Bull Point calm but heavily overcast & chilly this morning. A few migrants on the move, incl 3 Sand Martin, 4 Skylark, 9 Pied Wagtail, 3 unid’d alba wag, 1 Grey Wag, 46 Meadow Pipit, 23 Linnet & 4 Goldfinch. Noticeable influx of 6+ Chiffchaff. #UKbirding #devonbirds
You bet! First PPE we reached for. Too many stories of where things didn’t work out so well on that front…
This was a first “in all my years etc…” 🤣 Spoon feeding – or at least spoon watering – a Tawny Owl!
But… it was clearly fit enough to have escaped its confinement before dusk! I let it be and opened the shed door and windows. It flew strongly, sat in the hedge for a few minutes – much to the consternation of nearby Blue Tits – then off it went into the wood. So a successful ending.
Heard a strange noise coming from our chimney flue this morning. After a challenging extraction, with crucial help from Matt, our local sweep, we managed to free this adult Tawny Owl. We checked it over, made sure it drank some water, and kept it in a box for dusk release this evening. #ukbirding
The Curlew was released on the Cranbourne Estate, Dorset on 27/07/2025 and was in that area the day before I saw it at Bull Pt. From North Devon, it crossed the Bristol Channel to Kenfig National Nature Reserve, then moving further north within Swansea Bay. Info courtesy of @gwct.org.uk
Sunrise at Bull Point was accompanied by singing Chiffchaffs and followed a bit later by the first Sand Martin of the year – my earliest site record. 14 alba wagtails & a Grey Wagtail overhead, c100 staging Meadow Pipits feeding. #devonbirds #ukbirding
Brilliant! Where in The Gambia was 8R3 seen?
Also during my spring-like, SUNNY, patch visit: single Woodcock & Firecrest, and three Red-throated Divers offshore. Frog tadpoles already in newly created ponds, and 'pussy willows' just breaking bud. Plus @lundybirds.bsky.social clear as a bell on the western horizon! #UKbirding #devonbirds
At Bull Point today a Curlew (very unusal in Feb) flew in calling and *landed* (exceptional) revealing a GPS-tag, leg-flag and colour-rings! The bulge of the GPS tag shows up in the flight pic. Evidently a @curlewrecovery.bsky.social 'head started' bird; awaiting info on release site/date #UKbirding
Thrilled that last weekend’s @birdobscouncil.bsky.social AGM at @btobirds.bsky.social HQ in Thetford confirmed @lundybirds.bsky.social has successfully completed its 3-year probationary period and is once again a fully accredited member of the British & Irish Bird Observatory network 🥳 #ukbirding
A mild, drizzly and windy day, with strong southerly gusts, tempted a Mistle Thrush into tentative song in the valley at home for the first time this year 😊 #ukbirding
At Bull Point this morning, 2 Red-throated Diver feeding close inshore, 4 male Common Scoter flying W quite far out, and a Little Egret doing its best Cattle Egret impression, feeding among the Belted Galloway conservation grazers – white speck in the foreground😁 #ukbirding #devonbirds
New Year's Day patch birding at Bull Point yielded three Fulmar and single Gannet, Snipe, Sparrowhawk, Raven & Goldcrest among other species – very much a "winter on an exposed, blustery headland" feel to my notebook! Great to see new small-scale wetland creation by @nationaltrust.org.uk #ukbirding
Highlight of a sunny New Year’s Eve walk on the Exmoor coast near Trentishoe was a wintering Ring Ouzel feeding on hawthorn berries at the head of this sheltered combe #ukbirding #devonbirds
Five late(ish) Swifts heading ESE were the highlight of a couple of hours’ birding at Bull Point this morning, following an ethereal sunrise. #ukbirding
