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WanderingBirder.bsky.social

@wanderingbirder.bsky.social

Birds, mammals. Surveyor, ecologist, consultant, lapsed ringer, former wanderer... now somerset based with occasional adventures elsewhere. Photo is with Chatham Robin, NZ

214 Followers  |  140 Following  |  43 Posts  |  Joined: 05.02.2024
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Posts by WanderingBirder.bsky.social (@wanderingbirder.bsky.social)

Two 1w Little Gulls with at least 40 Kittiwake off of Burnham on Sea this morning. The Kentish Plover distantly on the island on the falling tide #Somersetbirding

23.11.2025 10:40 — 👍 11    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

If an eclipse drake then it would be an adult (rather than 1cy).

13.11.2025 18:20 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

They are cormorants. Tail shape a give-away, among other things. There are some juveniles in the flock with pale neck and breast, which glossy Ibis never shows

18.10.2025 08:14 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Looks like a Bobwhite - a species of partridge from North America. It will be an escape from a collection nearby.

23.09.2025 18:03 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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Buff-breasted blob still at CVL this morning in the usual spot. Wood Sand, two Greenshank and Glossy Ibis in Villice bay. Two Glossy Ibis in Heron Green Bay #Avonbirds

04.09.2025 06:22 — 👍 7    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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Impressive numbers of small waders roosting at Wall Common today, with >1100 Ringed Plover and >500 Dunlin. Curlew Sand, Little Stint and a few Knot and Sanderling among them. On the land a few Wheatear (photo) and a Whinchat. Perhaps my last Swift of the year passed west overhead #somersetbirding

24.08.2025 20:33 — 👍 13    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Buntings | cr-birding

This is a Cirl Bunting and it has a coded ring on its right leg - you can report the details to the contact here and hopefully find out something about it's history: cr-birding.org/node/7187

24.08.2025 17:00 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

The Spoonbill last week had a green alpha-numeric on the left tibia. Is it the same bird and was it too far to read?

23.08.2025 20:07 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

They are Cat C (or equivalent) in some other European countries, so a candidate for C5 here if birds from those populations were to occur. However, I have no idea who/how it is decided which birds are being reported

15.08.2025 12:53 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

It's a juvenile whitethroat. The gingery wings and white sides to the tail (among other features) rule out garden warbler. I can't hear a contact call on the video but Merlin has it's limitations, especially with calls

12.08.2025 20:45 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

A few returning waders on the rising tide at Stert point this morning. 6 Knot, 7 Whimbrel, Sanderling and Bar-tailed godwit. Vis mig Yellow wag and Mippit #somersetbirding

27.07.2025 16:38 — 👍 6    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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The glow of Glastonbury festival clearly visible 14 miles away from RSPB Greylake last night. A few hundred sand martins at dusk and a few snipe chipping in the darkness #somersetbirding

26.06.2025 07:07 — 👍 15    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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A Desert Wheatear... on a playing field near Bristol... in June #rarebirdsUK

15.06.2025 20:56 — 👍 37    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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4th June The Turtle Dove lingered on at Sweethill where a Spot Fly was new today. Sea ticked over all day incl 7 Balearics and singles of GNDiver, So...

www.portlandbirdobs.com/2025/06/4th-...

05.06.2025 12:23 — 👍 4    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Your photo looks like a reed warbler to me. Long undertail coverts, relatively short primary projection, yellowish legs/feet, overall rufous plumage tones, broad brownish supercilium infront of the eye, bill colour, etc. all better suit reed warbler

05.06.2025 05:59 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

#birdingscotland #rarebirdsuk

02.06.2025 19:20 — 👍 18    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

#somersetbirding

18.05.2025 08:58 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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An unexpected garden tick and Somerset tick this morning in the form of a Turtle Dove!

14.05.2025 06:30 — 👍 26    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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Another birding paper! 🐦 Where do the Nearctic landbirds that show up in Europe each autumn come from? We usually assume they come from NE populations, pushed off course by bad weather - but is that the whole story? #ornithology 1/3

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

05.05.2025 09:22 — 👍 71    🔁 23    💬 2    📌 0
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1st summer Purple Heron showed well at Meare Heath early evening. Seen to pluck a Four-spotted Chaser from a stem and ate it before it dropped to the reed edge and started fishing. #somersetbirding

03.05.2025 20:55 — 👍 52    🔁 4    💬 0    📌 0
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Light overhead passage at Stolford this morning, with 321 Wood pigeon east, plus 101 Meadow Pipit, 18 alba Wagtail, 29 LBBG, and single figures of a few others. My first swallow of the year powered through. #somersetbirding

22.03.2025 08:03 — 👍 9    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

I see birds like this every now and again, and there was one at Greylake earlier in the winter. With no other AW characters, I always assumed they are the extreme end of Wigeon variation

17.02.2025 09:25 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

This looks like the same bird @bemptonbirder.bsky.social and I saw last week, and we also pressumed a hybrid. Some of Wills photos here: ebird.org/checklist/S2...

25.11.2024 14:49 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

As with anything AI/automated, you just need to recognise the limitations and check anything that doesn't look right.
Where did you get it from Si? The Birdweather website doesn't seem to offer UK delivery

09.11.2024 09:09 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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Alpine Accentor - eBird Stocky, stout, and unobtrusive bird of alpine regions above the treeline. Often seen shuffling around boulders in small groups. Distinctive dark wing panel bordered by pale spots forming two wingbars, particularly obvious in flight. Barred throat can be difficult to see but chestnut flanks with white streaks distinctive. Flight is strong and fast before diving behind rocks.

As well as for the highbrow and thought provoking content, I follow this account as I like to see how many of ye olde birds I can identify. This was an easy one... ebird.org/species/alpa...

02.11.2024 08:43 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Most mornings I stand in my garden with a coffee and count all the birds. In the autumn I am often treated to some light vis mig, which today included a full fat house tick in two Hawfinches south! Also my first Fieldfare of the autumn, a modest passage of redwing, and a brambling #ukbirding

30.10.2024 08:34 — 👍 13    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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My last Daurian-type Shrike was in Cambridgeshire in 2000, so this afternoon we took a short hop over the boundary to see the showy bird near Gillingham #rarebirdsuk #dorsetbirds

20.10.2024 20:17 — 👍 20    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
x.com

I guess I misinterpreted the image as clearly a 1cy in other pictures - the contrasts particularly evident in this one on Twitter. Every day's a school day. Thanks both
x.com/kris_gibb/st...

12.09.2024 18:38 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Fair enough. Is it usual for the GCs to wear and fade so much quicker than the flight feathers? The difference just seems so stark

12.09.2024 18:06 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 2    📌 0

Snowy egret?!?

12.09.2024 17:01 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0