With spring migrants starting to arrive, our first migration blog of the spring looks at what's been reported so far and what to look out for in the rest of March #ukbirding
www.bto.org/our-work/new...
Photo: Sand Martin by Liz Cutting / BTO
BirdWatch Ireland CEO Andrew Kelly & BTO CEO Juliet Vickery are sitting at a table outside smiling as they get ready to sign a partnership agreement for the Bird Atlas 2027–31.
RSPB Chief Executive Beccy Speight & BTO CEO Juliet Vickery are sitting together at a table in the David Attenborough Building in Cambridge holding pens ready to sign a partnership agreement for the Bird Atlas 2027–31.
BTO CEO Juliet Vickery & Scottish Ornithologists Club President Ruth Briggs are sitting at a table smiling and holding pens ready to sign a partnership agreement for the Bird Atlas 2027–31.
BTO CEO Juliet Vickery & Welsh Ornithological Society Chair Anne Brenchley are sitting at a table together looking down and holding pens as they get ready to sign a partnership agreement for the Bird Atlas 2027–31. Wildlife and nature themed artwork hangs on the wall behind them.
1/ Five leading charities forge partnership for bird conservation for the Bird Atlas 2027–31! 🐦 But what is the Bird Atlas? ⬇️🧵 #Ornithology
@btobirds.bsky.social @birdwatchireland.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social @rspbscience.bsky.social @scottishbirding.bsky.social @birdsinwales.bsky.social
Brimstone... 163! Mostly on 24-25 Feb
Spring has begun... over the last week we have received 35 reports of Sand Martins, seven of Swallow, four each of Wheatear and House Martin, and two Red-rumped Swallows! #ukbirding
Now and the next 4 weeks are the very best time of year to find Willow Tits, which are paired and defending territories. They're at their most vocal and obvious until the leaves come out. Report all certain sightings to county recorder and @birdtrack.bsky.social to help monitor remaining populations
A collage of photos showing BTO Bird Camp activities, including a group of young people looking at plants, a young person drawing at a table, a young person looking through binoculars and a close-up of a caterpillar. In the middle is an orange circle with white wording that reads: Bird Camps 2026. The BTO Youth logo is above this. Wording in a box at the bottom reads: Swanage. Southern England. 17-19 July. In collaboration with Birds of Poole Harbour.
There's still time to apply for BTO Bird Camps if you're aged between 11-17 ➡️ www.bto.org/birdcamps
This year our Southern England Bird Camp is run in collaboration with @harbourbirds.bsky.social. We are delighted to be working alongside them to make this year's camp an unforgettable experience!
Maps of Wales show all sites for which records were submitted to BirdTrack and eBird in 2024 (left) and 2025 (right), using the central grid reference of each user's site
Taking a dive into the wealth of data produced by users of @birdtrack.bsky.social and @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social eBird in Wales in 2025 for @birdsinwales.bsky.social Report.
Number of users, records and time spent were up almost 20% on 2024. Thank you @btobirds.bsky.social for the data pack.
The importance of recording using @birdtrack.bsky.social is fascinating for personal records but highly important for UK recording and data collection on species distribution and populations. #birds #science
The largest flocks of European White-fronted Geese in #NorthWales since the 1980s were driven west by heavy snow in northern Germany last week. These and other sightings in @northwaleslive.bsky.social BirdNotes.
📷 @zoobirder.bsky.social #BirdingWales
www.birdnotes.wales/blog/a-gande...
Always enjoy getting these summaries of my @birdtrack.bsky.social year. Recorded more additional taxa last year and plan to add even more this year as well as adding more breeding evidence to my records.
Our article, a birder’s guide to HPAI, was published today in @britishbirds.bsky.social - it’s open access this month.
We explain how bird-flu infected seabirds in 2021/22 and the importance of citizen science to montoring future outbreaks in the wild. 🪶🧪
britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...
You can also report dead birds for possible testing for avian influenza:
📌In England, Wales & Scotland: gov.uk/guidance/rep...
