Last weekend, we celebrated my mum's birthday in the Eastleach area of Glos. This weekend (19/7/26), I was back for the extraordinary Long-tailed Shrike that had been there for 11 days at least...! A 14-hour round-trip for my first UK one earlier in the month, and a 4-hour one for this! #birds 🪶🐦

June is not exactly flaming with rare birds, but @rspbframptonmarsh.bsky.social rarely disappoints and it was good to see cuckoo, spoonbill and a smart, near-pristine Spotted Redshank there on 21/6/26. Saw a Wood Sandpiper in flight too. Nuthatch in Diddington, Cambs. #birds 🐦🪶

Slow birding day today, 13/6/26. But a couple of local highlights, including these brilliant Turtle Doves, a species struggling against the twin enemies of intensive farming and Mediterranean hunting. #birds 🐦🪶

Double rare heron weekend! First-for-Britain Western Reef Heron at Foryd Bay, Caernarfon, 6/6/26 and rare Squacco Heron, Crowland, Lincolnshire, 7/6/26. #birds 🪶🐦

Birthday Ptarmigan! An absolute stunner, one of two or three which I watched with Ring Ouzel and Snow Bunting song as soundtrack towards Ben Macdui. Magic! #birds 🐦🪶

Very impressed by this Capercaillie's tolerance of half a dozen dogs off the lead at Boat of Garten forest this morning. If you're going to be proud that Capercaillie live there (see notice at the entrance), why not act like it matters? #birds 🪶

My earliest ever Northern Wheatear, 8/3/26, beating the previous record of 19/3/2012! And in my home village too! Great find, Guy M. It was even singing a bit! @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social #birds 🐦🪶

Best self-find of the year for me, this Red-necked Grebe at Grafham Water, Cambridgeshire, 1/3/26, while dipping the reported Kittiwake. Very nice consolation! #birds 🪶🐦 the bird swam pleasingly close to the dam @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social

Glaucous Gull, Waxham, Norfolk, 28/2/26: I tracked this bird down and it let me get closer and closer (down to about 30-40 metres in the end) and so gave great views. #birds 🪶🐦

I'm 6th in the UK eBird list last time I checked! 170 species so far and 145 in February alone, 22/2/26. Yorks and S East Anglia provided a good few species these past few days, though I dipped on Dipper. Staggering views of Iceland Gull in Leeds and a cheeky Scaup twitch in Sheffield. #birds 🪶🐦

After finishing the week in Yorkshire, I was "out east" today in Essex and Suffolk. Stunning views of singing Dartford Warblers in warmish sunshine at Westleton Heath, and I made someone's day by pointing out a bittern - a lifer for them. 22/2/26 #birds 🪶🐦

A good Norfolk Sunday in decent weather: highlights were the E Black Redstart (again!!!), Slavonian Grebe, Scaup and Fulmar. 8/2/26 #birds 🪶🐦

A good afternoon in E Anglia, with top views of the Hume's Warbler, a Woodcock, Treecreeper, Purple Sandpiper, a "self-found" Little Gull (I didn't know it was there) and Sanderling. No Iceland Gull for me though, 7/2/26. #birds 🪶🐦

Up to 150 species for 2026, and my quest to get my record # of species per month every month this year doing ok. 145 species in Jan beats prev recd of 136 and 70 on day 1 of February, including, at Carsington Water, my first Willow Tits since 2020. Target for Feb: 139... #birds 🪶🐦

Overcame a staggering headache to get to the mega-rare-for-the-UK Killdeer in Hampshire, which also gave a chance to see a Little Gull and to revisit the Great-tailed Grackle nearby. Nice to see Fieldfare in the garden today. 24/1/26 #birds 🐦🪶

A slow start to the bird photography year so far, but I've seen a lot of species by today (17/1/26): 125 which is my best start to a year ever. Highlights so far in 2026: Snow Goose, Tawny Owl, Greater Scaup, Black-winged Kite. #birds 🐦🪶

Top birds of 2025 for me... overseas: Greater Painted Snipe, Long Valley, Hong Kong 6/4/25; UK: Pechora Pipit, South Shields, 21/9/25. #birds 🪶🐦ok so the pipit might be a bit prosaic, but, like the Song Sparrow, these are birds I only expected to turn up on the "islands" so great to get to them.

Top birds 2025 also-rans. Nice views... Snow Bunting in Leics; Bonelli's Eagle in Oman; E Black Redstart in Norfolk; Alpine Accentor in the Pyrenees. #birds 🪶🐦

Top birds 2025 also-rans. Nice surprises: self-found Wryneck in the Pyrenees, Gtr Painted Snipe in HK, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper in HK; Wire-tailed Swallow in Oman. #birds 🪶🐦

Top birds also-rans: grip backs Arabian Warbler, Black-crowned Tchagra, Black-faced Bunting, Pallas's Gull #birds 🪶🐦

Top 2025 birds 2 & 3. UK 3: Lesser Crested Tern; UK 2: Song Sparrow; Overseas 3: Corsican Finch; Overseas 2: Citril Finch (would have been first if in better plumage) after sooo many attempts! #birds 🐦🪶

2025 was a year of "grip backs" (starred), so such birds feature a lot in this list and in the also-rans. Top 5 birds of 2025: 5 and 4 (UK and overseas). UK 5: Purple Sandpiper (photogenic!); UK 4: Booted Eagle*; Overseas 5: Powerful Owl*, Sydney suburbs; Overseas 4: Tawny Frogmouth*. #birds 🐦🪶

Last bird of 2025 was the first Barn Owl I had seen in months by the road into my village (and I come home in the dark often). A welcome sight. #birds 🪶🐦had thought it would be the 2 woodcock I saw on the outskirts of Brandon after a lovely walk at Lynford Arboretum seeing crossbills et al.

Good visit to Norfolk today, 30/12/25, for the Black-winged Kite with @jonheath.bsky.social and a nameless friend, good views, then a bit of a seawatch at Sheringham with the E Black Redstart as an incentive, finishing with some nice wild swans. #birds 🪶🐦

Unexpected bonus of being near Ellesmere for the past few days was to see this female Lesser Scaup at the Mere, 29/12/25. My third of the year, first for the county. #birds 🪶🐦

Christmas birds have been pretty good: two good year ticks (Tundra Bean Goose and Snow Goose) and a charming Eastern Black Redstart, 25 and 26/12/25. #birds 🪶🐦

Reidentification news: the not countable Boat-tailed Grackle in Holbury, Hants has been reidentified through DNA as a not countable Great-tailed Grackle. My American friends: could we have worked this out without DNA? #birds 🪶🐦

A day out at the seaside, 19/12/25. Bracing and beautiful, the long shingle Suffolk beaches produced numerous great species, but none better than my favourite wader, the Purple Sandpiper; supporting cast included 40+ Snow Buntings, Med Gulls, Kittiwakes and Turnstones. #birds 🪶🐦

Not much birding this weekend, meaning that the Red-necked Grebe, seen briefly and fairly distantly at Fen Drayton RSPB, Cambridgeshire, was the so-called highlight! A bit of video is the best I can do... 14/12/25. @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social #birds 🪶🐦 www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRgE...

Red-necked Grebe, Fen Drayton RSPB, Cambridgeshire, 14/12/25

YouTube video by Matthew Mellor

youtube.com

Weather in Norfolk was poor today, meaning that birding was pretty limited and pretty gloomy. The highlight was this Siberian Chiffchaff, among a number of flocks of numerous species, at Titchwell RSPB, Norfolk, 7/12/25. #birds 🪶🐦