Spent the morning fruitlessly searching for migrating Redstarts in the Chilterns. Spent the afternoon watching Britain’s third Long-tailed Shrike on the edge of the Cotswolds ! #ukbirding #rarebirdsuk
Marcus Warden
@sniffer2012.bsky.social
Bucks Birder, long suffering Huddersfield Town fan and lover of miserable music .
Many thanks Nick for our early morning trip over Lodge Hill escarpment and its surrounding farmland, some of which has been supported through the BBC winter bird feeding and also through our members engaging with Nick’s Project 👉 www.chilterns.org.uk/flagship-pro... #ukbirding
Many thanks to Rob Andrews for your tour around Rushmere Country Park. 33 species in total with Firecrest,Treecreeper and elusive Spotted Flycatchers as highlights. More fabulous Bucks habitat for us to explore. On to Greenham next week!
Eastern Subalpine Warbler at Cow gap this morning. Fortunately stuck to the same area, popping up fairly regularly from the dense undergrowth. Heck of a steep walk back to the car park ! #ukbirding #rarebirdsuk
Tawny Pipit at Landguard yesterday. Good views once the heat haze had died down, although not reflected in the quality of my photos. #ukbirding #rarebirdsuk
Lovely evening at Otmoor yesterday. American Golden Plover showing from the Wetland hide. Lots of singing warblers and a couple of very vocal Cuckoos.
Stunning Channel Wagtail at Staines Reservoirs this lunchtime. Head colour quite variable depending on the light. #ukbirding
Lesser Scaup - College Lake (Buckinghamshire) 5/4/26 #bucksbirds #ukbirds #ukbirding #birds @bbowt.bsky.social @btoengland.bsky.social @britishbirds.bsky.social
Lesser Scaup at College Lake today. A long awaited first for Buckinghamshire! Performed well for the admiring crowd of local birders. Seemed particularly keen on one of the local female Tufties! #ukbirding #rarebirdsuk
Five Water Pipits hanging out around the south tower at Staines Reservoir this morning. A couple of them looking very peachy #ukbirding
Lovely Wheatear at Staines Reservoir this morning. Also a Black-tailed Godwit and 3 Water Pipits. All hanging around the south tower. A massive irruption of insects along the causeway in the last couple of days (my photo doesn’t do the numbers justice).
Very happy to spend a bit of time this morning watching a pair of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers. Much trickier to find nowadays. #ukbirding
Mediterranean Gull still on Dorney Common flood this morning, along with a couple of Shelduck @bucksbirdclub81.bsky.social #ukbirding
This regular returning hybrid Tufted Duck x Pochard at #LMGP is getting reported as a Scaup, so one to be aware of #UKBirding
Out looking for displaying Goshawk. Super surprised to see see a Marsh Harrier enjoying the thermals. Similar area to where the Berks/Bucks/Oxon Booted Eagle was a couple of years ago so this intially got the heart thumping! 🙂 @bucksbirdclub81.bsky.social
I've completed my winter bird survey for @btobirds.bsky.social and report on it campaignerkate.wordpress.com/2026/02/18/w... @bucksbirdclub81.bsky.social
Winter-bird survey—tick
On Valentine’s day, a rare day of sunshine, I completed my winter-bird surveys (WiBS) for the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). This is a new survey, and I was asked in the autumn if I wan…
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Many thanks to Ed Griffiths for the BBC guided trip around BBOWT College Lake this morning. Considering the weather recently we were lucky to have a dry day. It was great seeing new faces, new members, new comers to birding and of course the Slavonian Grebe. 34# species #ukbirding
A good morning to be out and about in Bucks. Slavonian Grebe still at College Lake (first in the county since 2021). 43 Russian Whitefronts in the fields just outside Ivinghoe, and two Marsh Harriers at Gallows Bridge. There’s also a Smew in the Herts section of Marsworth Reservoir. #ukbirding
Finally managed to catch up with the Staines Res Black Redstart yesterday afternoon. Appeared in its usual spot by the S tower at the W end of the causeway. Also 2 Greater Scaup in that area, and what was presumably the Lesser Scaup asleep with the Pochards in the far SE corner of the S basin
Killdeer at Ripley Farm Reservoir this morning. Spent a lot of the time hunkering down to keep out of the howling wind, but popped up often enough to make the trip worth while. Also a bonus 4(four) White-tailed Eagles, and a Little Gull. #ukbirding #rarebirdsuk
Great to see plenty of Brambling in the traditional Penn Wood roost on Friday. At least 25 in the trees by 15:45, and more birds coming in all the time. @bucksbirdclub81.bsky.social #ukbirding
Lovely visit to Tattenhoe Valley Park, Milton Keynes, with @bucksbirdclub81.bsky.social great spot and productive morning @btobirds.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social campaignerkate.wordpress.com/2026/01/12/h...
Harry’s patch
At first glance Harry Appleyard’s birding patch at Tattenhoe, Milton Keynes, might appear unpromising, but that would be the wrong conclusion. In more than 20 years of studying birds here, Ha…
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Red-flanked Bluetail at Crockham Hill this morning. Showed 3 times in the 2 hours that I was there, in its favourite gully. Worth the wait though #ukbirding #rarebirdsuk
Quick pre-work stop at Staines Reservoir this morning. Beautiful sunrise but freezing cold. Greater and Lesser Scaups both still in the north west corner of the south basin #ukbirding
Tundra Bean Goose at Maplin Park near Langley this afternoon. My luck was in when it took off with the local Greylags (and 11 Whitefronts), and flew into Buckinghamshire. First county tick of the year !
Black-winged Kite at Ludham Bridge this morning. Rubbish photos, but excellent ‘scope views. Watching it hunting across the Norfolk countryside was sensational. #ukbirding #rarebirdsuk
Exciting news from Gambia! Common Tern F27 was photographed enjoying the sun there in October. F27 was born, raised and ringed on one of the Bucks Bird Club funded rafts at Little Marlow Gravel Pit, and was last seen there in July. Why not join the BBC and help fund more exciting projects !
Another big gull roost at Little Marlow on Sunday. The best birds being a 1cy Yellow-legged Gull, and a distant 1cy Caspian (top marks if you can see it in the photo!). Most interesting bird though had to be the returning Tuftie x Pochard hybrid. The 4th or 5th year it’s been around apparently.
