Just back from a pelagic trip out to the Whittard Canyon area on the continental shelf edge with @scillypelagics.bsky.social @scottinscilly.bsky.social @nomadbirder.bsky.social Madeiran Storm Petrel reclassified from MEGA!!! to scarce summer visitor in one evening with 84 counted last night! 😂

YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER KALXON 🔥🔥🔥🎸🎸🎸🚨🚨🚨Let the games commence 😂

The strong southeasterlies seem to have brought in a lot of Red Admirals, 34 in the garden mostly on sugared fence posts!

Usually going out to check the sugar for moths is a mundane affair but last night during the torrential rain it was chaos with moths everywhere! Migrants were downed and residents out in big numbers, I had some help with the survey… #teammoth

One of the Convolvulus Hawk Moths is out tonight in the torrential rain feeding away, hardier than I thought they would be!. Here is another video from a drier night showing the hot areas of the moth more accurately, you can see the cold antennae easily! #teammoth

Balearic Shearwaters rarely stop when you see them in Highland, so was delighted to watch this one feed in a Kittiwake and Arctic Tern feeding frenzy just offshore today! Tarbat Ness aka The Bridges of Toss in the background... #highlandbirds

Spent hours being spellbound by Convolvulus Hawk Moths last night as they nectared on Nicotiana plants in my highland garden!. Up to 3 feeding at a time, their entire abdomens glowing red hot in the thermal from flight muscle use!! #teammoth @migrantmothuk.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social

Well it finally happened, after several years of growing more and more Nicotiana plants and a helping hand from a southerly gale from France, a Convolvulus Hawk Moth has arrived! The 456th species for my VC95 Moray garden and the biggest by far!! #teammoth @migrantmothuk.bsky.social

At #EOU2025 @eounion.bsky.social conference next week, we'll show new evidence implicating forestry in declines of British Marsh Tits during the era of woodland conversion in 1950/60s-1980s. This was period of steepest decline in Marsh Tits. Why? What was going on back then? #ornithology 1/5

Not often we get migrants here, a Bulrush Wainscot in the garden (VC95) looks to be first modern day record in Strathspey. Photo background the excellent “Larger moths in Scotland” book, a purchase I would definitely recommend! #teammoth

A hen Ptarmigan doing her thing on Càrn Bhac, Inbhir Eigh. Her mate a few metres away! #Cairngorms

Another piece of magic from John Lowrie Irvine and Whalsay now has records of both Eastern and Western Bonelli’s and Eastern and Western Olivaceous Warblers! 🤯

The Bearberry specialist, Small Dark Yellow Underwing, on the wing now in Strathspey! #teammoth

First time I’ve seen Crested Tit as roadkill! #highlandbirds

Cartoon visualisation of Blyth’s Reed Warbler song by a very talented and slightly obsessed Estonian naturalist FlackoWeasel! youtu.be/9fg7eb9kJPA

Not much competition for moth of the night last night in the garden, a very fresh looking female Kentish Glory! #teammoth

and a bonus Green Hairstreak from today!

Went to check the mainland Highland population of Belted Beauty today, wasn't expecting to bump into the other hairy mary, Rannoch Brindled Beauty!!. Found the missing link between the Skye and Mull populations! #teammoth

A couple of feathers from a fresh Peregrine kill, anyone brave enough to guess?!

Upping the ante in the 'birds I didn't expect to see in Islay this week stakes' was this African Pied Crow in Port Wemyss today. However it got here, corvid intelligence likely played a part. The cold Atlantic wind was perhaps something it was still struggling to get used to. #Birds #BirdingScotland

The first decent mild night for a while up here, 2 Rannoch Sprawler, Acleris hyemana and Rhyacionia logaea the highlights! #teammoth

Ben Avon stravaig for snow sculpture off the common ways. My many glissades baffled the ptarmigan. I'd dropped off sleep kit earlier to lighten load + lack of food, else I'd have dug in for the night in the prime snowbanks. Glad I hadn't baled earlier. A long day out, feet ruined #cairngorms

Mind blowing views of this pair of White-tailed Eagles food passing an unfortunate drake Long-tailed Duck. Such a special birding experience!

A White Tern in the shadow of #Wales' highest mountain was unexpected, to say the least, so what was the story behind Europe's first record of this #seabird - and did it survive the journey? Read @northwaleslive.bsky.social BirdNotes to find out... #BirdingWales www.birdnotes.wales/blog/seabird...