Reconnecting with my Bull Point birding patch after a spring & summer surveying elsewhere… This a.m: 1 Common Scoter, 4 Sandwich Tern, 430 Manx Shearwater, 20 Swallow, 9 Willow Warbler, 10 Whitethroat. #UKbirding
Homepage blog for @lundybirds.bsky.social updated with an account and photos of the dark-morph Booted Eagle that graced the island earlier this week, together with Golden Oriole & Woodchat Shrike, here: www.lundybirdobs.org.uk #UKBirding
The best sighting of the day was not a bird but this pristine male Orange Tip butterfly, still drying itself out in the sun after emerging in the garden at home. What extraordinary beauty in those transluscent hindwings! 🤩 💚
Bull Point quiet for late April. 35 Swallow, 9 Sand & 3 House Martin a poor showing for hirundines over several hours. Single Tree Pipit & Grasshopper Warbler, 4 Whitethroat & 8 Willow Warbler. Sunrise well round to the NE – over the Welsh coast already. Amazing how quickly that happens! #UKBirding
Highlights at Bull Point this morning: 1 Red-throated Diver W, 71 Manx Shearwater, 13 Willow Warbler, 9 Blackcap, 1 Whitethroat, 1 Grasshopper Warbler reeling, 3 flyover Yellow Wagtail, 7 flyover Tree Pipit, 120 Linnet, single Redpoll & 125 Goldfinch. Few hirundines. #UKBirding
The sightings blog for @lundybirds.bsky.social has been updated with details of the island's second-ever White Stork yesterday (Friday 11th April) and lots of other recent news, including a Lundy colour-ringed Wheatear seen in Mauritania: www.lundybirdobs.org.uk #UKBirding
Surveying this morning for NT-led Landscape Recovery Scheme linking Arlington Estate with West Exmoor. Great to find 3 territorial male Yellowhammers – very scarce these days in this part of N Devon. Also Red Kite, another locally scarcity, and an obvious influx of phylloscs & Blackcaps. #UKBirding
Yesterday a.m. (5 Apr) at Bull Point: Osprey E at 10:15, 18 Sandwich Tern, 79 LB-b Gull, 3 Manx Shearwater, 127 Sand Martin, 51 Swallow, 17 House Martin, 7 alba wagtail, 2 Tree Pipit, 51 Meadow Pipit, 160 Linnet, 138 Goldfinch. Everything going E into the wind, gusting at F7, except the terns – SW!
Proud to announce a new guide to Lundy’s commoner birds, aimed especially at helping day-trippers & families, has today hit the shelves of the island shop😊
With pics by Richard Campey and text by Tim Davis & myself, we hope this will also raise awareness of the Bird Observatory. #UKBirding
Quiet for passerines at a chilly Bull Pt this a.m. with an onshore N wind & leaden skies. Main interest over the sea: 15 Common Scoter W, continuing passage E of ad LBB Gulls, and a colossal patch count (for settled weather in spring) of 235 Gannets ENE. Also 1 Curlew & 2 Sand Martin E. #UKBirding
I took a winter break from posting but Spring Equinox has got me going again😃 At Bull Point, the first of 55 Sand Martins zipped through before sunrise. Also 3 Swallow (1st of yr), 141 LBB Gull coasting E, 219 Mipit, 47 Linnet, a songflighting Wheatear & a single subsinging Blackcap. #UKbirding
Pallid Swift
Flight shot of a Pallid Swift with the jetty out of focus in the background
A couple more flights shots of the Pallid Swift, again captured brilliantly by Brennig Hughes
Seems like we’re getting towards the fag-end of Chaffinch migration at Bull Point, with just 128 through in a couple of hours from dawn this a.m. Also 96 Woodpigeon, 31 Redwing, 6 Fieldfare and a female-type Black Redstart on the very highest bit of the lighthouse. #UKbirding
Back on my mainland patch at Bull Point this a.m., strong passage of c.2K Chaffinch, 6 Brambling & 43 Siskin – all undercounts due to tricky viewing conditions with clear skies & low sun. Also my 1st patch Yellow-browed Warbler plus 2 f-type Black Redstarts feeding around the lighthouse. #UKbirding
