Ladies and Gentlemen, John Williams and the London symphony orchestra. 😍 Iconic. #starwarsday #maythefourthbewithyou #maythe4thbewithyou #thisisthemay youtube.com/watch?v=41ak...

Beautiful morning with the lake like a mirror. 😍 Bittern and Tawny Owl calling, and Wood Warbler fresh in singing. #Thisisthemay #maythefourthbewithyou #maythe4thbewithyou #starwarsday #birding

Happy Star Wars day to all who celebrate! #Maythefourthbewithyou #maytge4thbewithyou #starwarsday

Caspian Tern. We're back, baby!! 😍 #birds #birding #birdsseenin2026 #birdwatching #seabirds #finland

Pied Flycatcher. 😍 An absolute joy to wake up and find this guy singing in the garden...and to find them singing in every garden! Shame we don't have those kind of radar visualizations they have for bird migration in the U.S. It must be immense movement. #birds #birding #finland

Red-Necked Grebes flock. Truly beautiful #birds. The best looking Grebe in Europe I'd you ask me. 😎😍 #birdsseenin2026 #birding #birdwatching #finland

White-Tailed Eagle. Big blue skies are bad for migrating raptor watching. Luckily there's always plenty of these around to enjoy. #birds #birding #birdwatching #raptors #finland

Red-Necked Grebe. No matter how long I live in #finland I don't think I will ever take for granted how awesome it is seeing whole flocks of these stunners migrating. 😎😍 #birds #birding #birdwatching

#birding at the coast this morning and there is absolutely mental refraction going on. 🫪😱 Amazing to see. Objects that would normally be barely above the horizon or over it, twisted and reflected in a bizarre band as far as the eye can see. Sorry to any flatards this upsets. 😉

Post to bookmark. Download options for IRSBG 2022 & 2023 reports & the latest version of the Irish List. The latest list reflects the downgrade of Cetti's Warbler status from mega to rare breeder & note on White Stork Occurrence #irishrarebirds #birds helhathnobirdies.blogspot.com/2026/04/irsb...

Blog post. The fortunes of Cattle Egret have changed dramatically in #irishrarebirds over 20 years. But there was a time when finding one sparked a major twitch. This was likely the last time that happened. #birds #birding #birdwatching helhathnobirdies.blogspot.com/2026/04/blas...

White Storks in #irishrarebirds right now. 😉 #birds #birding

There's been a long returning Ferruginous Duck about an hour from me for years. Today I finally bothered to go see it. Of course, I picked the only day with a force 5 Northerly wind! 🤦 Got it...but lost a leg to frostbite. Also found a Pink-Footed Goose (decent scarce in #finland) 😎 #birds

On this date, Woodchat Shrike, Carnesore, Co. Wexford. #irishrarebirds #birds #birding #birdwatching youtu.be/kP6UrpND7PU?...

😂 the racist "Ireland is being invaded" crowd really are dumb as rocks. 🤣

Twitchers all over Europe, learning that isotope analysis will be done on the Spectacled Eider. 😉 #birds #birding #twitching

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And yet more White Storks turning up for #IrishRareBirds, going from 1 or 2 reports (often unconfirmed) a decade, to multiples a year, on the back of dodgy reintroductions in the UK. I wonder how the "clean list" virtue signallers will handle this after ticking them last year. 😂 #birds #birding

On this date, #IrishRareBirds first Pallid Harrier. 😍😎 One of my most enjoyable finds & a good old fashioned, old skool rare. What #birding is all about really. Ya #GottaLoveThePallids #birds #raptors #harriers #birdwatching helhathnobirdies.blogspot.com/2025/07/ghos...

White-Tailed Eagle. A one hour stake out in the garden produced at least 12 of these absolute behemoths, giving excellent views. Still blows my mind that these are a common garden bird for me now. 😎😍 #birds #birding #raptors #birdwatching #finland #birdsofprey #eagles

I shouldn't have laughed as much as I did! 😂

Cetti's Warbler. A map of known singing locations to date. If anyone knows of others please let me know, but look at those gaps! There's first county records going begging there! 😉 #irishrarebirds #birds #birding #birdwatching

What fresh hell...etc etc?

