Naff boc shots, but the Willet on Boa Vista showed nicely today. All gearing up nicely for the pelagics off Fogo next week, hopefully some quality sea-birding here on Cape Verde to come...
Ross’s Gull Prints pre-order!
- Original SOLD-
A4, limited edition of only 25!
£25 plus p+p.
They are made to order, so will take around 3/4 weeks- msg to order.
Reference photo credit to Sarah Jane, Gill Fisher and @runnelstone.bsky.social
#birds #ukbirding #cornwallbirding #watercolourart
Three paintings, each showing two warblers. One Willow Warbler and five Chiffchaffs in total. Each bird faces right to left.
Getting there. Need a few adjustments, and text adding on a computer, but here are 5 Chiffchaffs and one Willow Warbler. #birds #ukbirding #sciart #birdart
Tawny Owl
Barn Owl perched in distant tree
We are so lucky here. We have a pr of Tawny Owls that are seemingly resident, roosting within (but mostly out of) sight of my desk, plus a pr of Barn Owls close by that sometimes take advantage of calm winter sun. Tawny photo'd well after dark, Barnie is just miles away!!
Cheers Cliff. A combination of bad luck and incompetence! Plus i couldn't bear to go for the Bowling Green Marsh bird that was in moult. Would have been a travesty!!!
Having now seen the Holy Trinity of Ross's, Sabine's and Pallas's gulls, i reckon that's that. Gulls? Done'em.
Its a sacrifice I'm prepared to make 🤣
Ross's Gull
I don't often twitch long-distance anymore, but with 3 dips over nearly 30 yrs, Ross's Gull was up there as most wanted. And being a first winter, its even more special to the ID aficionados. Just a few 1000 pics to go through... #RareBirdsUK
Why oh why are we sacrificing everything to AI? It can't even get the bits right its supposed to be good at. How can you present the wrong answer, quote the source, then the source appears below with the actual correct answer!! But yeah, folding proteins.....
At least the moorhen is gen!
Complete change in fortune for my recently abysmal WeBS counts. The new realignment at Weeton has taken the majority of roosting waders, leaving me free to enjoy this Black Brant, plus a delightfully squeaky Otter. 3 GW Egrets, SEO and 40+ Rock Pipits in support.
Get a taste for British Birds in this month's Open Access paper:
BB eye: A birder’s guide to High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza
britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...
He who dares!!! 🤣
Above⬆️
2026 garden list hoped for additions/predictions below.
Braver choices? You do know it's not a magical summoning spell? 🤣😉
Thanks Andrew, I'll have that somewhere.
Does anyone know of any Long-tailed Skuas resembling the North American race pallescens being seen in the North Sea/Shetland areas? Birds resembling this form seen in SW and Spain (+ tracking data down mid Atlantic), but issue is paler birds in N Euro breeding grounds #RareBirdsUK
The BBS trend is utterly meaningless considering the millions of pheasants that are released every year. You'd be better off finding out those numbers.
The new Missing Records file is now live on the BB website, please have a look at britishbirds.co.uk/rarities-com... and consider submitting any outstanding rarities that you may have been lucky enough to discover in 2025. Thanks.
Can you horizontally flip them? The goldfinch but facing right would be my choice. Looking at my apps, there seems to be a preference to face right, and I'd favour that too. Or the Pied Wag!
Yes, the point of posting this was that AI changed the image, not that the OP did anything wrong. Thats the scary part, as we all know AI can be instructed to produce anything.
This is a very worrying story with implications. Personally I'd like to fire the whole of AI into the outer Oort. stonefactionbirding2014.blogspot.com/2026/01/1492...
@aberladybirder.bsky.social
Oh shit! Our #TheTwoJonnies podcast guest this evening is our sister from another mister @spurnbirdobs.bsky.social 's very own Rob Hunton!
♠️
Got any questions for Rob? '26 fashion trends? Minor medical ailments? Life advice? Or even something to do with birds. Let us know! We might ask him.
Thanks Andrew, a few notable deviations from BWP.
Hi Andrew. Out of interest, what is Tshikolovet's definition of the Western Palearctic? Does it differ from BWP? Thanks.
Alexandrine Parakeet
Ross's Goose
Lesser White-fronted Geese (29, presume all from Swedish reintroduction scheme)
Falcated Duck
Our long Dutch weekend comes to a glorious end, with some quality(!) WP tickage. Thanks to @gt1366.bsky.social for braving the perils of Amsterdam to give me a Cat C(rap) tick, and for the photo. Cheers mate!!
Black-faced Bunting
Pygmy Cormorant
Smew
Our trip to Texel going very nicely so far, some Dutch megas with a few beers and quality bants. And who doesn't love Smew!!??
