White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons appearing in good numbers at #PettLevel at the weekend - I counted 32 which coincidentally was the same as reported in 2024. Also Brent (2) but Canada & Greylag dominated in large numbers. @sussexornitholo.bsky.social #sussexbirding #ukbirding

A bracket on a long fallen bough on the verge of our High Weald lane seen yesterday and perhaps making a festive attempt for #MushroomMonday - Blushing Bracket Daedaleopsis confragosa #fungi #fungifriends

A Stinky Knight on the verge of our High Weald lane for #MushroomMonday although since that doesn’t sound very festive perhaps Tricholoma sulphureum? #fungi #funghifriends

Lovely to see Bewick’s Swan Cygnus columbianus swimming on the choppy waters of Burrowes at #RSPBDungeness on Saturday (27/12) as more likely to be found on Walland Marsh as with Whooper also wintering from the Siberian Arctic. #kentbirding #ukbirding

Another from the weekend at #RyeHarbourNR - the Spoonbill is said to feed mainly by touch, is this also true of preening I wonder? @btobirds.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social #ukbirding #sussexbirding

Some festive decoration in the hedgerow perhaps or at least Seasons Greetings - this provided by Stereum hirsutum the Hairy Curtain Crust. #fungi #fungifriends

Fulica atra, the Coot, forms large winter flocks - eg at #RyeHarbourNR at the weekend - gregarious now but aggressively territorial in the breeding season! Perhaps this gave rise to the expression ‘as queer as a coot’ and perhaps its white ‘blaze the ‘bald as a coot’. #ukbirding #sussexbirding

Another Inkcap to add to the #MushroomMonday collection: after spying Hare’s Foot on the muckheap this is Coprinellus micaceus the Glistening Inkcap from a walk later yesterday down our High Weald lane. #fungifriends

For #MushroomMonday a #MuckheapMushroom: Coprinopsis lagopus the Hare’s Foot Inkcap, appearing and deliquescing between wheelbarrow loads. #fungi #fungifriends

Ciconiiformes members at #RyeHarbourNR yesterday included a ‘just stretching after a snooze’ Spoonbill plus Great and Little Egret (Grey Heron was AWOL). @sussexwildlife.bsky.social @sussexornitholo.bsky.social #sussexbirding #ukbirding

A tiny and easily overlooked fungi on the verge of our High Weald lane for #FungiFriday : Scurfy Twiglet, which sounds like I have made up the name so perhaps I should call it Tubaria furfuracea instead. #fungifriends #fungi

Some Christmas decoration in the hedgerow? Black Bryony Dioscorea communis, a British member of the tropical yam family and here an Ancient Wood Indicator (or perhaps a plant of entanglement and deceit). @bsbibotany.bsky.social

“Illegal persecution” or an act of ‘Sycamore’ vandalism it is such depressing news.

Alder Alnus glutinosa is probably overlooked - except perhaps at this time of year with cheerful and colourful catkins - but in the past was popular for shields, clogs and gunpowder- Blue Tit and Siskin still find it a useful food source today. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Different Ardeidae poses at #RSPBDungeness here at the ARC on 13/12/26. The Grey Heron sometimes adopts this ‘sunning posture’ - it was a pleasantly mild sunny day. #kentbirding #ukbirding @rspb.bsky.social

As we left the herd the conversation was “wasn’t a Whooper reported with the Bewick’s?”. I posted these photos this morning and @ploddingbirder.bsky.social kindly drew my attention to the 2nd bird from the left on the RH photo…

Not much for #MushroomMonday but I found these Birch Polypore Piptoporus betulinus on a fallen Birch locally when I was doing a SWBS and noting some woodland birds. #fungi #fungifriends

Bewick’s Swan back at Walland Marsh from the Arctic Russian NE. A small group of us went home from Saturday’s @sussexornitholo.bsky.social outing at #RSPDungeness to say hi to this herd of 5. #kentbirding #ukbirding

Yarrow for #WildflowerHour. Archillea millefolium at #RSPBDungeness yesterday.

10 joined me for the last @sussexornitholo.bsky.social outing of 2025 - here at #RSPBDungeness watching a busy female Goldeneye at Burrowes (also from this viewpoint: Cormorant; Egret (Little & Great); Gadwall; Gull (G & Lesser BB + Herring; Shoveler; Teal; Tufted Duck) #ukbirding #kentbirding

The closest I have got to a Turtle Dove this year - a 98% decline since the 1960s notes the BTO - the last one I actually saw was more than a decade ago. @btobirds.bsky.social

Trametes versicolor, it’s all there in black & white - seen at #RSPBBroadwaterWarren yesterday for #FungiFriday #fungi #fungifriends

The perfect Christmas present for someone who loves Rye Harbour is membership of the Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve... ryeharbourfriends.net/join-us It would be so kind if you could pass this on. @sussexornitholo.bsky.social @sussexwildlife.bsky.social #UKbirds #UKwildlife #Sussexwildlife

Lesser Celandine Ficaria verna out along the verge of our High Weald lane, either thinking Spring is here or getting ready for the #NewYearPlantHunt @bsbibotany.bsky.social (my old Rose gives flowering for the old Ranunculus verna as 3-5).

A rare day with sunshine and no windy bluster so I did a Sussex Winter Bird Survey (SWBS) @sussexornitholo.bsky.social birds seemed a bit rare but: Blackbird; Buzzard; Crow; Goldcrest; Goldfinch; Great & MarshTit; Magpie; Robin; Song Thrush; Starling; Woodpigeon all put in an appearance at least.

