I've had a great birding holiday to Cyprus so far with many highlights and still a week to go. This Namaqua dove 200m down the road from my apartment in Mandria today will take some beating though @birdsaroundcy.bsky.social

A great day at Marshside, Southport yesterday, 3 spoonbills over Sandgrounders hide, 1st win drake smew on saltmarsh, water pipit plus lots of geese inc. 15+ Russian white-fronts, 2 Greenland white-fronts, 55+ barnacles & 2 sand martins, ringtail hen harrier & the usuals #LancsBirding #UKBirding

Pennington Flash, 7 sand martins, 15 wigeon, 2 common scoter, 2 redshank, no sign of scaup so far. #PFbirding #UKBirding

Pennington Flash today, drake greater scaup off the car park, 8 sand martins, 2 chiffchaffs inc. singing male, 2 redshank #PFBirding #UKBirding

A great day on Anglesey, at Beddmanarch Bay 2 Slavonian grebes, 2 great northern divers, then onto Inland Sea where there were 2 Slav grebes, great northern diver, long-tailed duck & drake scaup & finally at Cors Ddyga booming bittern & sand martin #birdingwales #UKBirding @birdguides.bsky.social

Wheatear on Great Orme here maps.app.goo.gl/W16aVkUQZ1zy... Looked very pale but dropped down to seaward side of road. Not relocated yet #BirdingWales ##UKBIRDING

Beddmanarch Bay today, at least 1 slavonian grebe, 1 great northern diver, 4 cattle egrets flew over and an adult Med gull in full summer plumage #BirdingWales #UKBirding @birdguides.bsky.social

Single Russian white-front still with greylags this morning, Lightshaw flash #LancsBirding #UKBirding

Female lesser scaup at Woolston Eyes No. 3 bed this afternoon #UKBirding #CheshireBirding #RarebirdsUK

Great white egret with red ring at Lightshaw Flash this morn. Appears to have white writing but as far as I know not been read yet. Been around for ages between Lightshaw, Bickershaw & Pennington Flash. Suspect from Avalon marshes. Red with white not best combination for me 🤦 #UKBirding #birdringing

A remarkable looking marsh harrier at Martin Mere today #WWTMM. It's been around for a week or two. Presumably partial leucism or perhaps a very old female? Poor flight photos in the comments #LancsBirding #BirdingUK

Lesser yellowlegs at Rhyl this morning #BirdingWales #BirdingUK #RarebirdsUK

Morfa madryn, drake green-winged teal still on saltmarsh ##birdingwales #birdingUk ##RarebirdsUK @birdguides.bsky.social

Rhyl, lesser yellowlegs showing well in bright sunlight on west bank of River Clwyd #BirdingWales #BirdingUK #RarebirdsUK @birdguides.bsky.social

30 Russian white-fronted geese still Lightshaw Flash, Greater Manchester this morning #BirdingUK

I just had a feeling that Lightshaw Flash would be the best bet for Russian white-fronts in my area of Greater Manchester so decided to have a walk there from home this afternoon and found a nice flock of 27 birds #BirdingUK #Geese

Another day in North Lancs taking in the Russian white-front influx produced minimum counts of 300 on Pilling Moss at Bradshaw lane this morning, 67 SW of Skronkey, 61 north of Cockersands Abbey viewed from Crook farm and 2 off Black Lane south of Stake Pool #LancsBirding @birdguides.bsky.social

Impressive scenes at Cockersands Abbey, at least 68 Russian white-fronts, 60 barnacles & 1000s pink-feet. 30 RWFG were in the main pink-feet flock, with 38 just east of Crook farm. All but 3 are in the photos. I only had bins so prob missed juv RWFG #LancsBirding #BirdingUK @birdguides.bsky.social

A day out in SW lancs today on a white-fronted goose chase produced 10+ adults on Plex Moss & 13+ adults at Martin Mere. Also at Martin Mere ring-necked duck & juv. knot, & on Plex Moss 6+ corn bunting #LancsBirding #UKBirding

A full report here of the amazing Mediterranean gull currently visiting Pennington Flash, which apparently is the oldest on record from a ringing recovery, includes a photo of the bird as a nestling 🤯 #PFBirding #UKBirding colinsfieldnotes.blogspot.com/2026/02/medi...

Martin Mere today, 4 Russian white-fronts flying around the mere for 10 mins but didn't land & a juv. knot. Other birds inc. 32 oystercatchers, 29 ruff, 50 black-tailed godwits, ring-necked duck, 3 species of egret, plus the usual wildfowl and raptors. Not a bad day #LancsBirding #UKBirding

Great northern diver, still on Scotsman's Flash today and showing well #LancsBirding #UKBirding

Pennington Flash, adult Mediterranean gull on rocks off the car park this afternoon. Also 63 pochard, 22 goldeneye and 1 great white egret #PFBirding

Ainsdale this morning, ad drake velvet scoter quite close in with a small flock of common scoter. Close enough to see the white mark behind the eye. Many more scoter much more distant. Also 3+ red-throated divers & 6 RB mergansers #LancsBirding

