A quick reminder of our next event. Dec 4, 2025 7:30 PM Winter warmer social St Anne's Hall, Wendover Our chance to actually see each other face to face! Four speakers with a focus on Bucks birding, with half-time tea and refreshments. Non-members welcome!

A Purrfect Morning The last time I did a big sit, was November 2020 during the 2nd lockdown when all around the country we gathered in our gardens for a few hours each week to see what we could see. I decided to do a big sit this morning (the day after my Birthday) as I have moved to a slightly 1/3

Tales from the Bank - Day #264. What an evening, 54 Corn Buntings into the Saltmarsh roost, Barn Owl posing in the Paddock, Avocets, Curlews and Oystercatcher trying to out call the Greenshank that flew around for 5 minutes TewTewTew’ing and the sunset. Of Carlsberg did April Birding #ukbirding

Tide is high … I wasn’t just holding on, I was basking, the recent spring high tides and the glorious weather have meant more sojourns on the bank. The Avocets are back (and took rightful place as the 100th species in or over my garden in the last 8 months) The river is alive with spring.

#ukbirding - an incredible thread from one of the finest Birder-Storytellers of my generation. Relive the past glories of our wonderful hobby and try not to think of the fact that as a minimum most of these birds were over 35 years ago … I salute you @markgolley.bsky.social thank you.

Back on bank… 8 days away is too much, a road warrior these last few weeks, it was great to be greeted by a pair of Med Gulls over the garden calling. A Song Thrush in full pelt (we have only seen a single Song Thrush over the winter) Oystercatcher and Curlew in full display. Missed it #ukbirding

Life on the Bank … it’s been an incredible few days with enormous skies and brilliant sunsets and the birds, Barn Owls most mornings, Merlin today and the first Chiffchaff back on territory - what’s not to love #ukbirding

A short walk… to the car today along the bank produced Curlew, Redshank and Oystercatcher all calling and a brilliant Barn Owl (this was Browny - there is also Ghost, an almost pure white one that also hunts this stretch) Bank Bliss. #ukbirding

Today I am mostly seeing … Golden Plover, and Brent Geese, few Curlew over and piping Oystercatchers back displaying at the end of the garden. If Carlsberg did morning Coffee … (I appreciate they don’t) but not a bad start to the day. #ukbirding #hobholeobs

Fancy some drumming this February? Join us via shrikebirdingtours.com #ukbirding

Today was sponsored by Gurgling Brent Geese, Pinking Pinks, Bugling Curlews, sipping Meadow Pipits and a swirling maelstrom of Starlings over the Garden. Hope your day was also bird filled with sight and sound. #ukbirding

Just on the slim chance that anyone is aware of anyone magically acquiring a new pair of binoculars or you see them offered for sale .... my Leica Ultravid 10 x 42 binoculars were stolen from a hide at WWT Slimbridge on 11 December. The serial number is 1593393. #BirdingGear

Welcome to the UK & Ireland Birding feed. For an introduction to Bsky and feeds see here - bou.org.uk/blog-dudley-... Otherwise, see the feed notes attached.

The big smoke. Two days of training meant an overnight stay in London. Normally I am on it, with regard to birding, but arrival and departure have both been in the dark. The only bird I consciously saw all day was a brilliant Ring Necked Parakeet. For us northerners it’s still a novelty #ukbirding

The Small Things. Not much been happening on the Bank in the last few days, work and weather have not been kind to my birding endeavours, but a male Brambling in the garden not only enthralled me for 10 mins as it fed around the feeding station, but also the first I had seen in any of my gardens.

Bert doesn’t deliver. Storm Bert, while exhilarating and exciting to be out in has blown all the birds elsewhere. My BirdWeather Puc only recorded 3 species overnight and my dog walk recorded 1 Curlew and 1 Redshank - normally loads. The best sight was 2000 Brents battling the breeze #ukbirding

And still they come. A cracking morning dog walk on the Bank, the 4 Little Grebes were still hanging around as were the two Goldeneye, 10 Ruff and 2 Knot were feeding with the small flock of 20 or so Dunlin but the crème de la crème was the Red Throated Diver that was on the Haven - making 124 for

Knowing your patch. It’s a steep learning curve, that first year on your new patch and life on the Hobhole changes daily. The colder weather pushed two Goldeneye up river onto the Haven and they were chilling with a pair of Gadwell and 5 Teal (!) both species I have only seen in flight before today

A Lovely Dovekie. Decided to pop down to Cut End for an early Lunchtime visit, half heartedly hoping for one of the many 100’s of Little Auks passing the east coast to have been swept into the wash. And 1 was, which was nice. A brilliant little thing about 200 yds out keeping pace with a Dunlin.

