At last! Commonest rare not seen. Star bird. Pechora Pipit baby! Pic Matt Mellor.

Couldn't get any closer! Pulp at Route du Rock, St Malo, France. Oh yeh!

Excellent start to the ringing season at Clopton, South Cambridgeshire- 500 warblers from 6 visits with record numbers of Sedge & Reed Warblers. Willow, Grasshopper, Garden and Lesser Whitethroat increasing and first passage Redstart yesterday. @CambsBirdClub

A few days at Lake Neusiedl, Austria seeing my longtime friend Harry Vilkaitis. Great birding!

Nice few hours at Buckton over the weekend with Pete Middleton, 600+ passerines in the stubbles including Lap Bunt, 130+ Corn Bunts, 100 Yellowhammer, 350 Linnet, Water Rail, Stonechat, Fieldfare, Peregrine etc.

Great short break to the Netherlands, saw the Spectacled Eider and waterbirds galore.

A bit of night-time ringing recently.

New opportunity for a Seabird Research Officer in Bempton! If you’re interested please see below for details! 🐧 #ornithology app.vacancy-filler.co.uk/salescrm/Car...

Love getting recoveries, Sedge Warbler I ringed at Clopton, Cambs on 11 Aug 24 - retrapped 11 days later in France. Amazingly whilst I was at another site near Nantes (only a few km away) catching passage Sedge Warblers in a reedbed on the same day - so close!

Two days in the motherland

Family trip to the Natural History Museum today to see the Birds - brilliant & bizzare exhibition.

Dusk today, dawn last month.

JOB VACANCIES! We're seeking 3 Conservation Scientists to join our friendly team of #seabirders at the RSPB. We're an inclusive team where everyone is welcome. DEADLINE: Friday 3rd January. #conservationjobs #ornithology #seabirds #science Details: app.vacancy-filler.co.uk/salescrm/Car...

Pls follow RSPB Investigations Team bsky.app/profile/rspb...

Mudeford Quay (Dorset) 1330-1630 this afternoon was a gamble that paid-off. 1 Cory’s Shearwater (first CHOG area record since 1988), 1 Little Gull, 5 Kittiwake, 7 Med Gull, 2 Com Gull, 18 Com Scoter & 3 Brent Geese. #DorsetBirds

Pallas's Warbler, Buckton Oct 2022, 2nd ever ringed here, such a beauty.

Never forgotten, just read the words on the right. Be more Roy.

Great account to follow.

Perfect day at @spurnbirdobs.bsky.social Little Auks, Hume's Warbler, Thrush arrivals in snow flurries, Shorelarks and productive team mtg.

Update by Dan Gornall on our Yellow-browed warbler project "1) Mainland Shetland > Carmel Head, Anglesey 2) Lundy > Lower Moors, Scilly. Especially interesting southerly re-orientation from Shetland. Many thanks to the ringers & birders who reported these". 📸Reg Thorpe. @alexanderlees.bsky.social

Nearly end game at Clopton (South Cambs), so close to 2000 birds caught and ringed since mid-July. 2024 being the first experimental autumn here, on what is a small patch of scrub on an 80m SW-leading escarpment in otherwise arable desert. Its a lovely site and seeing 52 dawns has been ace.

A few more of this year's best birds

Starlings, Winchelsea

If people R/T politics then I am unfollowing on here, it has to be pure birds/nature

An excellent morning down the Porth Hellick ringing lanes with a dusky warbler, two yellow-broweds, four sibes (tristis) amongst the chiffs, a water rail added some variety, and I found a Richard’s pipit whilst showing the dusky to a crowd of two! November eastern magic 🙌 #ScillyBirds 🪶

The Hatfield Great Grey Shrike was highly mobile and always distant this morning. Good to see locally as the are sadly becoming a rare bird.......

I was a guest on BBC Radio 4 'Rare Earth' this week, talking about raptors and their persecution www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Scarlet Tanager. Shelf nr Halifax. West Yorkshire. Bird was up against the light casting dark shadows and a lemon yellow "halo" around... Later got better side on view seeing more detail.

An interesting week! Started with catching a Woodcock at Clopton with Ed & Deurdon last Saturday, moved to twitching a Scarlet Tanager in Halifax on Monday, then the small matter of a Radio4 interview at BBC Broadcasting House with Heather on Tuesday

Two from the past