Morden Peregrines. Mum brought the chicks a Ring-necked Parakeet for tea, and it was all gone in about 15 minutes! #londonbirds

🍺 Black Horse Inn, Thurnham, Kent: gorgeous, rambling pub right on the Pilgrims' Way, much of it set up for dining; I retreated to the characterful upstairs room. The murky table beer Jim, from localish MootBrew, was underwhelming, but my light lunch (mackerel paté, filo tart) was top notch.

🍺 Pubs of Stamford, Lincs: Millstone, King's Head, Green Man, Tobie Norris. On a GLC Real Ale Soc coach trip.

🍺 George & Dragon, Tonbridge, Kent: sports-themed pub (displaying black-and-white photos of great sporting moments) at the north end of town where the customers, lined up on bar stools, include two American women chatting with the locals. The Tonbridge Traditional Ale drinks exactly as it sounds.

🍺 Woodcock Inn, Iden Green, Kent: no crepuscular, woods-dwelling wader spotted at this ancient pub/restaurant with wood-burning stove. An elderly, refined customer hits his head on a beam and softly exclaims "F*ck!" The Long Man Long Blonde, from over the nearby East Sussex border, is in good order.

Local birding. Good to see and hear a Greenfinch at West Sutton station this morning. This is the only place where I do still sometimes see them near to my home, and last year I think they bred in the trees between the station and the football club. #londonbirds

🐦‍⬛ Frensham Common, Surrey, today: the chorus incuded Dartford Warblers, Stonechats and Linnets in the gorse, Willow Warblers and Woodlarks in the scattered trees, Redstarts and Garden Warblers in the wooded areas, Reed Warblers in the reeds. Also around: hunting Hobby, soaring Buzzard, vocal Cuckoo.

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Still some tickets left for a relaxing 2-hour #naturewriting workshop with me on Sat 16 May 10:30-12:30 as part of the #Bath Literature Festival. No prior creative writing experience needed. I'd be grateful for sharing. www.bathboxoffice.org.uk/whats-on/wor...

Morden Peregrines. The eldest chick is now 1 week old, though the youngest is still only 4 days old. They all look good, and both parents are feeding them well. These screenshots are all from today - female in 1st/4th, male in 2nd, both in 3rd. #londonbirds

A weekend of two seasons.

Been seeing a lot of such graphs in recent years 😬 #BraveNewWorld

🍺 Scotia Bar, Glasgow: vibrant pub with live music, so busy that I had to occupy the stool by the games machine. The Orkney Dark Island, a favourite of mine, was, alas, well short of Good Beer Guide quality.

🍺 Lismore, Partick, Glasgow: boisterous, Highland-themed corner pub, extending up one side, with much wood and stained glass windows (depicting scenes from the Clearances). The pumpclip for the Fyne Ales Hurricane Jack slips off like a drunk from a stool; the beer turns out to be pale and sweetish.

🍺 Doublet, Glasgow: buzzy bar in the city's west end, where the wifi password encourages customers to converse. I dare not ask the tattooed man at the bar to move aside for me to read a pumpclip, which is why my first beer is 4.6%; Stillman's IPA from Spey Valley looks and tastes like a brown ale.

🍺 Corryvreckan, Oban: extensive, modern Wetherspoon pub by the ferry terminal. My attempt to get a beer at 10.30am was rebuffed, but the Loch Lomond Lost in Mosaic served just after 11 was worth the wait. The casks in the seating area were for decoration rather than signifying a beer festival.

🐦‍⬛ My trip to Mull and nearby islands comes to an end, with a satisfying 99 (🎈) bird species seen/heard over six days, the highlight for me being the obliging Corncrake on Lunga. Excellent organisation by @shetlandwildlife.bsky.social and our guide Dave Fairhurst. My year list is boosted to 181. 🙂

🐦‍⬛ Mull & Iona, Day 6: around the south of Mull were a Greenshank on Loch Scridain, Golden Eagles (up high) and a Whinchat (down low) near Ardura, then a young White-tailed Eagle, a Hen Harrier, and vocal Redpolls and Siskins at Grasspoint. At least one Cuckoo has been heard on every day of the trip.