For a common upland bird it's surprising how illustrations of the Red Grouse in most field guides rarely show the size and shape of the red comb accurately, completely missing the flat eyelid section below the frill! #highlandbirds 🪶 #ornithology

Wilson's storm petrels, feeding in shallow waters (on amphipods, I think). Watch closely to see some fully submerging. This is the second time I've seen them diving. At Melchior Islands. #seabirds

Another nice eagle interaction today between a Red Kite mobbing an immature White-tail, possibly trying to get the satellite-tag off its back! #highlandbirds 🪶

One of three young Golden Eagles I saw in Strathspey today, perfect conditions for plenty of action today, being dry, sunny and with a decent wind! #highlandbirds 🪶

The Ukrainian government has a list of places where you can donate to the war effort here. I personally just donated $100: war.ukraine.ua/donate/ Slava Ukraini.

Calls of a male Ptarmigan as three females he was with walk away from him!, very faint calls from the females in the background #BirdingScotland 🪶 #ornithology

We need market reform to stop relentless price cap rises. It cost bill payers £100m to turn off wind farms in the last week. No wonder generators don't want locational pricing. This isn't Octopus vs incumbents, it's consumers vs producers. wastedwind.energy/2025-02-23

When Helen’s farm was put at risk due to high deer density, she wanted to find a solution that could benefit local communities 🦌 Through #Cairngorms2030, this pioneering project creates a local supply of venison for those who need it most 🌱 ➡️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3fv... 📹 Wunnar Film

Pair of Ptarmigan at 1000m altitude in the Mounth! 🪶 #BirdingScotland

The gannets are back! We're pleased to say that we've spotted the first gannets of the season circling the Bass Rock. Numbers will increase over the next month as they start to settle. Book a boat trip to experience the gannets up-close: www.seabird.org/boats 📷©️ G Macvean

Recent cases of Avian Flu/ #HPAI in Greylag, Pink-footed Goose, Mute and Whooper Swan, Herring Gull, Goshawk, Sparrowhawk and Buzzard in Scotland per NatureScot #BirdingScotland 🪶

Ptarmigan on Ben Hope in Sutherland, one of the northernmost populations in Scotland. Love seeing them fly with the sea as a background! #highlandbirds 🪶

Did they model how reintroducing wolves to the Leeds area could address the climate emergency?

A new study shows the expansion of Lynx in Europe - this is a phenomenal success story given the animal was intensely persecuted in much of its range. www.kora.ch?action=get_f...

Between 2014 & 2016, I studied the Chequered Skipper in Scotland. One memorable encounter was watching a larva spin silk between the edges of a leaf. As silk dries, it contracts, and this pulled the leaf edges together to create a protective tube. Amazing! More at www.dispar.org/reference.ph...

A couple of thousand or so came in from the south at Gladhouse, Midlothian this pm. Almost certainly returning birds.

Last nights Barnacle Geese reminded me of this #nocmig recording, one of those times analysing a night’s file that you can’t believe your ears the first time you here it. They must have skimmed the chimney! 😂 #highlandbirds xeno-canto.org/636017

Been incredible amounts of #nocmig Pink-footed Goose passage in Strathspey in the last week, last night was the first hint of return Barnacle Goose passage with birds over at 0152am #nocmig #bwpuc #highlandbirds

Been incredible amounts of #nocmig Pink-footed Goose passage in Strathspey in the last week, last night was the first hint of return Barnacle Goose passage with birds over at 0152am #nocmig #bwpuc #highlandbirds

I always thought that Ravens lined their nests with wool they found lying around the place, just saw a Raven perch on a live sheep and pull a massive chunk of wool of its back! 😂 #highlandbirds

The otherworldly summit of Beinn Mhòr Asaint yesterday, upto 50cm of rime ice over everything that was facing into the wind!

My first Oystercatcher of the year back in the Strath flying over the house this afternoon, the sound of spring and summer nights is back! #highlandbirds

Lots of Pink-footed Geese #nocmig movement in the last few days especially so last night where there’s been a constant passage since yesterday during the day picked up by the #bwpuc #highlandbirding

The adult Kumlien's Gull at Helmsdale on one of the harbour lights! #highlandbirds 🪶

Rediscovery of a lost petrel specimen, collected after a hurricane in 1893, highlights the critical role small #museum collections play in piecing together historical datasets and informing modern conservation: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #ornithology

sea ducks! 🌊🦆🪶