Ian Denton

Goldfinches feeding on Teasel heads at sunset.
You had admired the teasels with their heads of purple haze flowers in June & there they still are at the start of winter.
A larder of seeds for the charms.
@dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social
#goldfinches #nature 🦉

The winter roosts of Starlings on the Somerset Levels can be totally breathtaking with the number of birds involved.
From all points of the compass across the west country they converge on a single reedbed at sunset.
#starlings 🦉

The bird has been around for a few days, intermittently. It's continually guarding that left leg, so it has an issue of some kind.
There are rabbit kits who are triggering the cameras & I notice the doe is developing mxyamotosis, so I may catch the bird on camera, tho I'm away currently.

“Across this cloud-dappled sky skeins of wild geese are flying”
(What to Look for in Autumn, 1960)
Writer: EL Grant Watson
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe

An excellent rainy day birding, listen. Recordings that augment experience in the field.

And how else am I likely to hear all those (or any) Tengmalms? Bliss

A very familiar scene to me, I lived there for 14 years.
I was down, Bootham.
So many different areas & all within walking distance.
The Ouse is a wonderful thing.

Down the Channel, Christchurch Harbour, up the Stour...
🔔 🔔 🔔 is that the alarm clock?!?

I hope I find one like that at the bottom of the pond....

The North wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow,
And what will poor robin do then, poor thing?
The crepuscular Robin was at the pond in the pitch dark & Ye Gods it was cold for bathing!
By the morning, the pond was frozen over & there was no water there to be had.
I provide other sources...
🦉

Yes, as soon as those feathers started to rise, I backed away into the gloom of the cottage & promptly fell over the coffee table....
It would have a made an interesting story in A&E, when the history was taken....

Pity the poor Woodpecker...
The Green Woodpecker was here from very first light, (it woke me this am with a brief laugh) to last light of day, searching deep down for ants.
Here it is, about 10 ft away, outside the window.
It noticed me so I slowly backed away, so as not to disturb it.
#ukbirds 🦉

Thank you - I appreciate you saying that. I've been thinking about stopping recently. It all seems so pointless.
You've caught me at a low moment.

Indeed - and so is the world, at every turn, at the moment.

Man arrested after five Red Kites found poisoned in Essex Statement from Essex Police posted on social media, 21 November 2025: An Aveley man has been arrested after five red kites were found dead in a field in Orsett. Our Rural Engagement Team is investi…

Man arrested after five Red Kites found poisoned in Essex raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/11/22/m...

Corncrake on a cruise ship

Even consummate migrants like Corncrakes can end up being ship-assisted, although presumably being adopted by a family and fed prawns is a rarer occurrence.... #UKBirding #Ornithology
www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/2563328...

Is he a crumb off the old cake, we wonder.

Country diary: A precious moment with a robin and its soft autumn song | Claire Stares Winkworth Arboretum, Surrey: This song is not the same as the full-throated spring version, and it’s impossible not to reply to

Country diary: A precious moment with a robin and its soft autumn song | Claire Stares

New report on gamebird releases in Cairngorms National Park doesn’t tell even half the story In spring 2025, news emerged that the GWCT (Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust) was going to be conducting a pilot study to look at the number of non-native gamebirds (Pheasants & Red-legge…

New report on gamebird releases in Cairngorms National Park doesn't tell even half the story raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/11/21/n...

As if aware that the temperature was about to seriously plunge, this charm of Goldfinches sat atop the Ash tree by the #weedypond & soaked-up the last of the rays of the sun.
#ukbirds 🦉 #nature

Sounds to me like you've all definitely flipped, Alison...

3/3
There were active nests at the back end of 2024 & into early part of this year, but not a particularly busy season.
We tend to start our breeding Crossbill searches in early December, so it’s not too long before the season starts over.
Collage by TonyMigwire 🪺

Angry William
It’s been a productive few months for Crossbill passage.

Away from breeding sites I’ve had 111 Crossbill moving on 28 dates since June (That’s a 158 day period = so a record around every 5.5 days).
🧵1/3

They are the best thing ever for wildlife - but as you say, in a desert...

Another reason the Greenfinches do well here, are the Field Maples in the hedgerows.
These finches love both the winged seeds & the buds.
They switch from eating the seeds to the buds, depending on what looks most attractive in the moment.
The vigour of the tree isn't affected by the bud pruning.
🦉

Pop out & look west if you can, at the moment.
All the shepherds in these parts are bloody delighted!
#Dorset #Sunset

Sounds damned eclecttic!
(apols - it's a quiet day here).

A very exciting opportunity for an environmental investigative journalist to join our team at the Initiative for Nature Conservation Cymru.

Satellite-tagged Hen Harrier ‘Circe’ disappears in suspicious circumstances in Moorfoot Hills, south Scotland Press release from Hen Harrier Action (20th November 2025) HEN HARRIER ACTION APPEALS FOR INFORMATION AS ANOTHER RARE HEN HARRIER SUSPECTED TO HAVE BEEN ILLEGALLY KILLED IN SCOTLAND A satellite tag…

Satellite-tagged Hen Harrier 'Circe' disappears in suspicious circumstances in Moorfoot Hills, south Scotland raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/11/20/s...

Thanks Ann, your point is well made. I get large nos of migrant thrushes here & last yr I had circa 14 'black' B'birds, which arrived with but left before, the r'wings & 'fares.
I also have resident juv males here but none are as black as the winter arrivals.
The BTO describes it as a myth, but...

A Little Owl listening for a feeding opportunity - not much misses their acute sense of hearing.
They hear first & then comes the stare.
#owls #raptors 🦉