Oh and while I am here. Great White Egret and Wigeon become species number #91 and #92 for the Garden respectively. I know some (one !) of you cares. Can’t wait to see what species 100 is. Jay, Song Thrush and Mistle Thrush are all still obvious by their absence …

Burbling Brilliant Brent’s. I know I talk about being lucky on here, but I bloody well am. Never for one moment did I think that sitting in my garden watching Whistling Curlews, Pinking Pink Feet and Burbling Brents flying past my morning cup of Coffee. Just sublime. #ukbirding #lincsbirding sound🆙

@rockgod2112.bsky.social yay :-) good to see you on here mate. And great to see you albeit briefly up north. Speak soon my friend.

Puc is live Never thought I would tire of Pink Footed Geese and Goldfinches. But the new continuous monitoring device (Puc) set up in the garden recorded 567 and 1108 detections of each respectively since Wednesday! But still love wading through them trying to find new stuff. Hobhole.com #ukbirding

Fancy a brilliant afternoon out? Why not join us for a Winter Wonderland birding trip on the beautiful Nene Washes. #ukbirding

Another Bank Day. I never dreamt that one day Whooper Swans and Pink Footed Geese would be flying over my house, 1000’s Brent Geese would be feeding at the bottom of my Garden and Rock Pipits and Curlews would be seen on my morning dog walks. For a born and bred Bucks Birder - Lincs is incredible.

The Hobhole Dream. Did I mention that I love where I live? The thought that one day I would walk 30yds from the end of my garden and see 2 Grey Plover fly over my house, 2 Whooper Swans calling as the fly past at eye level, a Red Breasted Merganser a mile up the river and then 2 Barwits drop in.

Finding the stuff. It looks like we just followed the trail this year, we did tor a few year ticks, but we have done a huge amount of Iris beds, sycamore strands and more gardens than you can shake a stick at and finally today paid off with a fine self found Barred Warbler at Aster. Which was nice.

Up North Two. A return to Unst to allow Simon and Hasan a chance to get even more lifers. A fantastic 1.5 hours at Norwick and great views were had of Lanceolated Warbler, Paddyfield Warbler, Common Rosefinch and 4 YBW. An Otter at Belmont Terminal and the beast of a Glaucous Gull also seen.

The mop up. With two new crew members joining us today and lifers on offer we followed old familiar trails and had great views of Little Bunting, Barred Warbler, Red Breasted Flycatcher and Common Rosefinch in various points on #shetland - awesome skills from @markiebk.bsky.social as always.

The far north. We headed north to Unst yesterday and as well as seeing some common migrants in, it was all about the Locustellas. We ended up at Norwick not expecting much. 2 hours later after flushing a Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler at point blank range and then a Lancie was found in same place.

The Wild West. Despite @markiebk.bsky.social and I checking every strand of sycamores we came across yesterday, our final tally was 3 Yellow Browed Warblers, Goldcrest, Blackcap and a Robin. We livened things up with a spot of trail jumping to also see the Golden Oriole and Rose Coloured Starling.

All the B’s Today ended on a high. Both Barred Warbler and Bluethroat showed well ( @markiebk.bsky.social is a genius) at Rona’s Voe. Other than that a whooping flyby of two Whooper Swans and a few Willow Warblers were the self found highlights. Always tomorrow. #UKBirding

Local Patch Watching. Not sure if every birder does this, but when I go somewhere new, I define the boundaries of my “local area”, the hotel gardens, the local lake , or your garden when staying in a new place. Luckily we are staying in a lovely place in Shetland this week with a ready made patch.

Cold up here. Swapped the mean streets of Hobhole Bank for #Shetland24 - Kittiwakes, Red Throated Divers and Eider were all delightful. The Belhaven Best also quite nice ! #ukbirding @markiebk.bsky.social is shotgun.

