It was nice to find a male Green-winged Teal at a flooded Castlemartin Corse y'day morning amongst a good selection of wildfowl. You can just about see what it is from my pic (left), so here's a better pic (right) of the bird currently wintering on the Nevern Estuary in North Pembs! #birdingWales

Yorkshires only Little Tern colony relies on paid wardens to protect them from predators and disturbance, the team have achieved amazing numbers of fledglings in recent years and it would be a great shame if it doesn’t run this year, much appreciated if you can help out with this funding gap 🙏

🧵 An urgent appeal to protect one of the UK’s most important Little Tern colonies at Beacon Ponds in 2026. Without funding for professional wardening, the project may not be able to run this season. ⬇️

2 Ad Russian White-fronted Geese still at Castlemartin Corse this morning (at the upper sections below the church). Also a Water Pipit on the flooded fields. #birdingWales

Was good to see the Tundra Bean Geese in the Towy Valley today, at least 15! Also 26 Russian White-fronts upriver of Dryslwyn Castle. Finished the day checking the scoter flocks in Carmarthen Bay. 2 ad drk Surf Scoters off Pendine (or more precisely of Ragwen Point) the highlight! #birdingWales

Nice day out across Pembs and Carms today - started with a flock of White-fronted Geese (11) over Dryslwyn Castle early am + 17 Whooper Swan. Purple Sandpipers, Great Northern and Red-throated Divers in Pembs and finished with a ringtail Hen Harrier and 3 Marsh Harriers at Ginst Point #birdingWales

Christmas can be an expensive time of year, so how about something for free? The @scottishbirding.bsky.social and Scottish Birds Records Committee are hosting a FREE online conference over the evenings of February 24th to the 26th. Three talks per night and some real belters among them.

1 of 7 Purple Sandpipers on Tenby lifeboat station at high tide this morning. #birdingWales

Ring Ouzel feasting on hawthorn berries by Manorbier beach this afternoon. At least 1 Firecrest around too. Also a Yellow-browed Warbler heard calling (unfortunately not seen) on Thursday and good movement of finches most mornings! Lots to look at at the moment! #birdingWales

A Black Tern flew west past Old Castle Hd, Manorbier at lunchtime today. Otherwise very little moving in misty conditions #birdingWales

2 Balearic Shearwaters west past St Govan's Head in an hr this evening #birdingWales

Enjoyable day seawatching at St Govan's Hd yesterday. Sabine's Gull 4 (2 Ad, 2 Juv) Cory's Shearwater 1 Balearic Shearwater 1 Sooty Shearwater 4 Grey Phalarope 2 Plus a big push of 'Commic' Terns (c700) early morning and a flock of 29 Pale-bellied Brent Geese west! #birdingWales

Manx shearwaters streaming past St Govan's Hd this evening. Estimated over 11,000/hr between 5.30-6.30pm. Awesome! 8 Puffin and 2 Sanderling past too. #birdingWales

This superb breeding plumage Grey Plover spent 4 days at Tenby south beach. No sign of it this evening so I assume it has continued on its northward migration #birdingWales

2 Bar-tailed Godwit and 4 Dunlin and on Tenby South Beach this evening. Other bits and bobs in recent days include several Whimbrel, a Tree Pipit (at Skrinkle on Fri) and a few singing Lesser Whitethroats and Garden Warblers #birdingWales

The Pembrokeshire Bird Report 2024 is now available to download below. Vital and huge work from Pembrokeshire Bird Group 🙌 Mae Adroddiad Adar Sir Benfro ar gael i’w lawrlwytho isod. Gwaith gwych ac allweddol gan Grŵp Adarydda Sir Benfro 🙌 Diolch 🙏 drive.google.com/file/d/1Q0VS...

Yesterday morning there was an impressive feeding raft of Manx Shearwaters off Presipe beach. Maybe about 300+! A little flurry of migrants in the bushes at Skrinkle including my first Grasshopper Warbler and Common Whitethroat of the year #birdingWales

The colour-ringed Wheatear I recorded at Manorbier on the 24th March was ringed on Lundy as a one-year old breeding male in May 2023. He was also seen in the same territory last year. Let's hope he's made it back there this year! #birdingWales

How many people contribute records to county and local bird reports in Wales? How much data do those county recorders manage and through which channels? How wide is the coverage? More detail in Alt Text. Number-wrangling while I'm writing the @birdsinwales.bsky.social 2024 report. #BirdingWales

My 4th Black Redstart of the spring, a female-type, on the road to RAF Manorbier this morning. Later seen on the coast path near Presipe. Also a female Wheatear and a few extra Chiffchaffs about. #BirdingWales

Wheatears! 7 this morning behind the RAF Manorbier range (2 females, 5 males). One of which was colour ringed! Any help tracking down the project would be gratefully appreciated. Lundy maybe? Also 2 Black Redstarts, a female-type and a new(?) adult male. #birdingWales

A few more common migrants appeared in the strong northerlies this morning, incl. a nice hirundine flock at Tenby Marsh with 2 House Martin, 6 Swallow and 11 Sand Martin. A Willow Warbler there too. Red-throated Diver off Tenby South Beach and the Hoopoe still at Kiln Park. #birdingWales

A smart but mobile male Black Redstart above Presipe beach, Manorbier the highlight today. Yesterday a couple of White Wagtails and a Firecrest. Still waiting for that first Wheatear though! #birdingWales

Special Issue of #BirdStudy is now published: The impacts of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza on birds: part 1 10 papers (5 #OpenAccess) plus Editorial on the impacts of #birdflu #HPAI outbreak in Europe, Canada, Antarctica: www.tandfonline.com/toc/tbis20/7... #ornithology #ukbirding #seabirds

Hoopoe still present at 07.45 this morning at Kiln Park, Tenby, near the railway bridge. #birdingWales

Not seen a Wheatear or Sand Martin yet! #birdingWales

Great day yesterday birding with @phelpstoby.bsky.social, Jalal and @becky-gibbs.bsky.social: managed to twitch the Black scoter down Holylake and we also got a great view of the little owl at Burton marshes 🦉

Nice to catch up with the drake Black Scoter off Hoylake late morning! Good views despite distance and haze. A couple of Long-tailed Ducks offshore too.

