Paul French
@nomadbirder
Birder, purveyor of aerial bird identification wizardry & secretary of British Birds Rarities Committee
There are 2 main bramble patches in the garden, and this year seems to be a resplendent one! Nearly 6kg of fruit so far, a lot more to come, and there will still be a load left for birds and mice. If you have space for a bramble patch, please consider it! #wildlifegardening
Buff-breasted Sandpiper brings up the #300 for my Spurn list, a nice little milestone. Probably be another 40 yrs at my current pace before I reach 350!!
We all know Spurn is the bees knees for swifts, but we sometimes get a big movement over Easington too, and I'm not sure these birds actually make it down to Spurn, as they're heading due west over us. We've clicked over 2000 today, most since 1630hrs. And still they come!! @spurnbirdobs.bsky.social
Not sure when the last Marsh Tit was at Spurn. The Birds of Spurn lists a record in 2010 as the latest, and I can't recall one since moving here in 2016. In any case, it's a bit of a local mega. Today's juvenile was already sporting a ring, so we should be getting some interesting info soon.
There's been an interesting development on Fetlar. I seem to have woken up in the 18th century.
Not quite so flashy as the bunting, but enjoyed just as much was a Nightjar.
Currently up in Shetland doing some seabird surveys, spending the first week on Foula being awed by the monstrous cliffs and overall imposing vibes of the place. A few migrants were also seen, the highlight being this lovely Black-headed Bunting.
Spring waders really are superb! This alpina Dunlin is bound for the European arctic somewhere, while the leucorhoa Northern Wheatear is bound for Greenland. I wasn't expecting to find a Nearctic passerine on patch today, but I'll take it! Just two of many globetrotters on the Outstrays today.
A couple of Spoonbills also at Outstrays were nice, but I was most chuffed by finding a new colony of Sand Martins in the recent erosion at Easington. We seem to have been getting far more Smarties over the garden than usual, this probably explains it.
This Cuckoo at Outstrays was battling against the wind today, and doing rather well.
The rapid erosion of Easington continues. I took the first 2 pics in November, the last 2 today. The gravel path is gone, the fence is gone, but most annoyingly the plastic tree guards are just being left to fall into the sea. The sooner everyone just stops using plastic tree guards the better.
As well as rares, there are many, many common birds that give me a lot of pleasure. One of my favourite things are Dunlin in May, and the Warren at Spurn is a great place to look for all sorts of variation. Most of them at the moment seem to be schinzii, but a few alpina present too.
With only 10 post-1950 records, Desert Wheatear is surprisingly rare in Yorkshire. The most recent was 2017, but the last one at Spurn was 1962! So today's bird at Grimston was well worth the short trek up the coast.
Post 2 about Cape Verde, and thought I'd get another rarity out of the way, but this time a local mega rather than a WP one. This reiseri Eastern Olivaceous Wblr seems to be the 2nd record for Cape Verde. Was nice to see while waiting for the Red-billed Quelea to show up! ebird.org/checklist/S3...
Frampton Marsh yesterday. Among the brent horde were two Pale-bellieds plus this presumed hybrid Pale x Dark-bellied, paired with a Pale-bellied. Appearance changed wigh angles of course, but consistently showed inbetween features.
Cape Verde really is an outpost of the Palearctic. It has a suite of endemic breeding birds, including some quality seabirds, and we were there to enjoy some pioneering pelagics in March. It also attracts some monster WP rares, and my first port of call was this wondrously-winged Willet on Boa Vista
Naff boc shots, but the Willet on Boa Vista showed nicely today. All gearing up nicely for the pelagics off Fogo next week, hopefully some quality sea-birding here on Cape Verde to come...
We are so lucky here. We have a pr of Tawny Owls that are seemingly resident, roosting within (but mostly out of) sight of my desk, plus a pr of Barn Owls close by that sometimes take advantage of calm winter sun. Tawny photo'd well after dark, Barnie is just miles away!!
I don't often twitch long-distance anymore, but with 3 dips over nearly 30 yrs, Ross's Gull was up there as most wanted. And being a first winter, its even more special to the ID aficionados. Just a few 1000 pics to go through... #RareBirdsUK
Why oh why are we sacrificing everything to AI? It can't even get the bits right its supposed to be good at. How can you present the wrong answer, quote the source, then the source appears below with the actual correct answer!! But yeah, folding proteins.....
Complete change in fortune for my recently abysmal WeBS counts. The new realignment at Weeton has taken the majority of roosting waders, leaving me free to enjoy this Black Brant, plus a delightfully squeaky Otter. 3 GW Egrets, SEO and 40+ Rock Pipits in support.
Our long Dutch weekend comes to a glorious end, with some quality(!) WP tickage. Thanks to @gt1366.bsky.social for braving the perils of Amsterdam to give me a Cat C(rap) tick, and for the photo. Cheers mate!!
Our trip to Texel going very nicely so far, some Dutch megas with a few beers and quality bants. And who doesn't love Smew!!??
While in the eBird garden year list, I'll happily take top 5. Always good to break 100, but amazing to see once again that both Tim Appleton's gardens score the same. How does he do it!!?? 😜
In a fairly decent year for the garden, we soared to the dizzy height of 174, with Cattle Egret, Crane, Glossy Ibis and White-tailed Eagle all new. Most importantly, I won the predictions competition between myself and @clickbeetle85.bsky.social. A new year and new competition begins tomorrow.
The Easington Hume's Wblr showed nicely on Friday, although the unseasonably bright sunshine made it surprisingly difficult to get a shot. Too much light combined with operator incompetence! #spurnbirds
Sun Parakeets lived up to their name, as did Red Siskin. I'm always amazed when you go to a site for a monster rarity (both rare mainly due to trapping for the cage bird trade), and suddenly there they are, doing their thing as if they're not rare at all.