I've only waited 45 years for a decent view of surf scoter on the North Wales coast, but today was the day 🥳. 100m off the promenade at the Old Fisherman's pier, Colwyn Bay at noon. I picked it out though binoculars 😆 the closest bird for a while #birdingwales #RareBirdsUK #BirdingUK

A short video of the adult yellow-legged gull in the Pennington Flash roost on Wednesday evening #PFBirding

Pennington Flash this morning, 1st win male scaup still at western end, 53 pochard, 3 great white egrets, 5 little egrets, 20+ goosanders, 20+ goldeneye and tufted duck with nasal saddle CH1 still #PFBirding

Pennington Flash gull roost this evening, adult yellow-legged gull and adult Mediterranean gull #PFBirding

1st winter drake American wigeon on the Ribble at Preston this morning #LancsBirding #BirdingUK #RareBirdsUK

A blog post about finding the drake bufflehead at Foryd Bay on Wednesday colinsfieldnotes.blogspot.com/2026/01/buff... #birdingwales ##RarebirdsUK ##BirdingUK

Lesser yellowlegs still River Clwyd at Rhyl at noon. In the marshy grasslands on the west side of the river just north of the pylons. #birdingwales #RarebirdsUK #BirdingUK

Prior to today, the only bufflehead I had seen in the UK was rejected as a probable escape so well pleased to see this drake at Foryd Bay this morning, especially since there hadn't been any positive news since Saturday #BirdingUK #RarebirdsUK #BirdingWales

That'll do 😆. Bufflehead still north of hide on east side, Foryd Bay, with drake scaup #BirdingUK #RarebirdsUK #BirdingWales

Foryd Bay, Bufflehead again from hide on east side. Hoping for better views 😆 #BirdingUK #BirdingWales #RarebirdsUK

A grim start to the day at Penrhos, Anglesey, brightened by 3 Slavonian grebes together and 2 great northern divers #UKBirding

Glazebury WWTW Culcheth, several chiffchaffs on the beds, inc. the bird in the photos which looks like tristis to me, though happy to hear opinions. There was definitely a tristis calling in the area but I just couldn't be sure that it was the bird in the photos #RareBirdsUK #CheshireBirding

Pennington Flash with 95% ice cover at the moment but still holds 1st win drake scaup, 200 tufted ducks, 25 goldeneye, 35 pochard, 10 goosander, 150 teal, 80 shoveler and great white egret, plus lots of the usuals #PFBirding

Another exceptional day at Martin Mere today with ring-necked duck, glossy ibis & short-eared owl still present, plus the usual egrets and wildfowl. No sign of yesterdays Russian white-fronted geese but a fabulous partially leucistic reed bunting still at Janet Kear hide #WWTMM #LancsBirding

Pennington Flash, 1st winter scaup off the car park today, found by John Tymon at 10:00, and still present at 15:00 #PFBirding

Three Bewick's swans & a short-eared owl the highlights for me at Martin Mere today, with ring-necked duck & glossy ibis also still present. Both the swans & the owl were my first at #MMWWT since 2011. On 23/12/1990 I recorded 818 Bewick's on the reserve but those days have long gone #LancsBirding

The glossy ibis at Martin Mere showed very well today from the Gordon Taylor hide, also ring-necked duck still at the Discovery hide and at least 1 Siberian chiffchaff at the sewage works #MMWWT ##LancsBirding

Glossy Ibis from the Gordon Taylor hide at Martin Mere today. Also today, ring-necked duck still and water pipit. #MMWWT #LancsBirding

Today I got lucky with both the smew on Southport marine lake & snow goose at Marshside. The smew was virtually point blank range from Floral Hall car park & the snow goose was not much further away on Sutton Marsh. Both showed almost immediately with no hanging around 👌. #LancsBirding #Marshside

A short video of a Mediterranean monk seal at Paphos headland, Cyprus a few days ago, one of an estimated 20-22 individuals in Cyprus, 350 in the eastern Med & 700 world wide. The camera moves off the seal occasionally because I was actually following a little gull at the time! 🤦‍♂️😆 #MarineMammals

Ring-necked duck at Martin Mere this morning, bringing my #MMWWT total to 192 species. Likely the same bird that has spent the past 2 winters in St Helens & was originally seen at Mere Sands Wood in January 2024. #StHelensBirding #LancsBirding

Pallid harrier at Mandria this morning, and Isabelline shrike at Paphos headland #cyprusbirds

Finsch's wheatear, Kidasi, Diarizos Valley, Cyprus today. One of three #Cyprusbirds

On the face of it a video of a 1st win little gull at Paphos Headland today which is a decent enough record. The star of the video though is a Mediterranean monk seal in the bottom right on 8 secs & top on 13 secs. Cyprus population 20 - 22 individuals it's the rarest seal in the world! #Cyprusbirds

White-thoated kingfisher & Siberian pipit at Akrotiri Marsh this morning. I've seen the Kingfisher before in Kuwait and India but the pipit was new #cyprusbirds

This moth was on our apartment wall this morning in Mandria, Cyprus. Apparently it's Apochima flabellaria. #moths