Mark Holling

8 Aug. Big sit coming up to high tide at Tyninghame. 6 Blackwits headed inland up the river. Good to see 11 juvenile Shelducks with 3 adults still. 17 Greenshanks, 14 Little Egrets. 840 Greylags is fewer than recent August counts (1020, c1700, c1250 in last 3 years).

26 July. Tyninghame. Up to 9 Roseate Terns with morning with 15 Common, 60+ Arctic and 100+ Sandwich Terns. Quite a variation in age/moult of the juv Roseates. Breeding species suffering from disturbance by walkers and dogs and no signs at all put up by East Lothian Council #BirdingLothian

Annual local House Martin nest count in SW North Berwick. Huge decline to 14 cf 31 last year and 53 in 2023. Most nests show sign of young already fledged - earlier than in previous years. Several half complete but apparently abandoned nests, new sites mainly on N and E facing walls. #BirdingLothian

Aberlady around high tide today. Huge numbers of Sand Martins around spit, resting on beach and in dunes. Min 800 but prob 1200+ as noted by @jpgnic.bsky.social recently. Also 3 Little Gulls & 8 Arctic Terns, 126 Sanderlings, 23 Dunlins, 6 Grey Plover etc. #BirdingLothian

Brilliant to see the singing Blyth’s Reed Warbler by the Tweed at Upsettlington this morning. Also 3 generations of the Bramhall family. Their youngest called 4 flying Whooper Swans, unusual for July. If you go, please keep to path - BRW is a potential rare breeder after all. #BirdingScotland #RBBP

Excellent work Dylan especially on a bike. Great fun.

Bonus on my @webs-gsmp.bsky.social count today. At the last site, near Redside (E Lothian) there was a Quail calling from this bean field. @birdinglothian.bsky.social

In almost 60 years of birding and after many failed attempts, I’ve finally seen a Purple Heron in Britain. At Burham, Kent. Conveniently I was heading to Kent (normally well out of my birding zone) for a couple of extra birding days after a week in Lesvos. Celebrations have been had 🍻 #UKBirding

Did my early @bbs-birds.bsky.social survey this morning; very pleased to see this male Marsh Harrier heading north over Seafield Pond as it was my first Lothian Marsh Harrier since 1989! Having enjoyed watching it, I was a bit late with camera hence blurry distant shot! @BirdingLothian

North Berwick Law this morning. No Ring Ouzels found but one Wheatear. @birdinglothian.bsky.social

I always look at the east side near the rowans rather than up the hill itself. Had 4 together in April 3 years ago. They are less disturbed there but equally have places to hide!

Out doing @webs-gsmp.bsky.social & checking local ponds on bike. First broods of Coot at Balgone (b6,b2). 38 Tufted on 5 ponds (25mm:13ff). Also (at 1345) frustrating views of an egret flying W south of Seacliff, looked big and toes seemed all dark (in good light), so suspect Great. @BirdingLothian

I’ve checked several days recently Calum but had no joy so far however last 2 days (and today) looked more promising but I was away or out elsewhere.

There is now a #BirdingLothian feed. Click on # symbol top right and search for 'Lothian' - then pin it to your feeds. All messages with "birdinglothian" will be picked up (#BirdingLothian, @birdinglothian.bsky.social in message or image tag). They'll be picked up by #BirdingScotland automatically.

Chilly day along the E Lothian coast with @philloscopus.bsky.social (thanks 4 photos). Namesake Shore Lark Barns Ness, Greenshank & Whimbrel Dunglass, Scandi Rock Pipit Dunbar where also 1st 2 Kittiwakes at colony. 3 Snow Buntings Gullane c/o @normmill.bsky.social #BirdingScotland #BirdingLothian

#btobirds WeBS counts today. At Balgone the Coot numbers are even higher, now 56, first time over 50 this winter. Also 3 Grey Herons already loafing at probable future nest sites in reedmace at North Berwick Law Marsh. #BirdingScotland #BirdingLothian #Ornithology

White-winged Scoter among Velvets this morning n Gullane Bay. Appears in the middle of the flock about half way through. #BirdingLothian #BirdingScotland

It was the annual SOC Lothian & Borders low tide rocky shore count today. I did my usual Seacliff to Scoughall section, took 4 hours. 28 spp, 654 birds plus some flybys including a GN Diver. Common Scoter flock c200 birds. Grey Seal pup on St Baldred’s Boat (photo) #BirdingLothian #BirdingScotland

Out of Scotland for the Northumberland American Buff-bellied Pipit at Ross. Bit of a hike but a hell of a cracker. Shared with Phil Dean, Fifer Malc Ware & Airdrie (?) Stevie, lifers for us all 🍻✔️ #UKbirding

Worrying decline in the number of Bar-tailed Godwits using Musselburgh lagoons to roost (and probably also the Esk mouth to feed) in 2024 despite the new lagoons. Oystercatchers are showing a similar decline. Feeding? Disturbance? Wider decline? Roost? #birdinglothian #birdingscotland

Decent calm conditions in the Forth. Good count of Long-tailed Ducks (120) also 2 Red-necked & 19 Slavonian Grebes off Ferny Ness. 173 Shelduck in Aberlady Bay also notable. #BirdingLothian #BirdingScotland

BTO WinGS gull roost count this evening at Fidra/Lamb/Eel Burn coast, East Lothian with Phil Bysh. Less than half numbers of Herring Gull than in Sept count at 1395. 29 GBBs also on islands. 69 BH & 1 Med Gull on sea. #BirdingLothian #BirdingScotland @btobirds.bsky.social

Local bike-birding day, 30km round trip to south and east of North Berwick. 59 spp including 300+ Linnets (etc.) in this hedge. Sad to see 5 orphaned juvenile Whoopers at Lochhouses where 1 dead adult under wires (apparently other parent also killed recently). #BirdingLothian #BirdingScotland

Happy New Year from all of us at Fair Isle Bird Observatory Trust. We’re optimistically looking forward to the start of a new era for the Obs and maybe one or two of the birds in this montage (!). Please join ‘Friends of Fair Isle’ to hear when we will be taking our first bookings at the new Obs.

Monthly #WeBS today. Big clear out perhaps after short cold snap in late Nov. No Tufted or Little Grebe. Only 86 birds (7 spp) across 3 sites, over half of which Coot (45, similar to last month, at Balgone, pic). Moorhen numbers back to normal (15). #BirdingScotland #BirdingLothian

Rare twitch for a rare bird. The Grey-headed Lapwing at East Chevington, Northumberland, 14 December. Lifer for me and Phil Bysh. #ukbirding

European Wild Bird Indices, 2024 update | PECBMS The Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme (PECBMS) presents a set of updated European Wild Bird Indices (indicators) covering 1980–2023. The outputs, based on data for 168 wild bird species, come...

Great to see new wild bird indicators for Europe published today pecbms.info/european-wil... as well as individual trends for 170 bird species pecbms.info/trends-of-wi.... Produced from volunteer-collected data from 30 countries - congrats to the PECBMS team #ornithology #conservationscience🌍

Some of the 128 Taiga Bean Geese near Jawcraig (Slamannan plateau) yesterday #BirdingScotland

Thanks for video tip. These pesky icons., obvious when you look! Here’s a short video of some busy Feral Pigeons in Peterborough.

Away in foreign East Anglian lands. So caught up on some birds I don’t normally see: Bewick’s Swan, Crane, Cattle Egret, Shore Lark (might see 1 at home but there were 8). Not great conditions even for my rubbish photos but here’s some dark-bellied Brents (pity we can’t do video here). #ukbirding