1/ The latest Winter Gull Survey revealed that over the two decades since the last count, the total number of gulls wintering in the UK has decreased from 3.9 million to just under 2.5 million! 📉 #Ornithology #Seabirds 📖 Read the report www.bto.org/WinGSReport#Ornithology#Seabirds

Some birds from the weekend in Cambs: a very late Tundra Bean Goose at Fen Drayton Lakes, and the party of Dotterel near Gamlingay had grown to 13 birds - I think the largest group in the county for over 20 years @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social

1/ Sad news from Cambridge: the well-known female peregrine falcon of Cherry Hinton Chalk Pits has died. For years she nested on the reserve’s chalk face, raising chicks watched by thousands of visitors, birders, volunteers and local residents.

🦉Birdwatching is now the second fastest growing hobby for Gen Z! Among millennials it has risen by 216% alongside a 66% increase in gen X birders. Welcome to a world of wonder! www.theguardian.com/environment/... #nature #birds

Some local birding highlights from the last week. Really good to have spring migration in full flow @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social

6 Wheatears and a Whinchat at Tev Fen this evening. After a really poor spring last year it has been great to have such a strong passage of Wheatears locally @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social

Really pleased that @simongillings.bsky.social's Ring Ouzel hung around another day. It was showing really well late morning, viewed from the busy towpath at Chesterton Fen @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social

Some nice views of a Weasel at Milton CP this morning - and for once, it actually stayed still long enough for a few photos!

Good to see some more movement on garden bird feeding but ultimately we need a rethink, not just because of disease but because making common birds commoner can make rare ones rarer #Ornithology #UKBirding www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

What better way is there to spend the Easter 🐣 🐣🐣 weekend than birdwatching, and hopefully finding and recording rare breeding birds to help their conservation? There’s lots to look for in April, so here’s some ideas from RBBP Secretary @markaeaton.bsky.social #ornithology #UKbirding

Lots of raptors soaring in the spring sunshine at Tev Fen earlier on. This Raven circling with Buzzards gave a nice size comparison @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social

After going missing for a week I thought the long-staying drake Scaup had finally moved on from Milton CP. However today it was back with the remaining handful of Tufted Ducks. I wonder where it had gone in between? @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social

The BEST most hopeful news to wake to this morning! Bravo Hannah Spencer MP, bravo @westberksgreens.bsky.social who went up to support & are building members here. Thank you Gorton & Denton, @zackpolanski.bsky.social Hope over hate, community over protecting power & wealth, politics is changing!

Records of Rough-legged Buzzard in Cambs stopped abruptly in 2019; before then it was pretty much annual in winter. Is the county's first Black-winged Kite now the more likely of the two raptors to occur...

No UK eBird records of Rough-legged Buzzard from 2026 yet (below); this species will likely be rarer nationally than Black-winged Kite in future. Both very visible signs of climate (and land-use) driven range shifts #UKBirding #Ornithology

Great to see RBBP data being used in work led by @btobirds.bsky.social that improves our knowledge on the status of Little Egrets in the UK… there are more than we thought!

A drake Ferruginous Duck at Milton CP today was a real surprise, whatever its origin, and topped off an excellent few days of local birding @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social #ukbirding

A four Aythya lunchbreak - as well as Tufted Duck and Pochard, drake Scaup and Ferruginous Duck at Milton Country Park. Top find by @jonheath.bsky.social #UKBirding

An excellent #patch tick with 2 Greater White-fronted Geese showing well at the Cambridge Research Park this morning. Many thanks to @jonheath.bsky.social for finding. An adult female Goosander also present #birds #PWC2026 #photography @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social

A drake Scaup late this afternoon on a small ice free area of Todd's Lake at Milton CP. After being well out of finding form recently it was nice to get something good on patch for a change @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social #ukbirding

Happy New Year! Some of the best birds seen and favourite pics from locally around Cambs this year. One of my highlights was recording over 100 species in April at my Tev Fen patch, though the habitat there and then interesting birds soon dried up @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social

Great day out in Norfolk yesterday. After a bit of a wait the Black-winged Kite started hunting at Ludham Bridge and quickly caught a vole. Later on the Eastern Black Redstart showed brilliantly in the winter sunshine at Sheringham @mrm27.bsky.social #ukbirding

Good visit to Norfolk today, 30/12/25, for the Black-winged Kite with @jonheath.bsky.social and a nameless friend, good views, then a bit of a seawatch at Sheringham with the E Black Redstart as an incentive, finishing with some nice wild swans. #birds 🪶🐦

Climate-driven range contractions in species like Twite and Citril Finch can't be fixed by releases www.birdguides.com/news/citril-... #Ornithology ##UKBirding 🪶

Absolutely shocking. We're offering an overall award of £10k for information that leads to a conviction in these cases. We need to make raptor persecution a thing of the past.

