Mostly showy, sometimes not... I kept bumping into this lingering Wryneck whilst exploring @skokholmisland.bsky.social A change of island for me this autumn. Plenty of raptors about also made for an entertaining first day. #birdingwales

Back in April this 3cy male pallid harrier appeared by me at dusk in Caithness. Kept quiet as it was interacting with a pair of HH on territory... However, no sign the next day/since and the HH bred successfully. Remarkably, we think that this male pallid is a different bird to the Nybster male! ⬇️

Fife Long-tailed shrike 30m away today showed about as well as my friends in the Isle of May lighthouse beacon almost 10km away 😅 4 brief views in 4hrs. Nice soundtrack of jingling corn buntings added to what was a rare departure from the uplands for me! @fifebirdnews.bsky.social #birdingscotland

A couple of weeks ago this lovely Dunlin lingered long enough for me to note the CR combo. Have heard back that it was ringed at #Filey Brigg, N Yorks in Aug 2022. Great to be able to add breeding grounds of the @caithnessbirds Flow Country to its life history! #birdingscotland #ornithology

Proper record shot of a migrating hobby that briefly stopped off in Caithness this week. Great to reacquaint myself with their dynamic flight. That's now peregrine, kestrel and hobby in one of my survey squares for the 2026 national merlin census. Be nice to add a merlin too!.. 😅 #birdingscotland

Unbelievably stoked when these two beauties passed right overhead! @caithnessbirds.bsky.social A couple of futile trips to the coast here this week turned up little, so to have two inland long-tailed skua migrate N over me at Broubster was literally a fantasy come true! 👌 #birdingscotland

Some ringing recoveries: a local Badenoch Oystercatcher that winters in Dublin, and a Snow Bunting found by mum at Tentsmuir, Fife 21/03/26 that was ringed in Dec in Belgium. Huge kudos to mum's perseverance - She made 2 trips in freezing conditions and got enough 📸 for me to read the metal ring! 👏

A memorable evening 'papping' tonight after an outrageous 6+ minutes of white-tailed eagle chasing an osprey for its fish (unsuccessfully), before then finding what is certainly my favourite colour ring flag yet!

Distant canditate for Black Kite picked up whilst on a long boring phone call in a Caithness layby last night... Pleased to have successfully tracked it down after hanging up 1hr later to confirm. Lovely views of it feeding in fields this morning @caithnessbirds.bsky.social @birdguides.bsky.social

Great day counts of 14 Ring Ouzel, 11 Jack Snipe and 11 Firecrest this week @lundybirds.bsky.social. Olive-backed Pipit found by Andy Jayne was very nice. Found a juv Rosy Starling on 10th. Island scarcity also strikes again - my flyover Goosander becomes 3rd island record, rarer than OBP here 😅

Stoked to find a Dusky Warbler in the field on census @lundybirds.bsky.social I followed it up the valley after being drawn to a percussive tacking like call that wasn't a Blackcap in the overgrown Millcombe Pond. It then quickly ended up in a net! @birdguides.bsky.social @rarebirder.bsky.social

Nice @lundybirds.bsky.social recently. Also chuffed to have used short scrappy sound recordings to substantiate records of a fleeting, unseen Ortolan Bunting & the island's first Curlew Sandpiper since 2004 as it went south over the plateau, which had to be on the cards for this autumn...

Grey-Cheeked Thrush trapped and ringed @lundybirds.bsky.social this morning. @birdguides.bsky.social @rarebirder.bsky.social

A lovely start to my 4th autumn @lundybirds.bsky.social with the long staying Western Bonelli's Warbler, lovely views of Buff-breasted Sandpiper, juv Hobby following big hirundine passage and the now expected Wrynecks... Plenty Firecrest also including 10+ today, always a treat for me #UKbirding

Pratincole sp. associating with Lapwings in SW corner of Loch Calder @caithnessbirds.bsky.social @rob-hughes-birder.bsky.social @birdguides.bsky.social Had to dash off, last seen around 2pm flying around the Loch. Slim white trailing edge, but enough for a Collared? 🤔

Living the dream working on the Cairngorm Plateau as part of the 2025 Montane Bird Survey. It was also very saddening - walking for days over swathes of beautiful habitat to find no Dotterel where there were once many... #BirdingScotland