Steve Lavington

A nice fly-by from this 1w Caspian gull at Keyhaven today. My 5th individual in the last 4 weeks. #patchbirding #ukbirding

Juvenile Sabine's Gull between two Black-heads

Juvenile Sabine's Gull in front of roosting Lesser Black-backed Gulls and an adult Yellow-legged Gull. Doesn't get much better than that!

All too brief wing stretch showing that distinctive tricolour Sabine's upperwing

To the meres tonight hoping for storm-driven waifs, and hit the jackpot with a juv 💥SABINE'S💥 on The Mere, #Ellesmere 🤩 Just the 3rd modern #shropshirebirding record! It stayed to roost alongside an adult #CaspianGull, 10 YLGs & 5,400 LBBGs #happydays #loveautumn #ukbirding

Sooty Shearwater

Storm Petrel

Grey Phal and Sabs Gull

Grey Phal and Sabs Gull

Mega estuary watch from Severn Beach today. Personal totals: Sooty Shearwater (1st on Severnside for 51 years!), juv Sabine's Gull, 2 Grey Phalarope, 2 Leach's Petrel, 4 Storm Petrel, Black Tern, 3 Common Tern, distant Skua sp, 10+ Manxies, 8 Kittiwake, Med Gull, Hobby and 4 Curlew Sandpiper. Insane

With @tmbirding.bsky.social finding so many Caspian Gulls at Portland, I was hopeful some might make it to Keyhaven (still scarce here). At least two 1w birds yesterday and a third today, plus a bonus distant Grey Phal #patchbirding #ukbirding #hantsbirds

Juvenile Sabine's Gull over the sea

Juvenile Caspian Gull over the sea

The Portland Caspian Gull deluge continued today with at least 3 new birds (3 seen together at Culverwell + another or one of the same on this morning's seawatch). Wrecked Sabine's in Chesil Cove also good to see after fleeting views of one off the Bill earlier this week #ukbirding

Bonaparte's Gull (centre) accompanied by Black-headed Gulls

I was about to give up in the miserable weather on Saturday when I noticed an unusually large roost of gulls on Keyhaven Lagoon. Persistence led to patch gold - Bonaparte's Gull! Appears to be the 1st for the reserve. #patchbirding #ukbirding #hantsbirds

Summer review Highlights After our usual summer break, I had hoped to be discussing a local mega disrupting this usually very relaxed birding period. In...

After our summer break here is the Oxon birding review for the last 2 months. Nothing too unexpected, but with the Crossbill irruption gaining pace and some early Wader action there’s been enough to keep us going. That being said, bring on autumn! #UKbirding oxonbirding.blogspot.com/2025/08/summ...

Interesting to watch these Starlings evading a hunting Marsh Harrier in Oxon this week. The evening sky made for a nice background. #ukbirding

Nice to find this very smart Lesser Yellowlegs on an impromptu walk around the Lymington-Keyhaven reserve yesterday evening. Presumably the individual seen in West Sussex on 19/06. Tricky shooting into the light but a very obliging bird. #ukbirding #patchbirding #hantsbirds

120 Years of Decay I put it to you that we have just experienced a dire spring, migration-wise. This highly subjective analysis is supported by no data wh...

Doom-mongering on a grand scale...
#UKBirding

Three Lesser Spotted Woodpecker chicks in their nest cavity in a dead Oak tree

Fantastic news 19 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nests found and being watched/monitored by our volunteers so far. Most have 4 chicks, well fed by the adults. Nests are so difficult to find & these are only a tiny proportion of the several thousand LSW pairs in Britain, but all very positive this year.

Hobby with legs extended about to catch a mayfly

Hobby catching mayfly taken whilst unsuccessfully looking for the Red-footed Falcon a couple of days ago. One of my favourite images from the OM1 so far #ukbirding

Class find! Showed really nicely mid afternoon.