Holly decorated with berries and Phytomyza illis leaf mining work - Christmas is getting closer! #WildwebsWednesday #leafminer

Hedge Sparrow, Hedge Accentor, Hedge Spadger, ‘as mild as a smoky’, with a complex and imaginative pairing system it is worrying to find the Dunnock as an amber listed species of U.K. conservation concern.

As we splash further into winter finding anything for #MushroomMonday is harder but here is Rhodocollybia butyracea (Butter Cap) and Stereum hirsutum (Hairy Curtain Crust) from #RSPBBroadwaterWarren from the end of last week. #fungi

Despite appalling weather there were 6 sodden @sussexornitholo.bsky.social members on an outing at #RSPBPulboroughBrooks today, as were: Black-tailed Godwit; Fieldfare; Lapwing; Marsh Harrier; Pintail; Redwing; Shelduck; Shoveler; Snipe; (emblem) Stonechat; Teal #sussexbirding #ukbirding

From @rspb.bsky.social a negative correlation between U.K. bird populations and bird names on street names: as some populations fall the use on new street names, perhaps on their lost habitats, goes up…

Yesterday’s walk at #RSPBBroadwaterWarren: birds - the ‘usual suspects’ mainly heard incl: Blackbird; Blue & Great Tit; Crossbill; Crow; Goldcrest; Green & Spotted WP; Jay; Redpoll; Robin; Stonechat; Wren #sussexbirding #ukbirding @sussexornitholo.bsky.social

For #FungiFriday a curled up Common Earthball at an often muddy, sometimes frosty, but pleasantly sunny midday walk at #RSPBBroadwaterWarren today #fungifriends

These days perhaps the Grey Heron gets overlooked in the presence of more exotic members of the Ardeidae family so here’s a shout out for Old Nog, Old Frank, Julie-the-bogs, etc, with its smart headdress. A number to be found at #RSPBDungeness most days (this last weekend). #kentbirding #ukbirding

Cladonia and Polytrichastrum, Lichen and Moss. Probably underwater today at #RSPBBroadwaterWarren. #Lichen #Moss

Bucephala clangula - winter is here: Goldeneye at #RSPBDungeness on 29/11; my last here during the first winter period of 2025 was 1/3 before the spring migration back to Scandinavia/NE Europe. #kentbirding #ukbirding

Lovely sunset murmurations at #RSPBDungenessNR at the weekend in a clearing in the wet windy weather. Information sharing for the following morning’s foraging? #kentbirding #ukbirding

Sheep Egret! 6 Bubulcus ibis (Cattle Egret) between #RSPBDungeness and #CockleBridge on 29/11/25. An increasingly common visitor. #kentbirding #ukbirding

Not so many “mushroom” fungi for #MushroomMonday as we move into meteorological winter but here is a single Coprinellus (Glistening Inkcap) I found on the verge of our High Weald lane on the last day of autumn. #fungi

Flowers and berries at #RSPBDungeness for #WildflowerHour. Gorse and Sea Buckthorn on yesterday’s wild weather day.

Common (L) and Spotted Redshank (R) at #RyeHarbourNR 22/11/25. Quite different in some ways but both have red shanks. #ukbirding #sussexbirding @sussexwildlife.bsky.social @sussexornitholo.bsky.social

Although the presence of Black Redstart has been suggested as a symbol of economic decline and inactivity (see Cocker & Mabey) it is posted here purely because it is a beautiful Chat (this one at the decommissioning Dungeness power station recently). #kentbirding #ukbirding

Heterobasidion annosum - Root Rot, a somewhat devastating parasite of conifers, though this one wasn’t on one. Seen at #RSPBBroadwaterWarren in the past week. #FungiFriday #fungifriends

Tadorna tadorna, the Shelduck, a female at #RyeHarbourNR this past weekend. Maybe a winter visitor or a scarce local breeder here. ‘Sheld’ is thought to derive from the Dutch (Schillede ie variegated but I think they call this duck Bergeend). @sussexwildlife.bsky.social #sussexbirding

Need a something to brighten up a gloomy day? How about colourful Yellow Brain, Tremella mesenterica, seen here on some dead and fallen branches along our High Weald lane this weeks. It is not a parasite of the wood but another fungi. #fungi #fungifriends

A quiet scattering of Chroicocephalus ridibundus, the Black-headed Gull, at #RyeHarbourNR last weekend but late spring and summer there can be almost 700 noisy pairs here. Seen somewhere in Sussex every day of the year. #sussexbirding #ukbirding @sussexornitholo.bsky.social

In the past couple of weeks Plovers at #RyeHarbourNR have included: American Golden, European Golden, Grey and Ringed. Here are the Grey from the past weekend - largest winter numbers tend to be in West Sussex but enough can be found here. @sussexornitholo.bsky.social #sussexbirding #ukbirding

Dabchick, divy duck, divedapper or Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis. Around 10 popping up and down like corks in front of Denny hide #RyeHarbourNR on Saturday. Some resident some perhaps visiting. #sussexbirding #ukbirding

For #MushroomMonday a solitary Stubble Rosegill Volvopluteus gloiocephalus at #RSPBDungeness #fungifriends #fungi

Through the Discovery Centre windows at #RyeHarbourNR on 22/11, not often one gets to watch Goosander over coffee & cake - I can highly recommend it on a wild windy day! @sussexwildlife.bsky.social @sussexornitholo.bsky.social #sussexbirding #ukbirding

Wild day at #RyeHarbourNR Saturday with a forceful SouSouWesterly and for birders peering through wind-buffeted bins at hunkered-down birds challenging! Waders to be found though, Spoonbill & Little Egret, a fine male Marsh Harrier quartering very close to the ground.