We are now live on Bluesky! Click the follow button to keep up to date with all the latest happenings at Easington Little Tern colony. Also, please feel free to share this post and spread the word. 🙏 🐦

Feisty little dudes. I'm almost used to calling them Curruca instead of Sylvia now. Scratchy songs, angry fire eyes, good colour schemes, but lose a point for being a bit too skulking = 8/10 #birdart #birds

2 Russian White-fronted Geese still on Burton Marsh with the Pinkie flock this morning but quite distant. 5 Barnacle Geese too. Elsewhere wet fields around Chester produced 32 Snipe, 225 Redwing and a nice Merlin zoomed through #ukbirding

A nice day out on Anglesey today, helping out with the annual Chough survey. Saw two birds on my section and managed to catch up with the Red-necked Grebe at Valley Wetlands RSPB later on. 57 Pochard and a few Goldeneye there too #birdingWales

1/ 🔊 The SMP Report, published in November 2024, provides an overview of the status of the UK’s breeding #seabirds since 1986. It further highlights declines as shown by the recent Seabirds Count, a census of Britain & Ireland’s seabirds. 🔗 www.bto.org/smp-publications Discover more in the thread ⬇️

The best opportunity to see seabirds & cetaceans off the Welsh coast. An 8-hour trip with almost guaranteed European Storm Petrel & Common Dolphin. Regular Wilson's Storm Petrel, Great & occasionally Cory's Shearwater. Both Minke & Fin Whale sighted in recent years. #ukbirding #birdingwales

Impacts of highly pathogenic avian influenza on seabird populations in the North Sea are detectable in sea-watchers’ migration counts | www.tandfonline.com/... | Bird Study | #ornithology #seabirds 🪶

🌊🐣 Excited to share the Seabird Monitoring Programme! Join us in conserving our UK breeding seabird populations through data collection and research. 🪶💚 Explore getting involved inland or at the coast at www.bto.org/smp. Together, we can make a difference! #Seabirds #Conservation #Ornithology

A little birdfeeding is fine, and valuable for some people (e.g. the immobile), but the size of the birdfood industry is so big, it's changing bird populations, spreading diseases, changing habitat chemistry, and swallowing up farmland, carbon & water to grow it. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A tracking study has found that dogs walked off-lead cause significantly more disturbance on lowland heaths than pets kept on the lead:

A thread on quite how incredible the Texel Spectacled Eider record is, given that almost the entire world population (~250K) winters together around 62°00'N, 173°00'W in polynyas - gaps in the sea ice in the Bering Sea, like the ones below👇 🧵#Ornithology 1/

A nice Siberian Chiffchaff along with with 9 common chiffchaffs at Neston stw this morning #UKbirding

Sat on the saltmarsh at Wide Open, Ross Back Sands until dusk, on my own, while this American Buff-bellied Pipit fed all around me. It was totally unconcerned by my presence. Brilliant find by Neil Osborne, the 2nd for Northumberland #NEbirding #rarebirdsUK

Quick thread on some new papers on the science of impacts of bird feeding since the publication of our papers here www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... and here britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti... #Ornithoogy #UKBirding🧵 1/

20 years on from the start of a novel avian disease epidemic that has led to catastrophic population declines in several UK species we are finally getting some significant movement on advice regarding bird feeding www.theguardian.com/environment/... 1/2 #Ornithology #UKbirding

I did get out for a bit of a South Pembs bird race on 2nd Jan. It was a great day with loads of birds! I saw 98 species throughout the day, including Slavonian Grebe, Whooper Swan, Black Redstart, Great Northern Divers etc. A nice way to start off the year #birdingWales

A nice day out y'day for some reconnaissance ahead of attempting a south Pembrokeshire bird race in Jan (prob the 2nd when the weather is better!) managed 92 species; highlights Slavonian Grebe, Goshawk & Marsh Harrier. Some bad misses though including Snipe, Raven and Siskin!! #birdingWales

4 Surf Scoter (3 drk, 1 female) off Gilman Point this morning (can just about make them out in the vid?!). Elsewhere the usual suspects seen, including an impressive 136 Red-throated Diver off Amroth. A w/p Black Guillemot and 6 Great Northern Diver off Tenby South beach this evening. #birdingwales

🌟 WE’RE HIRING! 🌟 Love birds, conservation & the outdoors? 🐦🌿 Join Spurn Bird Observatory as a Seasonal Assistant Warden! 📍 Kilnsea, East Yorkshire 🗓 1st April - 15th Nov 2025 💷 £19,500–£23,809.50 (pro-rata) 📅 Apply by: 19th Jan 2025 Details: https://buff.ly/4gjCclB

Over the years, I've spent a lot of time watching the thousands of Common Scoter that winter in Carmarthen Bay. I've never seen one up close, so it was extra special to watch this superb adult male feeding alongside the Great Northern Diver in Tenby Harbour yesterday afternoon. #birdingwales

It was great to watch this juvenile Great Northern Diver feeding on a good supply of shore crabs in Tenby harbour this afternoon #birdingwales

Common Guillemots suffered catastrophic losses following a marine heat wave in 2015 and 2016, and may have permanently altered northern Pacific ecosystem www.science.org/content/arti... #ornithology #seabirds