Matthew Mellor

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 🪶🐦

YouTube video by Matthew Mellor Red-necked Grebe, Fen Drayton RSPB, Cambridgeshire, 14/12/25

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...

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 🪶🐦

6/12/25 - a great day for me in terms of UK ticks: 2020 (Ring-billed Gull and Sociable Plover) and now, in 2025, this Lesser Crested Tern, at Dawlish Warren, Devon. #birds 🪶🐦

A quiet couple of weeks but managed to get 90 minutes of birding at Cley today, 29/11/25 and so nabbled my best UK views of Water Pipit, plus close-up of Jack and Common Snipe. #birds 🪶🐦

Stand-out bird today was the Hume's Leaf Warbler at Holme NOA, Norfolk, 16/11/25. Great views, in view most of the time, calling occasionally. Managed a video and some decent pics.
#birds 🪶🐦https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZbp4JioG74

Friend @jonnycaribou69.bsky.social and I caught up with this untickable but amazingly bold Boat-tailed Grackle at Holbury, Hampshire today, 15/11/25. Yes, I know I'm just adding to the zillions of pics but I want you to know that I saw it too #FOMO #birds 🪶🐦

90 minutes at Ferry Meadows, Cambs, 9/11/25, gave @jonnycaribou69.bsky.social and me good views of YB Warbler, Whooper Swan and a very confident Great White Egret. Then to Titchwell RSPB for a good afternoon that brought us 79 species. #birds 🪶

American Golden Plover (left)

Lesser Scaup

decent views but no photos of the Dusky Warbler at Aylestone today, but the Lesser Scaup at Ditchford showed consistently well, while the American Golden Plover at Eyebrook finally gave itself up to @jonnycaribou69.bsky.social and me, hearing its distinctive call, 7/11/25. #birds 🪶

Very nice photo but I’m pretty sure this is a Red-tailed Hawk.

Views of the Pallas's Warbler at the Naze, Essex on 1/11/25 were predictably brief, though my circa 2 seconds of footage was turned into a series of smart stills by @darkus-markus.bsky.social (ta!). @birdguides.bsky.social #birds 🪶

Back to Suffolk for another look at the Brown Shrike, this time with @jonnycaribou69.bsky.social . Not the loveliest habitat (rusty barbed wire) behind a chicken-wire fence, but the bird showed well even in the wind and rain. #birds 🪶

Two great American waders in a day; the Pectoral Sandpiper at Hollowell took three goes to get, but when I eventually saw it, it was stupidly close! #birds 🪶 The White-rumped Sandpiper was much more distant at Blithfield Reservoir, Staffordshire.

my best views of a Brown Shrike in the UK, Upper Hollesley Common, Suffolk, 24/10/25. #birds 🪶

A rush off and a rush back for a mega Black-faced Bunting, Spurn, East Yorkshire, 21/10/25. #birds 🪶

Yellow-browed Warbler

Snow Bunting

Jack Snipe

Snow Bunting

A few hours' birding spread over a couple of days brought audio Dusky Warbler, two YB Warbler (Norfolk), a typically confiding Snow Bunting (Leics) and a lovely, active Jack Snipe (Northants), 18-19/10/25 @jonnycaribou69.bsky.social
#birds 🪶

Dipper for dipping day, Scalby, North Yorkshire, 10/10/25.
#birds 🪶