Nina O'Hanlon

@ninaohanlon

Birder | Research Ecologist | #ornithology | #CaithnessBirds | she/her

542 Folgt1.489 Follower56 Posts

Bluesky

Ist das dein Profil?Übernimm es — dann gehört dir ninaohanlon.dirty.social.Profil übernehmen

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Jul 25

Good entertainment for a wet and windy weekend 😄 with @rob-hughes-birder.bsky.social

Box lid of Bill Oddie's Great Bird Race Game with a cartoon of Bill's head and binoculars and a background UK birds and habitats

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Jul 14

A great day for surveying Large Heath butterflies at Forsinard Flows! Fantastic to see so many in this restoration area with @rob-hughes-birder.bsky.social #ForestToBog @savebutterflies.bsky.social

Person walking across an open green peatland under a bright blue sky

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Jun 22

Heading back south after an amazing long weekend @fairislebirdobs.bsky.social So good to be back, and so many highlights (people, seabirds, music, food)! 💙 #FairIsle 💙

Looking towards Fair Isle Bird Observatory from Buness with green grass and large stones in the foreground and dark grassy, moorland in the background beneath a cloudy blue sky

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· May 9

A sunny morning for my early @bbs-birds.bsky.social visit - lots of Skylark and Meadow Pipits as usual. Nice to have the Arctic Skuas back. #CaithnessBirds

Bright blue sky with clouds meeting the sea in the horizon. Heather moorland in the foreground

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· May 4

A close encounter with an Otter on Dunnet Beach yesterday! I thought it was a dog running towards us at first 😁

Two people on a beach, with backs to the camera, watching an Otter running up the beach several meters in front of them

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Apr 26

Smart male Ring Ouzel at John O'Groats this morning, plus a Magpie! #CaithnessBirds

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Apr 23

That's this weekend sorted! Full of amazing data (and photos) @fairislebirdobs.bsky.social #Ornithology #BirdingScotland

Two volumes of the Birds of Fair Isle book with volume one showing Puffins dominating the front cover, and volume two showing an example page for Redwing and Blackbird.

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Jan 19

64 species on our 25 km cycle around NE Cairthness yesterday, with Great-spotted Woodpecker and Tree Sparrow good additions to the 10 km #PWC2026 list. The only photo I took was @rob-hughes-birder.bsky.social admiring his cake! #CaithnessBirds

A bearded man looking down at a slice of cheesecake in his hands by the side of the road with green fields and blue sky in the background.

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Jan 17

A very enjoyable @webs-gsmp.bsky.social count at Dunnet Bay this morning with my first Glaucous Gulls of the year - plus a smart Water Pipit was a great bonus! #CaithnessBirds

A small group of gulls standing in shallow sea water, in the centre are a juvenile and second winter Glaucous Gull.

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Oct 26

Gorgeous Firecrest at John O'Groats this morning 🧡 🔥 #CaithnessBirds 📸 @rob-hughes-birder.bsky.social

Firecrest looking at the camera in the centre of the image, surrounded my pine tree branches

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Sep 25

The most recent thing I worked on was visualising my #CaithnessBirds list - using BirdTrack data (so reflects when I summited BirdTrack data rather than when I actually first saw a species in the county😅) - based on code/inspiration from Jer's course.

A timeline of lines and circles of when I added new birds species to my Caithness list between 2016 and 2025 - trying to look like a field of flowers

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Sep 5

Whoop 🎉 @rob-hughes-birder.bsky.social submitting his PhD thesis after 3.5 years 🦆 Much more chilled than I was, and he has already published most of it 🌟

Bearded guy happily looking at his computer

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Sep 5

A gorgeous pre-work @webs-gsmp.bsky.social count this morning, lots of waders including at least 7 Curlew Sandpipers 💙 #CaithnessBirds

Blue skies and blue sea with sand dune vegetation and sandy beach in foreground and a slice on land between the sea and sky.