Yellow-browed Warbler. Thanks to @hobhole.bsky.social I managed to see this one, after failing the day before. Beautiful bird with a lovely song. Interesting research going on with these birds, doing what is thought to be a ‘reverse migration’. #yellowbrowedwarbler #freiston

Had Worse Weekends. Found this Leach’s Petrel with John Badley on Saturday 21st at Cut End, Lincs. and then found this Yellow Browed Warbler on the Sunday at Cut End Cottage. Both in my 5K patch. Which was nice. Then found a Gannet over my local patch (1K) Which was also nice. #ukbirding

Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #6,142,379!

And back again. A short mini trip down south (back to Milton Keynes as a tourist, stayed in a fancy pants hotel and everything) made me realise how much I missed “The Bank” and how much of a home it has become. So was good to get back on patch yesterday and today. Greenshank made the garden list #70

Everyday just gets better. I knew when I moved here (Hobhole Bank, SE of Fishtoft, Lincs) that good birds would be on my doorstep, but little did I expect just how good. Our morning Dog walk produced OSPREY heading east along the Boston Haven and then 31 Pink Footed Geese flew west over the Garden.

Not quite NocMig. Sat here in the garden of Coastguards at 22:20, and minding my own business when a Coot flys over calling ! Followed closely by a Ringed Plover. Coot becomes garden tick #66 and patch tick #101 #ukbirding

Incredible scenes at Coastguards. A heavy squall has just gone though and a minimum of 1000 Hirundines have just invaded my airspace, they were all over our roof, along the wires and in the bushes. An incredible sight, mostly Barn Swallows (80%) House Martins (15%) and Sand Martins (5%) #ukbirding

Quick trip to Scilly. Accompanying @markiebk.bsky.social to St Mary’s today recorded the following, there and back. Corys Shearwater - 125 Great Shearwater - 101 Sooty Shearwater - 10 1 European Storm Petrel Oddities included Ruff, Turnstone, 6 Black Tailed Godwits + 2 Wheatears. #ukbirding

Far from home. Cornwall is a long way from Hobhole Bank. But so many treasures. First up were Cirl Buntings and 6 Balearic shearwaters (admittedly in Devon) then the Semi Palmated Sandpiper and Red Backed Shrike at Marazion led us a dance, late seawatch at Pendeen included 3 Long Tailed Skuas.

An evening at Cut End. The beauty of a new patch is exploring the area and tonight we walked down to where the River Witham meets the Wash to Cut End hide. Bliss. Whimbrel, Turnstone, Oystercatcher, Ringed plover calls filled the air. Sandwich, Common and Black Terns, Eider bobbing and a Wheatear.

And Ton up in the murk. Grey Wagtail over calling made the #hobholeobs walk this morning as it became species 100 for the patch. 2 Sedge and 1 Reed warbler were by the pond and 4 Grey Partridge were a nice surprise along the saltmarsh edge. #ukbirding

While I am not dripping in eastern gems, I can take small solace in terms of new birds for either the Garden or the patch. And so it was that a Redshank finally gave itself up and flew over the garden this morning #65 and then a Shoveler flew over the Hobhole Patch this evening #99 #ukbitding

2nd September - Hobhole Obs. Anticipation overnight as once again the east coast is on fire with Wrynecks and Greenish Warblers etc. So with thick fog greeting me, it was full of surprises. Unfortunately the best bird was getting Redshank as a full day house tick. But 3 Lesser Whitethroats were nice

Morning Coffee on the bench #hobholeobs - 5 Oystercatchers over, Redshank piping from the river and Greenfinch and Goldfinch flocks starting to build. Text from our Neighbour alerted us to a Kingfisher on her pond and then the Swallows and House Martins started massing … if #ukbirding did mornings.

A post of numbers, just to bring you up to speed, I now live at the end of Hobhole drain, 3.5 miles SE of Boston on the north bank of the River Witham (Boston Haven) In the last 35 days I have recorded 64 species in or over the garden and 96 on my patch. I also have a 5K list that’s 125. #ukbirding

Great few days on “the bank”, Pied and Spotted Flycatchers, Sedge Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Willow Warblers and Reed Warblers all making a stopover around the Carpark or pond, flyover Greenshank and Peregrine was lovely to see this morning also.