A Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) for today's #BirdOfTheDay theme of #snowy bird captures. I remember waiting around for ages to get this photo. I was absolutely frozen! #birds #UKWildlife #WildlifePhotography #EastCoastKin @friendlyevalley.bsky.social @alan678.bsky.social

A Nuthatch | Trepador Azul (Sitta europaea) from #FincaAbubillas in #Extremadura for #SmallBirdSaturday. Just love the look of concentration! #LittleBirds #EastCoastKin #WildlifePhotography @javajanegallery.co.uk

For Alan's #BirdOfTheDay theme of #CaughtInMotion here are a pair of Bewick's Swans (Cygnus columbianus bewickii) squabbling. Winter visitors from Siberia, they're UK Red Listed. #birds #EastCoastKin #UKWildlife #Splash #Slimbridge @alan678.bsky.social

Rob's #BirdOfTheDay theme today is #GoodLight, so time for this portrait of a Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus) captured in the kind of light I normally only dream about! #Monfragüe #Extremadura SW Spain. #birds #EastCoastKin #WildlifePhotography @robcrank68.bsky.social

For the first #BirdOfTheDay of 2026, the theme is #b&w, bird captures in mono. Here are a pair of vultures. On the lhs a Black Vulture (Aegypius monachus), and on the rhs a Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus) flying in front of the moon. #birds #EastCoastKin #Extremadura #WildlifePhotography

A couple of exotic species for today's #BirdOfTheDay theme of #Reflections, a Black-necked Swan (Cygnus melancoryphus) and a White-faced Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna viduata). Clearly not native to the UK, but since I photographed these at the Slimbridge wetlands, I'm tagging #UKWildlife 🙃 #birds

A Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) for today's #BirdOfTheDay theme of #Reflections, with the alternative of #BlueGreatCoal (any of the Tit Bird Species). Nice to cover both options for a change! #birds #WildlifePhotography

My final post this year for #InverteFest, the Two-tailed Pasha (Charaxes jasius). A large, feisty butterfly whose caterpillars feed on the Strawberry tree. It's the only European species of the genus Charaxes. #Inverts #Monfragüe, SW Spain. #WildlifePhotography

An Azure-winged Magpie | Rabilargo (Canopica cyanus) posing nicely for @alan678.bsky.social's #BirdOfTheDay theme of #BranchingOut today, birds on branches. Photo from #Extremadura in SW Spain where they're ubiquitous! #birds #WildlifePhotography #EastCoastKin

Does my bum look big in this? A displaying white Peacock for today's #BirdOfTheDay theme of #BirdButts. 😀 #birds #WildlifePhotography @robcrank68.bsky.social

Very (!) late with this #BirdOfTheDay post on the theme of #Serenity. Two Mute Swans (Cygnus olor) floating past red foliage at the @nationaltrust.org.uk's Georgian gardens in Stowe.

On the Feast Day of #StThomasBecket here's some rather beautiful stained glass from the Chapter House at Canterbury Cathedral showing Becket's murder and the Penance of King Henry II. #MedievalMonday

A diminutive Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus) for #SmallBirdSaturday, photographed in the Lye Valley in Oxford. #LittleBirds #UKWildlife #WildlifePhotography @javajanegallery.co.uk @friendlyevalley.bsky.social

For today's #BirdOfTheDay theme of #Outstretched, (birds with their wings fully stretched out) I give you a Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus) in flight. With a wingspan up to 2.8 metres or a little over 9 feet, few #birds in Europe look stretchier! #Monfragüe, SW Spain #EastCoastKin #WildlifePhotography

Another post dreaming of the warmer weather to come! The Wall Brown (Lasiommata megera) butterfly, now sadly extinct in many regions of the UK, I photographed this one in #Gredos, Spain where they're still plentiful. #InverteFest #inverts #lepidoptera #UKButterflies @europebutterfly.bsky.social

Merry Christmas! ¡Feliz navidad! European Robin (Erithacus rubecula) singing its heart out. #birds #HolidayRobin #FestiveDailyRobin #UKWildlife

