Thomas Miller
@tmbirding.bsky.social
Patch birding in Oxfordshire and further afield tmbirding.blogspot.com
The @britishbirds.bsky.social rarity report is a beautiful piece of work with lots of great photos and a couple of surprises, but it's a shame that the list of records found not proven is no longer included in the report. This means that there is no communication about record status unless accepted
Where's Kazakhstan? The tale of a rare bird, donations from delighted twitchers and where the money went markavery.info/2026/09/28/w... @birdguides.bsky.social #cotswolds #shrike #twitch 📷 Dave Collins/BirdGuides
Moody light at Farmoor for testing out a new (and hopefully improved) dual camera/scope setup. Juvenile Knot, Common and Little Ringed Plovers, 2 Dunlin, and the now regular 3w Caspian Gull best of the birds #ukbirding
Digging a little deeper - the pine on the terrace is labelled as Pinus sylvestris "Watereri", a dwarf Scots Pine cultivar and hence not imported from abroad. It was, however, supplied by Deepdale Trees, a nursery in Bedfordshire, where presumably this adventive must be present amongst their stock...
Thomas Miller@tmbirding.bsky.social · 4w agoSome internet research and help from @snake-spider-et-al.bsky.social confirms this as Dendryphantes rudis, an import from Europe which has established in a couple of areas. Not sure if there have been any in Oxfordshire before but certainly derived from the terrace pines @britishspiders.bsky.social
An amazing find - indeed the first record for Oxfordshire; when I got to see her she was sitting right on the pine. Thanks @tmbirding.bsky.social, I've only ever seen this spider once before and for about 2 seconds. (Fingernail for scale in the second pic)
Another adult Baltic-type in the Farmoor roost this evening, a much more impressive candidate than the other week with a superb structure to it, as well as the mantle colour and moult state. A Caspian Gull also roosted #ukbirding
Despite having done my PhD on spider vibration sensing I confess I haven't exactly developed my ID skills for British spiders - nonetheless I did recognise this as something interesting today when it jumped onto my leg whilst birding from the garden terrace at the Life and Mind Building, Oxford 1/2
The second Red-necked Phalarope I've seen in Oxfordshire this year - thanks to Nick Marriner for this great find on his golf course patch #ukbirding
Strong westerly wind and raining at Farmoor this morning, massive numbers of downed hirundines instead of the hoped-for waders or seabirds - salvaged by this adult female Osprey over south (second one I have seen this year!). 6 turnstones and 2 Casps (3cy and 4cy) best from last night #ukbirding
Arrived at the tail end of a "classic" Farmoor day in easterlies and rain - managed to connect with a few passage waders including county scarce Curlew Sand and Knot, plus found a new juvenile Caspian Gull. Then finally a view which every Baltic Gull enthusiastic waits for... 1/2
First adult Caspian Gull I've had at Farmoor for quite a while. Not a looker. A large roost in calm conditions - adult Mediterranean Gull and approx 60 Yellow-legged Gulls, with finally the first two juveniles. Been a very slow year for this species without the usual mid-summer influx #ukbirding
Nice juvenile Caspian Gull at Burnham on Crouch this afternoon (from a sailing boat!) - obviously all over the East coast this year but with the proximity to the breeding site, tempting to invite narratives of it being British-bred... Anyone know if the Pewet Island juveniles were ringed? #ukbirding
Bird has obviously been done to death at this point but made it back to look at the Long-tailed Shrike last night - now well through its moult and looking pretty good. Low light and dull sky but the results are a bit different compared to most photos online #ukbirding
Broken foot birding over the last few days - can still just about hobble around some sites near Oxford on crutches. Female Fudge Duck (first found it a few weeks back at Dix, much better views at Rushy), early Merlin yesterday showing superbly and this morning my first Tree Pipits of the autumn 1/3
Maybe this deserves its own blog rather than a series of bsky posts. But as an example, compare the unedited photos of recent Otmoor Black Kite with versions where I've asked ChatGPT to enhance, sharpen and denoise. The bird is the wrong way up in the lower AI enhanced shot! Total fakery 1/2
