Despite slow migration over, Aust finally delivered migrants on the ground this morning, including Willow and Garden Warbler, Common and Lesser Whitethroat, Redstart and Tree Pipit (+15 over).

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Given puffins fledge at night to avoid predators, and given the extreme tides, we released this one down the channel at high tide in the hope it will be encouraged back towards Lundy.

Last few days to submit abstracts for BOU:Avian Disease Ecology Conference in April, should be really interesting few days -- bou.org.uk/event/avian-... 🧪🪶

A few blowy days on steep holm for gull monitoring and planning habitat work for the Autumn. Good year for LB and HG (~150 ringed), GB recovering. Cormorant also having a good year. Storm petrel, fulmar and mistle thrush island ticks for me (and firsts for a long time)

The skyline has changed and my favourite pub is an Italian restaurant now but there are still black redstart singing in Manchester City centre - two in same places they bred 15 years ago.

Barn owl seem to be having an excellent year - this evening we ringed 23 chicks in four boxes, including two broods of 7 and all at good weight.

Look at the facial (rictal) bristles on this Icterine warbler (which had hit a window in Lecce, Italy). These are generally associated with low-light foraging, including in nocturnal migrants like this one. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Sea-watch over the Adriatic Sea from Puglia, Italy this morning, in a decent onshore wind, delivered three Eleonora's Falcon moving NW up the coast and briefly harrying a house martin over the water - a dream for me. No photos, but here's some of the constant line of Scopoli's.

Been meaning to post these for a while. Steep Holm is a great study in niche partitioning - Lesser Black-backs on the plateau and Herring Gulls on the slope. But, on a clear day you can just see Lundy, where costal Cormorant are entirely replaced by oceanic Shag.

Steep Holm has Avon's only(?) breeding Cormorants, a scarce southern sea-cliff breeding population of the coastal subspecies, carbo. They are difficult to see from land, but most with small chicks now.

Glad to have timed a chance mid-morning visit to Severn Beach with a clear-weather push of Arctic Skua moving up the river. w/ @andy-1963.bsky.social, Adam and Emily.

Last weekend’s ringing trip to Steep Holm started off well, but migrants cleared as the cloud lifted. Great to see work to clear the plateau of invasive growth progressing too. Marsh harrier, and lesser Whitethroat were new for the year there (the harrier for the decade).

Late to posting about the extraordinary vismig on the Severn this weekend, including good numbers of Common Tern and Little Gull, stacking high before tracking inland, but also Whimbrel, Black and Little Tern (a patch tick for me). @severnsidebirds.bsky.social

Almost four years after its conception at the hole nesting birds conference in Oxford, @jorgensoraker.bsky.social and I have had our paper, The costs of extra-pair behaviours in birds, accepted in Biological Reviews. More soon. 🪶🧪

Before I’ve had one vismig this year, there are tree pipit back on territory and singing in mid wales 🏔️

There are still seabirds moving against a cold easterly wind. Fewer Manx, kitt and fulmar. Highlights are two puffin and six common scoter and a great northern diver south. @cbwps.org.uk

Only my second record of pom skua in St Austell bay. The first, below, was December 2014.

Another hour from 17:00. Pom skua (!!), 990 auks (poss razorbill majority), another 2500 Manx, 48 gannet, 21 fulmar, 3 GND (inc a br. plumage), 90 kitt and 6 sandwich tern. @cbwps.org.uk

Purple sandpiper on the rocks beyond Mevagissey outer harbour - these are semi regular here in spring.

Nice to see LMCG reported, now at least 5 years old. Despite the population collapse in Derbyshire, this bird has been recorded on passage every year since, although now alone. We have no idea if/where he breeds, but not with the West Yorks group, so a +1 on our English pop. estimate.

First slow worm (?) of the spring, last week in mid Wales.

Four redpoll - and an almost in focus flight shot - were a welcome garden first yesterday. They're quite scarce in the city here.

Only John Endler had one of the Bole’s papers, is this any use? I suspect this this accessible online.

It's finally feeling like Spring at Aust after a good push of Wood pigeon and finches this week - mostly Chaffinch Linnet and Siskin with fewer Crossbill and Redpoll.

Six, wild, twite returned to a breeding site in the Pennines on Friday (📸: M Rowell)

This is the day it was caught and ringed - A danish ringed Goldcrest caught at the same time (!)

A female Blackcap, wintering at Aust, was first caught and ringed while wintering(?) at @flamboroughbird.bsky.social in 2023. 🪶

Eleanor Grover took this cool photo of some of our colour-ringed Starlings on @lundybirds.bsky.social. These birds are all colour-ringed as breeding adults (April-June), sharing space with the long-running sparrow project. lundybirdobs.org.uk/news-and-sig... lundybirdobs.org.uk/what-we-do/b...

I wrote up this idea a few years ago for CIEEM’s InPractice magazine. The business has gone from strength to strength since. If you’re interested, and I know a lot of you here have done surveys for us in the past, we’d love to hear from you.