Another great #Migweek day with 20 Yellow-browed Warbler, 2 Firecrest, 2 Siberian Chiffchaff, Red-backed Shrike, 2 Long-eared Owl, Hawfinch, 10 Twite plus a myriad of thrushes and other migrants. Full details here flamboroughbirdobs.org.uk/sightings/18...

I see Nigel Farage is back to claiming he "predicted" the war between Russia and Ukraine in the EU Parliament, when in fact he spoke AFTER the annexation of Crimea, to defend Russia and claim it was all the EU's fault. I did a full fact-check, with clips, here: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/f...

Don't think it's been reported on the news services but Pete Gammage and Keith Turner had brief views of a Radde's Warbler beside the Obs gdn earlier this afternoon but no sign since. They then found a Red-breasted Flycatcher at Avalanche Rd Hump that has been showing just recently.

Bar-tailed Godwits migration - not what we thought! Blog about new paper in @bou.org.uk jounal: wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/10/18/r... Research by Jesse Conklin et al: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... Now I need to change three other WaderTales blogs! #ornithology

Another video with no bird to actually see….. The Dungeness Trapping Area this morning with 2 Yellow-browed Warblers - with one calling in the background in this video #kentbirding

Well it's not every day that you get to stand on the site of a brand new Observatory! This is Clatteringshaws loch, in the Galloway Forest #DarkSky Park, home of the 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Scottish Dark Sky Observatory. Construction starts soon and like a phoenix SDSO will rise from the ashes! Re-opening mid-2027. 🥳🔭🧪

Death's-head Hawk from the Obs moth-traps this morning

So we have to move heaven and earth to try and get U.K. Government to allow a handful of best international scholars in world to come and enhance U.K. research capacity but football fans who are known to be violent and create public order internationally are welcome by Prime Ministerial fiat. 🤦‍♀️

The government has said it is "doing everything in our power" ...to allow a known violent group to enter the UK despite the clear evidence they prove a threat to law and order! #LabourIsLost #StarmerOut www.bbc.com/news/article...

Chiffchaffs firmly to the fore on the ringing front, totalling 72 of today's 116 birds ringed at the Bill: amazingly, more have now been ringed this September and October than in all but one whole year in PBO's history...and we're usually thought of as a spring migrant hotspot!

Nothing else really got a look in ringing-wise, but a Wheatear was the first for the month and a Firecrest only the fourth - our numbers of the latter have been far lower than at some other SW migrant spots

Trump is a clear and present danger to *every living thing* on this planet. #climate #climatecrisis

Top day at @spurnbirdobs.bsky.social - 1000's of thrushes including a striking part albino Redwing and a couple of stonking male Rouzels, some cracking Bramblings, a scattering of Yellow-broweds and a Glauc to round the day off 🙂

A mandatory swift brick for every new home won't be supported by Housing Secretary Steve Reed. That's quite a u-turn from the former Environment Secretary. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The Trump administration is preparing to allow oil and gas leasing across the entire Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain, a wilderness landscape that has been protected for more than four decades, according to documents reviewed by POLITICO. www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

1/9 New in @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado8005 How does genetic architecture constrain evolutionary trajectories? To address this question, we inferred the genetic architecture of convergent plumage coloration and its evolutionary history in wheatears.

Government U-turns on support for bird-friendly swift bricks in new homes

A nice morning out at Sker Point got better when I chanced across a brilliant photographic opportunity with this lovely Merlin. #glamorganbirds

This was a lovely surprise and honour, to receive the 2025 Marsh Award for Ornithology from the British Trust for Ornithology @btobirds.bsky.social, at this evening’s opening of the Society of Wildlife Artists’ annual exhibition.

The bias and incompleteness of Portuguese birds in natural history collections present serious consequences for researchers. Steps towards stable investment, bridging gaps between museums and the scientific community, and the digitisation of metadata are encouraged. 🔗 doi.org/10.3897/nhcm...

Very very happy to see my PhD work out! Congrats to the whole team 🎉🎉🎉

Wow! A paper on Wheatear plumage evolution in @science.org - unforeseen collision of interests here www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

"[O]ver 9,100 Palestinians continue to be held in Israeli prisons." "Some 3,544 of them are held under the Israeli system of 'administrative detention,' which allows Israel to imprison Palestinians for up to six months without charge or trial." #Gaza #Palestine #Israel #Incarceration #Genocide

British.

This is grossly dark. These are broken people. But it's also so politically dumb. How do they think Americans will react to being told that anyone who doesn't support Trump is a terrorist?