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Jul 8

Great Black-backed Gulls preferred coastal areas & harbours, similar to Herring Gulls, which were also more likely to visit urban areas. Lesser Black-backed Gulls largely visited farmland, which is common around the colony. Across species, several individuals strongly selected landfills #ornithology

A map of the Isle of May within the Firth of Forth and arrows linking the isle with different habitats (landfill, harbours, urban, agriculture and coastal) reflecting each species strength of habitat selection. Each gull and the coresponding arrows are a different colour with Great Black-backed Gulls being green, Herring gulls being purple and Lesser Black-backed Gulls being orange.

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· May 16

A hectic week between holiday & fieldwork but enjoyed the calmness of the early visit to my Auckengill BBS square yesterday with a quartering Short-eared Owl the highlight! @bbs-birds.bsky.social www.bto.org/our-science/...

Heather moorland in the foreground with a cloudy sky with blue bits showing through.

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· May 11

Travelling south from Caithness by train and taking the ferry from Marseille was a massive highlight of the trip! Took a few days but was straightforward and totally worth it for the ferry crossings🐬🐳

White railings of a ferry and life ring in the foreground with blue sea and sky in the background with an island in the distance.

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· May 11

Back from a fantastic holiday birding the east coast & mountains of Corsica - such stunning scenery & birds plus some cool lizards, butterflies & flowers 💙 eBird Trip Report - ebird.org/tripreport/3... with @rob-hughes-birder.bsky.social #EuropeanBirds #BirdingEurope

Snow topped rocky mountains of Corsica with a blue sky and scattered white clouds, with a greener slope and a birder along a track in the foreground.

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Mar 25

A nice distraction this afternoon with 4 Humpback Whales cruising past the house 💙

Back and dorsal fin of a Humpback Whale surfacing the sea

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Jan 19

Surprise encounter with an Otter on Freswick harbour wall yesterday!

Otter stood at the end of a stone harbour wall. Photo by Rob Hughes

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Jan 12

A very cold @btobirds.bsky.social WeBS count at Dunnet Bay today but lots of gulls and waders on the seaweed, and 236 Goldeneye on the sea given the frozen lochs around. #CaithnessBirds

Looking east down a frosty Dunnet Bay to a patch of seaweed with Dunnet Head in the background

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Jan 11

Cold but beautiful day for our #CaithnessBirds January Bird Race - not a bad 75 species for our team. Little Auk & Velvet Scoter, both at Ackergill, were particularly nice additions.

A partially frozen Thurso River at sunset

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Jan 5

Great to be back north after the holidays with 39 species not a bad start to #PWC2025 today. Three Black-throated Divers off Nybster the highlight #CaithnessBirds

Coastline north of Nybster with a sprinkling of snow and white clouds amongst the blue sky

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Nov 21

Yeah I love mine, cosy & dry in a biting northerly on the Caithness coast even after 8 years! And I need a long coat as I sit on the ground a lot using my scope in the wind! Plus big pockets for a flask of tea & snacks #BirdingGear

Green Didriksons parka laid out on a wooden floor

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Nov 19

Great to see flocks of Little Auks heading north along the Caithness coast today! 176+ in c 1.5 hours of watching past Nybster #CaithnessBirds

Seven Little Auks flying left over a grey sea. Photo taken by Rob Hughes

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Nov 10

Just back from a fantastic Scottish Ringers Conference, which is always fun but the talks were particularly excellent this year! Plus it's always good to see some Crested Tits!

Caledonian woodland scene with blue skies in the background and a birder in the foreground enjoying the view

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Oct 30

Facebook tells me I moved up to Caithness 8 years ago today (for a 6 month position 😄) - best decision I've ever made!

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Oct 19

Beautiful sunny #WeBS count this morning at Dunnet Bay. Lots of gulls, and nice mix of small waders.

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Oct 10

Short but fantastic trip to London with great seabird discussions, the wonderful Birds exhibition at London NHM & more birds at the zoo!

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Oct 5

With multiple Great White Egrets in the county the last few weeks it was great to get one over the house #PWC2024 #CaithnessBirds

Great White Egret flying right, photo taken by Joe O'Hanlon

Nina O'Hanlon@ninaohanlon· Sep 20

Plus bumping into Lesser Whitethroats, Pied & Spotted Flycatchers, Redstart etc, and just being back on this incredible island 💙