📉 Our new paper shows Bewick’s Swan numbers in NW/NE Europe have fallen to ~12,900 birds - a 56.7% decline since 1995, with further losses predicted by 2026 unless survival or breeding success improves. Flyway-wide conservation is urgent. 🦢 Download paper > tidsskrift.dk/Wildfowl/art... #Ornithology

1st-winter Red-necked Grebe still showing really well at Fen Drayton Lakes today, often diving between submerged tree branches on the eastern side of Ferry Lagoon. The last one at this site was over 10 years ago @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social

There must be some particularly good Shoveler food just out of reach at Milton CP as most of the over-wintering birds there have switched to a diving feeding technique @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social

Huge News from the Western Amazon: it's the year 2025 and we are still describing entirely new, strikingly-distinctive large-bodied bird species! Behold Tinamus resonans sp. nov. the Slaty-masked Tinamou mapress.com/zt/article/v... #Ornithology @tetzoo.bsky.social 🪶

This time, the washes were ready! 🦢✅ After a 570km U-turn north to Aberdeenshire, likely due to low water at the Ouse Washes, the same swan has migrated south again & arrived to restored, higher levels. A real-world example of landscape-scale habitat assessment by migratory birds.

Last night the Government steamrollered its Planning Bill through, slamming the door on vital protections for nature. They said it would be a ‘win-win’ for the economy and nature. But in reality, they’ve pushed nature into last place.

Something to celebrate - our 2025 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker report - successful breeding season, the most nests monitored & highest number of chicks fledged per nest since we started in 2015. Acoustic monitoring giving amazing results too, download here www.woodpecker-network.org.uk/images/L_S_W...

Lovely crisp evening at Tev Fen with 7 raptor species seen. The Marsh Harrier roost is building up nicely but no sign of any Hen Harriers yet @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social

Longevity record! Last night, @washwader.bsky.social recaught this Black-tailed Godwit, first caught and ringed 29 years ago. The metal ring was wearing thin (and was replaced) but the bird is still going strong. Blog about longevity of waders: wadertales.wordpress.com/2018/01/16/w... #ornithology

The latest report from the RBBP, Rare Breeding Birds in the UK in 2023, is out now in British Birds. It reports on the 104 species and races of rare breeding birds recording breeding, or showing signs of breeding, in 2023. Read the summary at rbbp.org.uk/2023-report-... #ornithology #ukbirds 🧵[1/15]

Central Cambridge Otter! My friend @w-mcewan.bsky.social just saw this Otter near the boathouses! (31 Oct '25) Incredible! @tonyjuniper.bsky.social @jonheath.bsky.social @craigbennett3.bsky.social

Thanks to @emmaroddicksnp.bsky.social for raising the impact of fireworks on animals at First Minister's Questions. The delay to the licensing aspect of the Fireworks Act is hugely frustrating. The suffering animals continue to endure is deeply upsetting: www.onekind.org/blog/firewor...

Almost a third of UK Hawfinches used artificial birdfood when available, with implications for disease transmission. Investigating supplementary food use of UK Hawfinch Coccothraustes coccothraustes populations using DNA metabarcoding doi.org/10.1080/0006... #BirdStudy #ornithology

Third phase of consultation opens for proposed reservoir in the Fens New details of the plans. Consultation open until December www.anglianwater.co.uk/news/third-p...

As a county bird recorder I can honestly say that the best and easiest way for you to make your birding count, is to upload them to either eBird or BirdTrack. Doing so contributes directly to #ornithology and bird #conservation at both local and national levels. #birdingScotland #birdingWales

Utterly beholden to lobbyists, staggeringly ignorant and dismissive of the natural world: Rachel Reeves might not look or sound like Donald Trump, but she is behaving very much like him. This government is even more of an ecological hazard than the Tories were. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A sneak peak of some upcoming artwork featuring in the 2024 Cambs Bird Report; this wonderful Starling murmuration by Richard Fowling. If you would like to contribute some of your own artwork to the report please do let us know @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social

We're incredibly concerned about the welfare of two satellite-tagged golden eagles, Tarras and Wren, that have recently disappeared in Dumfries and Galloway. Anyone with information should contact Police Scotland. Read more 👉 bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce80l4jgd1qo 📷 Chris Gomersall, RSPB Images

"Alarmingly, the new data show an accelerating pattern of decline in our bird populations, whether on our farmland, wetlands, uplands or seas, as they are pushed past their limits" - @richgreg3.bsky.social

A Manx Shearwater, which was found under a hedge in a Haddenham garden last Tuesday, was successfully released yesterday at Hunstanton. It was launched off the cliffs and flew out to sea. @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social #ukbirding

Swift conservationists seem to be pretty much unanimous: 2025 was an excellent year for nest numbers, brood productivity, and activity levels around colonies. The main reason seems to be long spells of warm weather without much rain.

Very firm statement on releases of captive-bred Turtle Doves, from Operation Turtle Dove inc @rspb.bsky.social & @naturalengland.bsky.social: *Doesn't meet IUCN guidelines *Risk of disease/genetic pollution *Irresponsible aims operationturtledove.org/captive-rele... 1/2 #ornithology #ukbirding

It's been a lot of fun watching Swifts nesting in my boxes for the first time this year. The first pair fledged 2-3 young in July but surprisingly a second pair started late and have just fledged 1-2 young in the last few days. Fingers crossed they are back next year @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social

Some classic late August birding in and around Cambridge today, with a team effort producing Redstart, Tree Pipit, Spotted Flycatchers, Whinchat, Grasshopper Warbler, Willow Warbler @noahbai-123.bsky.social @jokuwildlife.bsky.social @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social

Really enjoyed this! Very well made and pretty funny