Three purple sandpipers at the third from last groyne at Hengistbury Head #CHOG @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social @harbourbirds.bsky.social

Blustery at Portland today. Best I could do was an elusive male ring ouzel at around 11.45 in the coastal quarries half way between the obs and the sh!t pump quarry @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social

First hawks of the year in my garden trap

Last night I predicted finding a wood sand today. This morning it happened! Having a very flukey spring- not been birding harder than the last few years but had much more luck- scarce county finds this spring inc black redstart, ruff, barwit, gropper and wood sand 👌

Dream find on my volunteer survey this morning. Actually my first black redstart in Bucks - I’ve always refused to twitch one, as I wanted to find my own!

Up at first light to try and refind yesterday’s rock pipit at Amersham Flood Meadows. Love it when a plan comes together

A decent #webs this morning. I recorded 49 species, including the flock of white-fronts that are wintering in the local area. Peregrine causing havoc, two goosander and six jack snipe were the other highlights. A good morning!

Gorgeous evening at my local reservoir, and I had an incredible roost of c60 corn buntings!!!

Fantastic icy scenes for my @btobirds.bsky.social #webs survey on Sunday. Most areas frozen, apart from the river, which attracted the first goosanders of the winter for the site, plus good numbers of teal and wigeon

📢 APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN... ...for the BOU Summer Placement Scheme Financially supporting undergraduate students to carry out summer #ornithology research placements Application deadline: 31 March Guidelines & application form: bou.org.uk/funding/s...#ornithology 🪶 #ukbirds

A really great scheme from the BOU - providing financial support for undergraduates to get valuable #ornithology work experience. Please spread the word!

Enjoyed chairing another great meeting with the #birdsurveyguidelines steering group. Lots of ideas and actions! These guidelines are intended to support ornithologists and ecological consultants with designing bird surveys, and it’s great to see that we’ve had over 50,000 visits to our website!

Up close and personal with this raven at Portland. Very cool bird and a big fan of my wife’s bacon baguette

My visit to Sandbanks groynes in the hostile wind and rain today was rewarded with decent blustery views of two purple sandpipers. A nice start to 2025 birding @harbourbirds.bsky.social @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social

Chuffed to find 11 white-fronted geese on my #volunteer survey in Aylesbury this morning. My first self-found WFGs for the county

Some great encounters on Blakeney last weekend. Hundreds of grey seals and amazing views of hunting merlin

Nice early morning drive through Welney. C500 whoopers and a couple of Bewick’s

Perhaps not a ‘classic’ but nice to get my first Casp of the winter. A dainty female I presume. LMGP #gulls #UKbirding

Thought I would brave the wind and rain to go and see the WFGs at Dorney Common. Two adults and three juveniles showing very well this afternoon.

Lovely lunchtime walk, picking up three hawfinch in my local church grounds at Gt Hampden. I’ve looked a few times recently due to umbers passing through but today was the day 🙌 #ukbirding

Enjoyable day at Portland so far. Good views of the interesting RNG, calling YBW at Portland Castle, two black reds on rocks by the Bill and a flushed barn owl from the cliff side quarry that I assume is probably a migrant? @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social

I love it when a plan comes together! Tried some pre-work vis mig at Coombe Hill this morning, and managed a target hawfinch plus two brambling. Hawfinch takes my 2024 10k list to 100 🎉

Stunning aurora borealis views from my village tonight ❤️

I was surprised to see such a young dabchick today since we’re nearly in October, but apparently they can have three broods so hopefully it’ll fledge ok

My garden pond is tiny, but it’s still attracted four species of Odonata this year. It’s a tiny reminder of the value of us all doing our bit, no matter how small

Pleased with the crop on my new camera. Even more pleased to finally find my first whinchat of the year for my village

I haven’t twitched much of late this year, getting most of my joy from local birding instead. But a garganey turning up 5 mins from where I was collecting my daughter last night was perfectly convenient. Managed to connect in the fading evening light.

A place to share gull ID tips and queries

I guess I had to start with a gull…. here’s a 2cy yellow-legged gull from Rhodes in August this year