last night, alongside a garden record 12 Clancy’s Rustic (previous best 3!), Dark Sword-grass and 2 Lunar Yellow Underwing

In our garden, at least, #mothing is about the browns of decaying leaves. So to see an unseasonably late, vibrant-green Scarce Silver-lines this morning was a treat. Especially as the best migrant - on what I was hoping would be a decent night - was Dark Sword-grass. #teammoth #MuchAdoAboutMothing

And they do great stuff. I wrote about rhe work a few years ago for The Countryman magazine - and things seem to have kept on improving since then. Well done, Carl et al.!

The Oriental Bird Club today announced me as the new editor of Birding Asia magazine. Alex Berryman & I will double up on the Dec issue, then I take it forward from 2026. Keen to hear from birders w/stories to tell, sites to showcase etc & #TravelPRs w/new ecotourist offerings in Asia.

Properm marvel, this

Big Cliff, little Old Lady. Norwich, this morn, to start the week. #teammoth #mothing #NorfolkMoths #MuchAdoAboutMothing

A Star-wort caterpillar on sea aster was one of the highlights of our Suffolk Saturday.

Particularly proud of this photo. Nice of the black-winged kite to return to its first twitchable location at a time when I am in the country! #gripback #ukbirding

34 glossy ibis in-off between sizewell and minsmere 1520 today #suffolkbirds #suffolkbirding #ukbirding

A beetle, a hoverfly, a spider, two moths, a plant and a weevil. Some September wildlife to look for in my regular column on non-feathered nature in Bird Watching magazine The puns come free.

This week’s #mothing highlight at home: the year’s first Clifden. #PerfectBlue

Do you do moth trapping in the UK? We'd love your help! 💡 At @ukceh.bsky.social we're training & testing AI to detect multiple moths in a single image. Send us top-down photos of multiple moths on egg trays to support this work. More info & form: forms.gle/e3HzBPEd7RVV... #mothsmatter #TeamMoth

& with perfect timing, we can heartily recommend the newly-published Bradt Guides' 'Pantanal Wildlife' written by our very own @jameslowenwild.bsky.social Just the right size to slip into the packing, full of useful tips on how to get the most out of your visit, as well as some mouth-watering photos

Amazing discovery! If this is a britannicus ssp. eating fennel, there are significant implications (opportunities) for swallowtail conservation. And if it is a continental ssp. there are also significant implications (but not nice ones).

Britain only has a few endemic mammal subspecies. The most fascinating one is the Orkney Vole, a unique subspecies of Common Vole found only on Orkney. The weird thing? We do not have Common Voles *anywhere else* in Britain. The full story is told in my book Endemic: share.google/yhC1m8MnwdvR...

Following the discovery of Southern Small White laying eggs in Sussex I checked the Candytuft growing in my garden. Sure enough I found a couple of creamy white bottle shaped eggs - time will tell if it is the newest species to arrive in the UK

Migrant moths dribbling on near Creech St Michael but the highlight were two of these wee tortrixes, which I think look good candidates for the rare Gynnidomorpha alismana (grade 4…). #SomersetMoths #TeamMoth Off to search the River Tone for water-plantain…

Still enjoying the casually good #migrantmoth action in Somerset: today’s catch (from an impressive 350 moths in two actinics) was Vestal, Small Mottled Willow, Dark Sword-grass and 12 Rush Veneer. That would be by far my best-ever migrant haul in Norwich! #teammoth #MuchAdoAboutMothing

Come to Cyprus! We will be focusing on endemics and migrants (of the birds), and I am hoping to finally nail Blunt-nosed Viper…

Trapping near Creech St Michael, Somerset, this week: nice migrant haul w/ Small Marbled, 2 Small Mottled Willow, Dark SG, 3 Rush Veneer, RDP. assume the 14 Euro Cornborers (inc mating pair) are resident. #teammoth #migrantmoth #somersetmoths @migrantmothuk.bsky.social

Next spring, in addition to our regular orchid-focussed itinerary, @jameslowenwild.bsky.social and @wildlifeprecey.bsky.social are looking forward to spending a week enjoying Cyprus's amazing bird life. wildlife-travel.co.uk/europe/cypru...

🧵 Dear Republican lawmakers, Canada has the largest intact boreal forest on the planet. An increasingly hotter world due to #ClimateChange makes longer dry seasons, far larger wildfires & yes, more smoke. No amount of "raking" fixes it. The scientists warned of exactly this for a very long time /1

Beyond birdwatching in August... my column on non-feathered fauna and flora for Bird Watching magazine. This month stars Sea Aster Bee and Common Lime Aphid, a fiercesome fly and a moth making waves.

Yearticking my old home county. Some gannet guano for the nasal passages. Didn’t get Minkes back in the 90s though, so one today was pleasing.

Remember to keep dogs on lead near breeding seabird colonies!