Nice to find a Hudsonian Godwit at Titchfield Haven this morning.Awful light but top bird 👍

Annotated image showing moult limit in candidate 3cy Baltic Gull

Lengthy write up of the candidate 3cy Baltic Gull + other local finds in latest blog post. Lots of thoughts on moult and plenty of non-gull photos as well #ukbirding

tmbirding.blogspot.com/2025/05/two-...

Temminck's Stint standing by water's edge

Finally managed to salvage this abysmal spring - Temminck's Stint was a nice find at Northern Cross Valley Way this morning. Not a regular bird in the county, with the last record 2023 and prior to that 2018 #ukbirding

Male Common Redstart

Redstarts! After recording my earliest ever on the New Forest patch this year (23/03), the last couple of days have seen a significant arrival. Wonderful to have at least 16 singing males in the area this morning #ukbirding #patchbirding #hantsbirds

Point blank views of this Spotshank and Greenshank duo at Keyhaven on Monday @hosbirding.bsky.social #ukbirding #patchbirding #hantsbirds

Great post. I felt something similar - the reputation of the site creates expectation, and there's limited habitat to check, so it can get frustrating.

Still, it definitely has some magic moments, and you've got an enviable find list for the site! Stunning shots of the GWE too.

Members' Day 2025 - Hampshire Ornithological Society HOS Members’ Day 2025 will be held at St Swithun’s School, Winchester SO21 1HA, on Saturday March 29th. It includes the HOS AGM – details of which can be downloaded here. Admission is free for HOS mem...

Our AGM and Members' Day will be taking place this Saturday, 29 March, at St Swithun's School, Winchester. Great variety of talks including on Woodlarks, Roseate Tern breeding and an update on White-tailed Eagles. Free for members, £5 non-members. No need to pre-book
www.hos.org.uk/welcome-to-t...

Composite photo stack of Little Ringed Plover flying with its legs extended

Still pretty static migration-wise but this Little Ringed Plover over northeast was displaying some rather odd behaviour, flying around the floods with its legs extended in an almost petrel-like fashion - photo stack to show the sequence #ukbirding

Red Kite clutching a Long-tailed Tit

Red Kite pecking at a Long-tailed tit

Not the best pics, but surprised to see this Red Kite tucking into a Long-tailed Tit in the New Forest recently. Whether it was caught alive or as carrion I can't say #ukbirding #patchbirding

Cattle Egrets

Tufted Duck x Common Pochard hybrid

Some sunset Cattle Egrets and a Tufted Duck x Common Pochard hybrid at RSPB Otmoor on Tuesday #ukbirding #BirdHybrid

Eurasian Wigeon x Northern Pintail hybrid

A flight shot of the Eurasian Wigeon x Northern Pintail hybrid from a recent visit to Keyhaven, Hants #ukbirding #patchbirding #BirdHybrid

Latest Port Meadow blog update has now been posted with the first Sand Martins and LRP's now on the year list. There is still some good gulling with plenty of Caspians, YLGs and Med Gulls to be seen.
portmeadowbirding.blogspot.com
Photos courtesy of @tmbirding.bsky.social

Jack Snipe

Whilst Common Snipe have been plentiful on my New Forest patch this winter, Jack Snipe have proved tricky. Very pleased to finally get good views of them on the last couple of visits #ukbirding #patchbirding

Slavonian Grebe

Spoonbill

A lovely afternoon for a wander at Keyhaven - 87sp, the highlight being great views of this Slavonian grebe, which is starting to get its 'horns'. The Spoonbill was very confiding too! #ukbirding #patchbirding

Ah thanks for the correction Steve - I could only find records of it back to 2021, didn't look thoroughly enough!

Pintail x Wigeon

Pintail x Wigeon

This smart Pintail x Wigeon hybrid (Pingeon? Wigtail?) was showing well at Keyhaven today. Now present for its 4th winter. #ukbirding #patchbirding

Last week, 56,000 #btgodwits were counted in the rice fields of the #Tagus estuary, the highest concentration of the species in the EAF. In this rice field alone, 36K godwits were recorded by drone!

#LifeGodwitflyway