Alan
@lobb66.bsky.social
Birding, mostly … Cornwall, mostly … www.stivesbirders.co.uk
Decent couple of day’s #patchbirding - Lesser WT, Redstart, 2 Spot Fly, 2 Whinchat, several Yellow Wags & Tree Pipits at Pewley. Y’day an unexpected Pec Sand popped up for me at Staines. Today finally went for the Shrike with James M - with a bonus adult Ferruginous Duck #ukbirding #ukrarebirds
Intense morning at St Ives yesterday - Barolo S, dark juv LT Skua, 2 Wilson’s, 3 Leach’s, 30 ESP, 3 Grey Phal, juv Sabine’s, 4 Great Shear, 2 Cory’s, 19 Sooty, 30k Manx, 27 Arctic Skua, 3 Bonxie, Black Tern & good turnout. Today - Clodgy’s 2nd Wryneck in a week & other goodies #cornwallbirding
Amazing what a bit of rain does - #patchbirding at Clodgy with @liamlangley1.bsky.social then on to Bussow, Nance, Zennor & Trewey. Superb Wryneck at Clodgy plus Pied & Spot Flys, Yellow Wags, Tree Pipit, Green Sandpiper etc. Also a ‘nocmigged’ Pied Fly yesterday evening #cornwallbirding
Excellent morning loop of Clodgy Point with @lobb66.bsky.social who found this Wryneck along the drystone wall above the point - a cracking patch tick! Plenty of other common migs around including my first Tree Pipit of autumn and a flyover Yellow Wagtail! #UKBirding @patchbirding.bsky.social
Decent morning around St Ives. Lesser Whitethroat, Snipe, Teal west, Ringed Plover over. Green Sand, Whimbrel, Dunlin all ‘noc-migged’ last night. Lots of Chiffies, Blackcaps, Whitethroats new in. No ‘knee tremblers’ but some good ‘St Ives 20k’ birds … #patchbirding #cornwallbirding
Tree Pipit and Lesser Whitethroat with a Wheatear the best of an early morning trot around St Ives Island and Clodgy Point. Decent activity this am. #cornwallbirding
Ace couple of days around Pewley & local areas - Whinchat, Redstart, Pied Fly, several Tree Pipits, Yellow Wagtails, Goshawk, Black Tern, 4 Ruff, 6+ Greenshank, 3 Dunlin, Hobby & a Lesser Whitethroat. #patchbirding
I just signed a @scotrewilding.bsky.social petition: Scotland Needs a Nature Minister. Sign here: actionnetwork.org/petitions/sc...
Scotland Needs a Nature Minister
This year Scotland signed off on the Natural Environment Act, setting up a framework to create nature recovery targets. Now, it’s up to the new government to create targets that will lead to the resto...
actionnetwork.org
94 sp for non-birding trip to south France. Could have hit 100+ if I’d used the Camargue time better. But Greater Flamingo, Swamphen, Gull-billed, Little Terns, Crested Lark and a few others made it. Missed Slender-billed Gull, Lesser Flamingo & Marsh Sand … #oiseaux #birdsseenin2026
Great Reed Warbler at Le Puy de Ste Réparde, Provence. Had a hunch that a raspy/‘chak’-y call was a GRW and so it came to pass. One of 2 this morning before the heat sent everything underground. Including me. With RC Pochard, Pochard, Squacco Heron & more butterflies #oiseaux #birdsseenin2026
Excellent morning seawatch from St Ives Island 05.38-10.45 with JM: Wilson’s Petrel (7+), Euro (40+), Cory’s (33), Great (4), Manx (30,000+), Arctic Skua (1), Whimbrel (14), Dunlin (2), Swift (1). An excellent morning with some amazing close views of Wilson’s! #UKBirding @patchbirding.bsky.social
A ‘non-birding’ break in southern France has so far yielded Golden Eagle, Rollers, Golden Orioles, Melodious & Sardinian W, Bee-eaters, Crag Martins, ST Treecreepers, Firecrest, Cirl Bunting, Black Kite, 2 Turtle Doves & Nightingale + some cracking butterflies. Wonder what day 2 will turn up … 😎🤣
Staines Res this afternoon. Sum plum Turnstone, 4 sum plum Black-tailed Godwits, LRP, Ringed Plover, at least 4 BN Grebes, & the imm Goldeneye with the entire Thames basin population of Cormorants (est) - way more than I was expecting in the heat … #patchbirding
Excellent morning seawatch off St Ives with @lobb66.bsky.social et al. 05.42-11.10: Cory’s (465+), Great Shear (2), Sooty (7), Manx (20,000+), Fulmar (45+), Bonxie (1), Common Tern (1), Sandwich Tern (1), Kitt (16) Med Gull (1). Incredibly Cory’s passage and a patch count record for me! #UKBirding
Unexpected patch gold this morning when a dispersing juv Green Woodpecker circled the island as I was heading home from my seawatch - July is clearly the time for tricky residents here! Great Tit next? Also notable were 6 Whimbrel W and 2+ Harbour Porpoise. #UKBirding @patchbirding.bsky.social
Goldeneye wasn’t on my Staines Reservoir bingo card today. Together with at least 5 summer BN Grebes, an out of season Common Gull, several Pochard, 4 Common Sand, 5 Little Ringed Plover & a Redshank. #patchbirding
Badenoch just said, on national TV, that UK's carbon emissions have gone up "in total" because of the 2008 Climate Change Act. They have, in fact, declined by more than half. Did #Kuenssberg break in to point this basic fact out? Of course not
Been a little obsessed with the Song Meter Micro 2 last few weeks. 5 new birds added to the Pewley list - reaching the dizzy heights of 107. Common sandpiper over early this am & overnight Moorhen, Coot & Little Grebe. But the banging highlight was 2 Quail on the 26th June. #patchgold #nocmig
Adult Wood Sandpiper at Drift Res today (12th July). My first of the “autumn” returning birds.
Pewley has had a good run recently … Cuckoo heading South 3 days ago, Marsh Tit yesterday, & today I waited to see what a bunch of Jays, Blackbirds, Tits & a GSW were harping on about … juv Tawny Owl scrambling about looking for a proper perch while a parent looked on #patchbirding
Roseate Tern this morning with the Common, Little and Sandwich Terns at Church Norton. It was rosy!! #ukbirding #birdsseenin2026 #sussexbirding
Robert Gros made £27m selling useless gowns via the VIP PPE Lane, of course he never paid back a penny, he bought 2 mansions instead. RT and see if we can make him as famous as Michelle Mone.
10 days in Scotland - a mix of personal & birding. 157 species - a few dips - RB Shrike, both WB Divers but outweighed by good stuff & scenery. Cuckoos all over Caithness (46), Quail, WTE, Ring Ouzel, Whinchat, King Eider - & 2 "interesting scoters" to finish ... 👍 #birdingscotland
Hi @wilsonjaredm.bsky.social - this am before the WW showed up, a flock of 17 Common Scoter were distant offshore. One had a lot of yellow on the bill. Reviewing the shot i managed, 2nd bird from left has an interesting bill shape/colour/neck structure? An FYI in case still present?
Whinchat singing from a roadside pine tree; Grasshopper Warbler reeling at the excellent Dalchork bird hide; Osprey overhead at Loch Dola & 2 dark phase Arctic Skuas, a single Puffin & Arctic Tern at Helmsdale. Trip list - 139 #ukbirding #scotlandbirding