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🐦‍⬛ Here's a video of a White-tailed Eagle swooping to take a fish thrown from the boat Lady Jayne on Loch na Keal, Mull. An attempt by a lurking Great Black-backed Gull to snatch the fish was unsuccessful!

🐦‍⬛ Mull & Iona, Day 5: Loch na Keal, western Mull, gave views of an Otter fishing, plus Wheatears, Common Sandpipers and two Golden Plovers along the shore. During a boat trip out into the loch, we saw two White-tailed Eagles swoop down for thrown fish (😯), plus a Red-throated Diver and a Peregrine.

The capital’s young publicans in the Londoner… www.the-londoner.co.uk/londons-youn...

🐦‍⬛ Mull & Iona, Day 4: day on Iona, with numbers of Eider, Whimbrel, Dunlin, Sanderling and Ringed Plover along the beaches, Wheatears and Twite in the fields, Sedge Warblers in the scrub. Several Corncrakes called, one of them showing itself in a hotel garden near the ferry terminal.

🍺 Keel Row, Fionnphort, Mull: the sole Good Beer Guide pub on the island, handy for the ferry to Iona; I slipped in a visit by coming back earlier than the rest of my group. Stone walls and bench seating. The Gobhar Odhar (🤷‍♂️) from the Ardgour brewery (near Ben Nevis!) is chilled yet nicely balanced.

🐦‍⬛ Here's a video of today's Corncrake on Lunga. Thanks go to our tour guide Dave Fairhurst, whose footage this was, and who's happy for it to be shared. Sound up!

🐦‍⬛ Mull & Iona, Day 3: trip out to the islands of Staffa and Lunga. A White-tailed Eagle flew over our boat. Around Staffa were 2 Great Skuas, a Raven and 2 Twite. On Lunga were (📷) nesting Puffins, Razorbills, Guillemots, Shags and Kittiwakes, plus (life ✅️ 😃) a vocal and remarkably showy Corncrake.

Morden Peregrines. The first chick this year has hatched! The female could be seen with some broken shell at about 12.36, then when the male brought her some food at 13.32 it was revealed. The female was back at 13.38, and the male then took the food he'd been eating away. @markbravery.bsky.social

🐦‍⬛ Mull & Iona, Day 2: in the south of Mull we had distant views of White-tailed Eagle (on nest!) and Golden Eagle, with Great Northern Divers on the lochs. Loch Scridain yielded a Whimbrel, the woods near Loch Spelve gave Tree Pipits, Wood Warblers and a Cuckoo, the moorland a male Hen Harrier.

🐦‍⬛ Mull & Iona, Day 1: the ferry crossing from Oban to Mull gave sightings of Gannets and Common Guillemots, an Arctic Skua harassing a gull, and a Great Northern Diver, plus distant Harbour Porpoises. The vicinity of our hotel on Loch Scridain yielded Common Sandpipers and my first Cuckoo of 2026. 🙂

🍺 Oban Inn, Oban: traditional, stone-floored corner pub by the North Pier, with jug-adorned beams, nautical paraphernalia and map wallpaper. A bunch of Yorkshire folk occupy one corner. The Fyne Ales Jarl is reliably hoppy.

🍺 Markie Dans, Oban, Argyll: basement bar beneath a hotel, with much dark wood. Two nervous young men in suits fortify themselves for a wedding. A mum plaits her daughter's hair. The hazy Lazy River from Fyne Ales is sweetish and nicely refreshing. Hooded Crow and Black Guillemot spotted nearby. 🐦‍⬛

🍺 Ben Nevis, Glasgow: Tenement corner bar just west of the city centre, with stone much in evidence, and a youngish crowd in. The Calm Before the Storm from Five Kingdoms was a touch bland for a 4.5% stout. I finished on a Lagavulin. 🥃

🍺 Koelschip Yard, Glasgow: eclectically decorated craft beer bar on the city's south side, its name a reference to spontaneous fermentation vessels. A barfly moves out for me to be served. The two cask ales are from Dalkeith's Otherworld brewery, the murky Firebird managing to be both dull and sour.