A Meadow Longhorn (Cauchas rufimitrella) moth resting on a Cuckoo flower for the start of #InverteFest. #UKWildlife #Lepidoptera #MothsMatter #TeamMoth #photography

A Little Owl (Athene noctua) on the plains near Torrecillas de la Tiesa, #Extremadura, SW Spain for today's #BirdOfTheDay themes of #contrast and #faceoff. Such beautiful little birds! #birds #WildlifePhotography #EastCoastKin @alan678.bsky.social

Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) aka Peewit after its distinctive call. Once much more common they're now Red Listed in the UK. For the #BirdOfTheDay theme of #SideProfiles. #birds #EastCoastKin #UKWildlife #Photography @robcrank68.bsky.social

Another offering for the #BirdOfTheDay theme #AboutTheKids. This time a juvenile Blackbird (Turdus merula) looking anything but black! Photographed in the back garden during the first Covid #lockdown. #birds #UKWildlife #Photography #EastCoastKin @robcrank68.bsky.social

Rob's #BirdOfTheDay is all #AboutTheKids. Here's two photos of a White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) in its nest with a chick. The photos also shows Urohidrosis where the birds defecate on their legs to aid cooling. 😊 #birds #EastCoastKin #Photography #Trujillo #Extremadura @robcrank68.bsky.social

Having just discovered #SquirrelSaturday, I thought I'd post one of my favourite Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) photos, taken at Alverstone Mead on the Isle of Wight. Such cute little characters! #EastCoastKin #UKWildlife #Photograph #mammals

The #BirdOfTheDay theme today is #Quietmoments, peaceful captures of #birds. Here's a Zitting Cisticola (Cisticola juncidis) from the wetlands at #Arrocampo, #Extremadura, SW Spain taking a break from its repetitive and insistent "zit" call. #WildlifePhotography #EastCoastKin @alan678.bsky.social

White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) coming into land for today's #BirdOfTheDay theme of #LongLegsAndNeck. This one was so close I was struggling to keep it in frame! #birds #EastCoastKin #photography #Extremadura, SW Spain.

Alan's #BirdOfTheDay theme today is #QuietObservers, single birds observing their surroundings. I think this Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) resting on a frosted log in Oxford's Lye Valley fits the bill nicely! #birds #UKWildlife #EastCoastKin #photography @alan678.bsky.social

On a very misty morning, exactly seven years ago to the day, a group of Common Crane | Grulla Común (Grus grus) at the rice fields at Obando, #Extremadura, SW Spain. Notoriously difficult to get near, these were photographed using a car as a hide! #BirdOfTheDay #Groups @robcrank68.bsky.social

Chaotic lunch scenes with a group of Griffon Vultures | Buitre leonado (Gyps fulvus) finishing off a sheep carcass. Note the Raven waiting patiently on the fencepost! My offering for @robcrank68.bsky.social's #BirdOfTheDay theme of #Groups. #birds #WildlifePhotography #Extremadura #EastCoastKin

Waxwing. Today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme set by @alan678.bsky.social is #NaturesPantry, birds interacting with berries, seeds, or flowers. A rare visit to my local patch by a small flock of waxings. I would contest that a kingfisher with a fish also fits nature's pantry....🤭 #EastCoastKin #birds

My offering for today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme of #NaturesPantry (birds interacting with berries, seeds, or flowers) is this Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) eating Marsh Thistle seeds in the Lye Valley fen in Oxford, England. #birds #UKWildlife #Photography #EastCoastKin @alan678.bsky.social

Another post for today's #BirdOfTheDay theme of #ScratchersAndPruners, this time a Chilean Flamingo (Phoenicopterus chilensis) preening. Such fabulous coloured plumage! #birds #WildlifePhotography #EastCoastKin

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #ScratchersAndPruners (#preeners?) Here's a group of White-faced Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna viduata) preening and allopreening. Found in sub-Saharan Africa and South America, this group were photographed at Slimbridge, UK. #birds #photography #EastCoastKin

