Chris Darby
@chrisddarby.bsky.social
Retired marine scientist. Birding mainly Kessingland, Suffolk & Runwell, Essex. https://chrisdarbyimages.blogspot.com/
Black storks Kessingland 04/08/2026 Species 125 for the garden - well overdue as I have been away for three previous singles. #birds Tracked by the BINS and local WhatsApp groups north along the Suffolk coast and up into Norfolk. @suffolkbirdgroup.bsky.social @lowestoftlizards.bsky.social
www.reuters.com/business/aer... #birds
Bird nests of fibre-optic cables show war's impact on Ukraine
Woven from fibre-optic cable and grass, a small bird's nest found near the front line of the war in Ukraine shows how the more than four-year-old conflict is reshaping the natural environment, resea...
reuters.com
Not quite sure how to sum up the first full day on the MV Ortelius on our @bwntours.bsky.social Svalbard tour. We got very lucky indeed with two Polar Bear encounters. The second from the zodiac was unexpected and beyond anyone's expectations. We are still lost for words.
Gull-billed tern Minsmere RSPB 31/05/2026 Thankfully, at Island Mere it was feeding on dragonflies, not the avocet chicks it was taking on the scrape @rspbminsmere.bsky.social @suffolkbirdgroup.bsky.social #birds #suffolkbirding
Gull-billed tern Minsmere RSPB 31/05/2026 Reterned for better views feeding close to Island Mere hide @rspbminsmere.bsky.social @suffolkbirdgroup.bsky.social #birds #suffolkbirding
Gull-billed tern Minsmere RSPB 30/05/2026 We were in shock when the fish we thought it was carrying, turned out to be a chick. Identified from the images as an avocet. @rspbminsmere.bsky.social #birds #suffolkbirding @suffolkbirdgroup.bsky.social
Red-footed falcon Carlton marshes, Suffolk, 7/5/2026 Catching hairy dragonflies.
Red-footed falcon Carlton marshes, 07/05/2026 With at least 30 hobbies. Best found by the silver on the upper wing showing clearly at distance. #birds
Red-billed tropicbird Cape Verde 02/05/2026 Having arrived in Cape Verde to meet the MV Hondius for a seabird passage to Madeira, we were told that the cruise had been cancelled due to a virus outbreak. Our thoughts are with those still on board and those who have lost friends and family. #birds
Tawny pipit Landguard, Suffolk, 30/04/2026 Best seen in the morning or late afternoon, when the heat haze decreases. Can show well but usually distant. Definitely worth putting in the time. #birds
Tawny Owl Essex, 21/04/2026 Taking a break in the box entrance. She seems to be an expert at taking #birds; catching another jackdaw (4th) last night, as well as a huge rat.
Grey wagtail Hanningfield, Essex, 20/04/2026 Relatively quiet WeBS today but the supporting #birds included a new singing nightingale area, cetti's & garden warblers, yellow and grey wagtail, swift, swallow, house and sand martin
Tawny owl Essex 16/04/2026 Due to the kids taking over the box, the female is spending as much time outside as the mobbing blackbirds and corvids allow. The feathers are jackdaws, she has caught three so far.
The tawny owls are feeding and protecting 8 and 9 day old chicks. Stock doves and jackdaws have been inside the box while she has been sitting on the eggs and were chased out. This morning while resting in the entrance she had enough and a jackdaw became a midday meal for the thee of them. #birds
A local reed bed and heath morning, followed by a visit to the Brecks, produced the #bird species that a visiting colleague was hoping to see. A sing off between three nightingales, that seem to have came in over-night, and a pair of drumming lesser spots were highlights.
The irony of the Lowestoft Journal (once a decent paper wayyy back in the day) running a story about a mistakenly mis-id gull with gull pictures with the wrong names in the captions.... And 'thousands' didn't turn up. Nowhere near those numbers! #fakenews www.lowestoftjournal.co.uk/news/2596334...
Thousands disappointed after flocking to coast to see ultra-rare bird
Thousands of bird enthusiasts flocked to Lowestoft on the Suffolk coast, hoping to see a rare bird called a great black-headed gull.
lowestoftjournal.co.uk
Red-crested pochard Hanningfield, Essex, 23/03/2026 A very still morning for today's WeBS count.
Incubating a clutch of three eggs laid on the 25 & 28/02 and 03/03. Only 2 of 4 fledged last time. If the brood period is the same the hatching should begin around the 25-27th. The male has been bringing a mix of short-tailed vole, wood mouse and brown rat each night. #birds #EssexOwls
Hume's warbler and Firecrest Sparrows nest, Lowestoft, 06/03/2026
Steller's sea eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus) versus White-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) Pack ice off Rausu, Japan, 14/02/2026 Go #birds!
Steller's sea eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus) & White-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) Taken from a boat in the pack ice off Rausu, Japan, 14/02/2026 Go #birds!
Steller's sea eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus) & White-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) Taken from a boat in the pack ice off Rausu, Japan, 14/02/2026 A @bwntours.bsky.social tour of Japan led by Dave Farrow @mr-shortwing.bsky.social & Howard Vaughn @howardvaughanbeb.bsky.social #birds
