Some ticks ✅ were more welcome than others 🕷️ this morning. Just pulled this off my arm.

My 2nd #nocmig Quail this year. Its a bit frustrating that I still need it for my Potteric list when they are annual over the garden.

It was a tough few days at Spurn - singing Rosefinch that didn't show itself and a flight view of a Greenish Warbler. On the plus side, a drake Mandarin was Spurn tick for me 😆

Highlights at Spurn today were Spotted Flycatcher, a singing Rosefinch and a couple of pints at a pub with a view 👑 & ⚓️

Arctic Tern and a fly-through Wood Sand were the pick of the birds at Doncaster iPort today.

The *Birds of Budle Bay* is now with the digital printer! Purchase and collection details coming soon. Please repost 🐦 @ntbirdclub.bsky.social @durhambirdclub.bsky.social @teesmouthbirdclub.bsky.social @birdinglothian.bsky.social #BirdsofBudle #NEbirding

Great to see Stone Curlew at Spurn today #spurnbirds

Well chuffed to find this drake Blue-winged Teal with a group of Shovelers at Potteric Carr. The only previous record was in April 1998, which I dipped. #patchbirding #gripback

Birds of the month so far at Potteric Carr

I've just upgraded from a Nikon P900 to the OM System OM-1 ii and 300mm lens on the recommendation of a few birders. Only used it once so far so still at the bottom of the learning curve, but I'm really impressed #birdinggear

🚀 Incredible movement alert! Our @PulsarWild sponsored CTT-tagged Jack Snipe has just completed an astonishing journey reaching Belgium from Staffordshire in just 7 hours 9 minutes! 🇬🇧➡️🇧🇪 That’s an average speed of 30+ mph for one of our most elusive and secretive species. 🤯

Big movement of Whoopers overnight and this morning through the Doncaster area. Pity I'm stuck indoors, but recorded some over the house last night. Got a boy racer at the same time - typical! The joys of #nocmig 🙄

I remember a talk by Andrew Grieve about Blacktoft Sands when he talked about the discovery of 100's of Common Scoters flying up the Humber heading inland. Since taking up #nocmig I still find it amazing when I get recordings of scoters over Doncaster in the dead of night

I've been hoping for a kittiwake to pass through Potteric Carr over the last couple of days. Sadly no kits yet but these 3 delightful Black-necked Grebes have been hanging around.

Potteric Carr got in on the today's Common Scoter action when a fine drake was found. But probably the rarest bird I'll get this year was a Willow Tit. Its the first I've had in months and could well be the last 😔

A glorious day for a walk in the Peak District. Got a few birds I've not seen in long while, like Red Grouse and Dipper. A group of 18 Whoopers on Langsett Res was a nice surprise.

Sorry to hear that Clive Byers died yesterday. There'll be many who knew Clive a lot better than I did but I considered him a friend. Always fun, always helpful to a fellow illustrator and always happy to provide a floor to crash on. A great guy I wish I'd known better.

Jack Snipe at Potteric Carr. Found with the thermal imager. Phonescoped hence not getting it all in frame.

Great views of Bittern at Potteric Carr. First picked up in the reeds through the thermal and then it walked out into the open. #phonescoped

1st-winter Med Gull at Lakeside and adult Med Gull at Lound in the last few days of 2025. Quite pleased with the results, phonescoped with the little Kowa TSN-55A. Hoping for a proper white-winger in the next few weeks🙏

First #patchbirding twitch of the year for this juvenile glaucous gull at North Shields Fish Quay, which gave good views late this afternoon before heading off towards South Shields Pier. I didn't see one here last year, so it was great to see this one so early in 2026. #nebirding

Beat that @rarebirder.bsky.social 😂

Stayed at Potteric Carr until dusk hoping for a gull roost that failed to materialize. So a couple of Whoopers and a murmuration were consolations

It was nice to see a couple of Spot Reds at Potteric Carr this morning. Pity they were flushed by a marsh harrier. #patchbirding #yorkshirebirding

One of the most incredible WTF!! moments I have witnessed in 41 years birding Belvide. 8 White-rumped Sandpiper on the north shore between 4pm-5.30pm. Just short of a British Record of 11 on the outer Hebrides. Thought I'd lost the plot when I saw them. Still pinching myself. #UKbirding

Many thanks to Mandy Gregory for sending on these images of the white throated needletail over @tophilllow.bsky.social yesterday. Perhaps it remembers where East Yorkshire’s premier insect diner is…

I'm finding the #chirpity app great for quickly processing #nocmig recordings. Had to laugh this morning when it identified me bringing in the recorder as a Bearded Tit 🤣 @chirpity-nocmig.bsky.social

No way!

Juv Sabine's Cogden found b.y @notquitescilly.bsky.social it flew east at around 9.00am...

Very quiet day at Southfield Res. A couple of Hobbies went south, a Common Sand and 200+ hirundines were the highlights.

A look through my 2026 calendar

Potteric Carr: what it lacks in birds it makes up for in chips 😋

Stanford Reservoir - the ringing group deliver again. In crappy conditions with low bird numbers a 1st for the site & for Northants - BARRED WARBLER. Well deserved for the dedicated efforts of the group in their 50th year ringing at the site. Haven’t sweared so much for a while!!

Sergeant Fiskies Lonely Spurn Club Band!!

Farmoor last night, 2 Caspian Gulls and a Black Tern. No sketching as testing out a dual scope/camera setup for seawatching but seemingly very useful for gull roosts as well. The 3cy Casp and Black Tern are crops from very distant video (35x mag) - the 2cy Casp is a normal photo #ukbirding

A drake Garganey, vermiculations don’t get much better. #birds #ukbirds #phonescoping vimeo.com/813700534

One of my favourite species - the Spotted Flycatcher. This pair nested in a half coconut shell we put up behind climbing undergrowth on my friends house. #birds #ukbirds #ornithology vimeo.com/568545027

Three hour seawatch with good friend Justin Carr yesterday morning at @flamboroughbird.bsky.social not lots of birds but good close views of a Cory’s Shearwater and the below adult Pomarine Skua with spoons Digiscoped through a Swarovski STX85 @donnybirding.bsky.social @birdguides.bsky.social

Dark-eyed Junco in a private garden in Ely on July 9th, which was unfortunately not seen again thereafter. This is the first ever American passerine species recorded in Cambs! @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social #ukbirding

Buston Links Teal - 3 months on and this is what she now looks like. Seems to have got a bit greyer ??? The bill still looks big but looking more BWT ??. I thought I had this case closed as a hybrid (BWT x Shoveler) but today's views have put my head back a fuzz. #NEbirding #birdhybrids

A most unexpected European Nightjar recorded over the garden last night. I don't live close to a breeding site so maybe its a migrant. #ukbirding #nocmig

Someone on Birdforum is asking if anyone has found a green Rab waterproof at the Wykeham Forest raptor viewpoint. Name is Mick Baron, contact via Birdforum or I would help if needed.

It still amazes me what flies over my suburban garden in Doncaster. A nice Quail last night #nocmig

Song Sparrow showing well on Tory this morning #irishrarebirds

Quail over the house last night doing the 'mau-wau' call. Only my 2nd in 5 years of #nocmig #yorkshirebirding

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... 🤔 🐛