Looking at my feeds, surely at this point there needs to be a PSA to birders that using ChatGPT to enhance a photo is not equivalent to processing with Adobe/DXO AI denoisers... At least with the latter if it's a bad photo it just ends up as a blurred smudge, rather than falsifying a load of detail
A few (mostly landscape) images of the 2cy male Montagu's Harrier on the Oxfordshire downs yesterday evening. A Darvic-ringed bird hatched in England last year, and a long-awaited county tick for me after multiple previous dips #ukbirding
Easy to forget that normal birding exists with something like the Long-tailed Shrike appearing. But back to Farmoor today to see how YLG numbers are building up. Still very few, but lucked in on a juvenile Caspian Gull! By far the earliest ever in Oxfordshire (8th August previous record) #ukbirding
Always nice to see fresh juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls - one of four noted at @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social yesterday. Beautiful evening light #ukbirding
Moth numbers and variety noticeably down on an increasingly breezy night at the Obs; however, a LepiLED session by Thomas Miller in the nearby Crown Estate Field turned up a first for Portland in the form of a Reed Veneer Chilo phragmitella
The WISDOM OF CROWDS emerges in flocks of thousands of migrating songbirds! Excited to share our work published by @aaas.org in Science Advances! doi.org/10.1126/scia...
The wisdom of crowds emerges in flocks of thousands of migrating songbirds
Larger flocks of migrating songbirds orient more accurately toward their population’s migratory direction than smaller flocks.
doi.org
Review of Oxon Birding in May is now up. Top highlights include the 4th record of Black Kite for the county. An excellent find by @tmbirding.bsky.social and @sheldonbirds.bsky.social. And a brief Red-footed Falcon found by @benhall41.bsky.social. #UKBirding oxonbirding.blogspot.com/2026/06/may-...
May Review & Highlights
The Highlights Not to be outdone by the previous two months May delivered on the unexpected and continued the fine form of 2026. For inla...
oxonbirding.blogspot.com
Arrived just in time for the Red-necked Phalarope at Farmoor this afternoon. What a superb bird, I saw the spring female on Port Meadow in 2018 but it was a distant spinning speck compared to this. Another great find from Roger Wyatt and another great record for Oxfordshire this year #ukbirding
Well that was unexpected. Broad-billed Sandpiper at QE2 (Walton) this afternoon. Think was taken by a Peregrine a few minutes later. #surreybirds #rarebirdsUK. The definition of inland reservoir patch gold. Almost like the Enhanced Games!!
Beachy Head: Just found an eastern subalpine warbler in cow gap @BirdGuides maps.app.goo.gl/aAtoKB3eZM31h6…
Very pleased to pick up this Black Kite at Otmoor today whilst teaching Biology field course with @sheldonbirds.bsky.social. Not the most satisfying find, being a speck confirmed from photos as it headed north. Apparently also seen well by an independent observer 15mins earlier over the main reserve
Rather behind with my blogging, particularly on the South Africa series. So a quick one about the recent AGP and thoughts on Oxfordshire listing #ukbirding tmbirding.blogspot.com/2026/05/amer...
American Golden Plover and Portland weekend
American Golden Plover, Otmoor A universal rule of county birding is that whenever you leave the county, rare birds turn up. I'm often away ...
tmbirding.blogspot.com
In addition to my own blog, I've been tasked with rejuvenating Adam's original Port Meadow Birding blog. Have now done a few patch updates, quite an impressive list of sightings last month - want it to be more like a log book than my blog #ukbirding portmeadowbirding.blogspot.com/2026/05/apri...
April 22nd-May 5th
Male Sparrowhawk What an exciting period of birding on the Meadow! Despite the continued anticyclonic conditions and northeasterlies, the fl...
portmeadowbirding.blogspot.com
Well that livened up a dull bank holiday Monday! Nothing quite like finding a local mega on your patch. Amazing to see so many familiar faces come and go. Another splendid evening at Broom GP. Kentish Plover, 4th May 2026 #BedsBiding