Today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme is #HeronsandEgrets with the alternative being #birdsandrocks any bird with a rock in the frame. Extra points for a double theme combo. Double points please @alan678.bsky.social. Grey heron (Ardea cinerea) on a very big rock. 😁 #Monfragüe, #Extremadura, #birds #EyeTest

Today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme is #HeronsandEgrets with the alternative being #birdsandrocks. Here's a beautiful Purple Heron | Garza Imperial (Ardea purpurea) in flight over the #Arrocampo wetlands in #Extremadura, SW Spain. #birds #WildlifePhotography #EastCoastKin @alan678.bsky.social

Another #finch for #BirdOfTheDay, and my first post for @javajanegallery.co.uk's #SmallBirdSaturday, a juvenile Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) eating Marsh Thistle seeds and reminding me of summer! #birds #UKWildlife #WildlifePhotography #PurpleHaze

Rob @robcrank68.bsky.social's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #DucksOnOneLeg and the alternative is #Finches. It'll have to be finches for me! Pleased to finally catch up with this Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) in #Monfragüe, #Extremadura, a bird I've not seen in the UK. #birds #EastCoastKin

Here’s a poem called ‘An Invention of Collective Nouns’.

Prosperity Through Growth rests on a false premise: that GDP can rise forever on a finite planet. We know it cannot. Any economic model that ignores climate and biodiversity is detached from reality. #PostGrowth #ClimateJustice

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #Coots&Moorhens. As @ianparsons.bsky.social reminded me, the Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) is closely related to Moorhens, though rather larger and more colourful. A bird more often heard than seen! #birds #Arrocampo #Extremadura #Spain #WildlifePhotography

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #Coots&Moorhens, and the Alternative is #Pigeons. So, 🎵 On the first day of Christmas My true love sent to me A Wood Pigeon in a Bay tree 🎵 (Columba palumbus for those who don't know this bird.) 😀 #birds #UKWildlife #WildlifePhotography #EastCoastKin

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #Coots&Moorhens, and the Alternative is #Pigeons. Here are a couple of rather sweet photos of an adult Coot | Focha común (Fulica atra) with young from a couple of years ago. #birds #WildlifePhotography #EastCoastKin

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is (rather unkindly I thought) #AlansNemesis, Kingfishers. Sorry Alan, but here's a Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) from #Extremadura, SW Spain for you. 😀 #birds #WildlifePhotography #EastCoastKin @alan678.bsky.social

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #SideViews, so here's a sideways Dartford Warler!

Another one for today's #BirdOfTheDay theme of #SideViews, a Nene (Branta sandvicensis), aka Nēnē or the Hawaiian goose. Once threatened with extinction, Sir Peter Scott brought them back from the brink with a captive breeding programme at Slimbridge where I photographed this one. #birds #UKWildlife

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #SideViews, so here's a Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius) photographed in the #Monfragüe National Park in #Extremadura, SW Spain. #birds #EastCoastKin #WildlifePhotography

So love wobbegongs. Everything is good about the wobbegong. Its name. Its flattened Oscar the Grouch face. Its frondy bits. Its lazy life as a hungry rug. And it’s a shark. Outstanding animal 10/10

Annual reminder to water your Christmas tree poems …

#BirdsOnTwigs. I've got a few 😀 Was trying to photograph a Black Kite when this Iberian Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis) landed on a thin branch directly behind me and started singing! Closest I've ever been to one... #birds #BirdOfTheDay #WildlifePhotography #EastCoastKin #Extremadura, SW Spain.

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #BirdsOnTwigs, so here's a male Stonechat | Tarabilla común (Saxicola torquatus) in early morning light perched rather precariously on top of a thin twig. #birds #EastCoastKin #WildlifePhotography

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #movement. I think this winter flock of Spanish sparrows (Passer hispaniolensis) in flight at Obando in #Extremadura, Spain fits the bill! @alan678.bsky.social #birds #EastCoastKin #WildlifePhotography

As Oxford grapples with rising flood risks and strained green spaces, nature-based solutions offer a way to strengthen the city’s resilience | Steve Dawe