Great Spotted Woodpeckers Dendrocopos major are known to predate Black-headed Cardinal Beetle Pyrochroa coccinea larvae #birds, but the pair in a small London park have been specialising in catching adults in flight, sometimes hovering, and taking them in multiple. As shot, and cropped.

Although the light was poor this morning it was still a delight to watch the Little Terns diving off Selsey Bill. They are so fast. Here is one a fraction of a second before entry into the water. @selseybirder.bsky.social #birds #ukbirds

Calls have been made to restrict the use of common pet flea-treatments after a study found residues of toxic chemicals in bird nests across the UK:

🍺 Park Tavern, Chichester: handsome Fuller's pub on the north side of the city centre, reached via ancient, narrow streets. Two blokes loudly discuss the music industry ("Squeeze re-recorded their Greatest Hits"). The Hophead was pleasant enough but is a beer that makes little impression these days.

🐦‍⬛ Selsey peninsula today: Sandwich Terns and Little Terns fished off the Bill, other flypasts included 5 Gannets, a Fulmar and a Razorbill. The Ferry Pool held a drake Garganey, a Wood Sandpiper and 12 Avocets. Whimbrels wandered in Pagham Harbour, with Cattle Egrets nesting beyond the North Wall.

⚽️ Boreham Wood 1 Sutton Utd 0: final game of the season, and the club finishing 4th become the 5th to complete a 2025/26 double over us. We didn't play badly, but one point from our last six league games tells its own story. We finish 19th. Butterflies spotted at game: Orange Tip, Holly Blue. 🦋

Morden Peregrines. 3 weeks into incubation now, and the new male this year is doing great. These are the male taking over at 05.37 and the female taking over at 20.28, plus the male then female incubating. The male did 8hrs in 3 shifts, the female will have done 16h in 4 shifts.

🐦‍⬛ Rainham Marshes today: about 16 summer-plumaged Bar-tailed Godwits, with a similar number of Avocets, foraged in Aveley Bay, as a Grasshopper Warbler reeled in the enclosed bay behind. The pools yielded a Spoonbill, a Great White Egret and a Ruff. Marsh Harriers and Swifts patrolled the sky.

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🐦‍⬛ Pulborough Wild Brooks, W Sussex: brilliant day's birding, despite the blustery weather, as two Common Cranes then a White Stork flew over, the South Brooks yielded a pair of Black-winged Stilts (UK ✅️ for me) alongside two Greenshank and a Little Ringed Plover, and a Nightingale sang in full view.

The Half Moon, a well-known London pub and live music venue, has re-opened in Putney, following a full refurbishment beertoday.co.uk/2026/04/18/h... #pub #pubnews

🍺 Brewhouse & Kitchen, Chelmsford: somewhat incongruously in a former Quaker meeting house, this eastern outpost of the enterprising B&K chain is on two floors (I sought refuge upstairs). Their Capital Session IPA (4.0%), brewed naturally on the premises, is nicely balanced.

🍺 Yard, Maldon, Essex: tiny, even for a micropub, now run by the WHARF brewery, whose easy-drinking Polly on the Shore was fresh as a sea breeze. I was the sole customer, ideal for soaking up the local knowledge of the chatty lady in charge.

⚽️ Surrey Senior Cup semi-final, Farnham Town 0 Sutton Utd 0, Farnham won 4-2 on penalties. Stark contrast with October's two FA Cup games between these sides which produced 11 goals. Most of this one was played in the Farnham half, but, without a recognised striker, we barely got a shot on target.

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⚽️ Carlisle Utd 3 Sutton Utd 0: another underwhelming performance from us, barely managing a shot against the team 3rd in the table. They got all their goals before half-time. At least results elsewhere confirm that we'll be playing National League football again next season. Now 18th.

🍺 West Walls Brewing Co, Carlisle: despite a dark approach road, this vibrant taproom is a safe haven for all good drinkers. Smoker outside initially objects to being in my photo, but is only joking. Regulation bench seating, inner door disguised as bookcase. Their Low Rider is pleasantly quaffable.