The Marsh Award for Ornithology goes to Dr. Rob Thomas! @robthomasbirds.bsky.social has made a huge contribution to ornithology through academic research, teaching & mentorship that’s inspired generations of students. He’s also published a monograph on the Storm-petrels. @marshawards.bsky.social

Progressively quieter on the ringing front as the anticyclonic conditions continue. Down to 60 new birds at the Bill today among which Chiffchaffs made up half the total; no surprises amongst the selection of other expected October migrants.

A pleasant day off which I still ended up on Dungeness looking for a birthday rarity Yellow-browed Warbler, Short-eared Owl, Woodlark, Ring Ouzel and assortment of finches and thrushes over Great sunrise, cooked breakfast at lunchtime and then I slowed down with a mid afternoon snooze #kentbirding

The winner of the Jubilee Medal is Heather Coats! Heather’s support to BTO has been outstanding, including her surveying for @bbs-birds.bsky.social (she’s one of four people in Wales to have surveyed a square every year) & her dedication to bird ringing led her to co-found the Gower Ringing Group.

Ringing numbers dropping slightly each day in the prevailing samey conditions: 77 new birds at the Bill today with 31 Chiffchaffs putting them firmly back at the top of the numbers; otherwise, only Blackcap made double figures but late-ish singles of Redstart, Whitethroat and Garden Warbler of note.

If you want to eat less meat for the good of the planet Checkout a local farmers market if you have one Wild deer and grey squirrel are a good buy for the planet

We got $20 billion for Argentina though.

🌊 The High Seas Treaty has hit 60 ratifications & becomes international law in Jan — a huge win for marine biodiversity! On 10 Oct, the UK backed the Treaty with a new bill to protect ⅔ of the world’s ocean. 🌍 More 👉 bit.ly/4nQMz4h #BBNJ #OceanProtection #SeabirdConservation

Six Stone Curlews very mobile around the island - were all together went first seen at the north end but have now split up and three have just flown over the Obs

Conservation Pays Off for England's Smallest Seabird RSPB projects and local volunteers deliver the strongest breeding results for Little Terns in over half a century. @Natures_Voice #seabirds www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/v2/Content/C...

Also this morning - Pectoral Sandpiper still on Easington Lagoons, Lapland Bunting south over Canal, at least 5 Yellow-browed Warblers around the recording area and 2 Pomarine Skuas south past gas terminal and seawatch hut. #Spurnbirds @rarebirder.bsky.social

Shifting Seasons: Long-Term Insights Into Climate Change Effects on Bird Phenology From Ringing Data | doi.org/10.1002/ece3... | Ecology and Evolution | #ornithology 🪶

Knowles-Brown is a former Chair of the Scottish Hawk Board & Vice Chair of the UK Hawk Board which provides welfare guidelines for those keeping raptors in captivity. #RaptorResearch raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/10/15/p...

A Robin and thrush day in the mist-nets at the Bill today, with 23 Robins, 16 Blackbirds and 10 Song Thrushes making up over half of the day's total of 92 ringed; Chiffchaff and Goldcrest reduced to just single figures each; third Dartford Warbler of the month the best of the oddities.

The lanceolated warbler was a nice surprise today on an otherwise slow ringing day at Nanjizal

We'll be interested to see how many Short-eared Owls cross the North Sea and spend the winter in Britain. 🦉 Read about BTO’s research tracking Short-eared Owls here ➡️ bit.ly/TrackingSEO #Ornithology #RaptorResearch 📷 Short-eared Owl by Liz Cutting/BTO

Another great day of migration with a good mix of wildfowl on the seawatch, 3 Jack Snipe, Long and Short-eared Owls, Ring Ouzel, Bearded Tit and 8 Yellow-browed Warbler plus thousands of thrushes. Full details here flamboroughbirdobs.org.uk/sightings/14...

🚨In blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement, Israel has announced it will slash agreed aid shipments in half and keep the Rafah crossing closed, after Hamas returned four of the 28 bodies of Israeli captives believed to be in Gaza. Hamas officials had repeatedly told mediators... Video below⬇️

I’ve really enjoyed birding at Landguard regularly this autumn. Y’day was great, with Jack Snipe & Long-eared Owl amongst 50+ species. Today was epic! A self-found Yellow-browed Warbler then the magic moment of relocating a Pallas’s Warbler with Will Brame which he & Bill Mackie had found earlier.

Wow! This Lesser Redpoll influx just keeps growing. Another 241 ringed yesterday at Cannock Chase! Incredible movement with no retraps or controls yet. What a season for these stunning little finches! 🔥 #migration #Redpoll #birds