Would have to say, I think Ancient Murrelet is one of the best and most bonkers birds I've seen in the Western Palearctic. 😍😎 youtu.be/QpStn1pY8tw?... #birds #birding #finland

😂

Tundra Bean Goose. 2 birds towards the Taiga Bean head & bill shape end of spectrum. Relatively long and right angled triangular bills, but still grimaced, a subtle bumped forehead, & otherwise same body structure as surrounding Tundra. #birdID #birds #birding #wildfowl #geese #finland #birdwatching

Tundra Bean Goose. Came across a reasonable sized flock today, which were exceptionally tame. 😍😎 A joy to look through all the variation in structure. #birdID #birds #birding #birdwatching #geese #wildfowl #finland

On this date I found a Western Subalpine Warbler on Carnesore, Co. Wexford. It followed a little bit of controversy in #irishrarebirds 😂😈. Subalps are one of those bright, attractive #birders #birds #birding helhathnobirdies.blogspot.com/2026/04/blas...

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. A delightfully squeaky female in the garden this morning. 😍 Great little gems. 😎 #birds #birding #birdwatching #woodpeckers #finland

Use the hashtag #irishrarebirds to post to the Irish rare birds feed.

Use the hashtag #irishrarebirds to post to the Irish Rare Birds Feed.

😂 #birding

😂 #tune

Tundra Bean Goose. It's been a strange spring. Very little snow and meltwater means many of the geese have overshot the south of #finland & are already well north. I'm seeing very few Bean types this year. #birding #birdwatching #wildfowl #geese #BirdID helhathnobirdies.blogspot.com/2021/04/finn...

Eurasian White-Fronted Goose. They really are quite demure looking compared to the chunky Greenland version. #BirdID #birds #birding #wildfowl #birdwatching #finland

Check out my YouTube channel, loaded with good birds from #finland and #IrishRareBirds. #birds #birding #birdwatching youtube.com/@helsinkibir...

Common Crane. THE sound of #finland 😍😍😍 #birds #birding #birdwatching

If the dinky, eye-ringed variants of Eurasian White-Fronted Goose could go ahead and feck right off, thaaaat would be great. #BirdID #hybrid? #geese #wildfowl #birds #birding #birdwatching #finland

I did say to friends & family, that with the extent of the influx into Finland that this would be the year #IrishRareBirds got a second bite at Oriental Turtle Dove. 17 years since the 1st was found by Steve Wing on Cape Clear, Cork. #birds #birding #birdwatching

White-Tailed Eagle. Multiple #birds over the garden daily now as the lake opens up. Behemoths! 😍 #raptors #birding #birdwatching #finland

Osprey. My first of the year, and on my own lake. Great to have these back. From here on out they will be over the garden every day. 😍 #birds #raptors #birding #birdwatching #finland

Parrot Crossbill. Male and female. Spent an enjoyable half hour with these before they moved on. Not a species you often get that kind of time with. 😍😎 #birds #birding #birdwatching #finland

Parrot Crossbill. A species that, though low in numbers, is always around, but infrequently encountered. Great to come across a pair today, with the male singing & calling actively. An almost blackbird-like quality to the alarm call. What a beak! 😍😎 #birds #birding #finland #birdwatching

Spring at last in #irishbirding. A nice Avocet find at Tacumshin.

Once again...compare to the farce that is #irishbirding 🤦

Ring-Billed Gull - Blast from the past. Found a load of old shots. So updated this post. #IrishRareBirds #birds #birding #GullsWP #Gulls #seabirds #birdwatching helhathnobirdies.blogspot.com/2026/02/blas...

Blast From The Past Finds...Great White Egret. There was a time GWE was a mega in #IrishRareBirds. No longer, but there's always nostalgia. #birds #birding #birdwatching helhathnobirdies.blogspot.com/2026/03/blas...

Great White Egret. 1 of 2, which were my first of the year. These give me a real sense of Déjà Vu. To be here for their expansion into #finland, mimics the way they increased in Ireland. #birds #birding #birdwatching

Red-Flanked Bluetail. Not often I get a birthday tick. Can only think of a handful over the years including birds such as this & Lesser Yellowlegs. This bird on Galley Head came on a great Birthday weekend of food, beer & surfing & finding an Alpine Swift at Fanore, Co. Clare.😎 😍 #irishrarebirds