📌In Northern Ireland: daera-ni.gov.uk/services/dae...
📌In Republic of Ireland: aviancheck.apps.services.agriculture.gov.ie/report
We are receiving increased reports of dead auks, including Puffins, particularly in North East Scotland. It's quick and easy to report any dead or sick birds you find through the 'Deceased bird' function on the home page of the BirdTrack app
Photo: Puffin by Richard Selman / BTO
#ukbirding
Screengrab of my BirdTrack app stats for my January 2026 Westray Birding. It shows 90 species seen. 75 places visited around the isle. 305 submissions. 64 complete lists. A graph compares January 2026 activity to January 2025.
I only took to the @birdtrack.bsky.social app mid last year and the more I use it the more I get out of it. The stats function is great and as can be seen by the graph here, 2026 effort is much reduced cf to 2025 cos we've had utterly shite weather for a month! #WestrayBirding #PWC2026
BLOG: Ian Woodward, senior research ecologist at @btobirds.bsky.social, describes how combining data from the RBBP and the BTO’s Heronries Census has improved our knowledge on the UK’s Little Egret population, as in new @britishbirds.bsky.social paper #birds #ornithology rbbp.org.uk/2026/01/30/l...
Good morning, yes we will! That should be with you shortly
Two Brent Geese walk along a shoreline.
Our latest BirdTrack migration blog is out ➡️ www.bto.org/our-work...
From the influx into Britain of White-fronted Geese to the importance of Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland for Light-bellied Brent Geese, there's lots to discover! #Winterwatch
📷 Edmund Fellowes / BTO
The International Swan Census takes place this weekend, 17-18 January. If you record any Bewick's or Whooper Swans in BirdTrack, we would greatly appreciate if you could add details on the number of adults and juveniles, habitat and location pinpoint #ukbirding
Whooper Swans by Sarah Kelman / BTO
2025 ended with the biggest influx of European White-fronted Goose and Tundra Bean Goose for many years. Latest BirdTrack data show a big and sudden spike in the reporting rate in the last week of the year! #ukbirding
With colder temperatures and easterly winds we are starting to see some arrivals of White-fronted Geese and Tundra Bean Geese, as well as the smart Smew. Numbers of Smew wintering in the UK fell by 84% between 1996/97 and 2022/23 #ukbirding
Smew, by Graham Catley / BTO
The symbols evolve as more data are entered, so if you keep entering complete lists with Red Kites and Fieldfares, you may notice the symbols disappear after a while!
Hi Dave,
The symbols are based on data entered by all BirdTrack users, so this may indicate that you are seeing more than other local observers! They are also based on a radius around your location, so can be influenced by reports from other sites nearby, which may have different habitats and birds
The update also resolves a small number of other functionality issues, including fixing the sort order of lists viewed through the recent sightings map. We hope you like the improvements. Thank you for using BirdTrack and supporting our research.
It’s difficult to come up with a perfect formula for this - you might see some examples of species you think are common having a symbol suggesting they are infrequent - but the symbols are based on real data entered by the BirdTrack community and naturally evolve as more data are entered.
When you are entering a list, you will also now see symbols indicating when a species is only reported infrequently in the area where you are recording at the given time of year.
You may also receive messages from BirdTrack verifiers. You can respond to these through the app, edit the record, or discard the notification
It is still the case that it is usually only necessary to submit a record form if you were the original finder of a bird, and not if you 'twitched' it. In this case, you can simply discard the notification.
You will also receive automatically generated notifications when you enter a record of a national or county rarity species, which requires a record form to be submitted for the record to be formally accepted.
When you enter a record that is unexpected, based on either an unexpected date for a species or an unexpectedly high count, you will now receive a notification giving you the option to edit the record or discard the notification if you are sure the record is correct.
Firstly, it is now possible to view and respond to notifications in the app, rather than just through the website. If you have notifications, access them via the bell icon in the top right of the home page.
