Nick Moran

Best day so far this autumn for me. Lovely wander around Holkham & Overy with @sconebirding.bsky.social busy skies with 300+ Redwing, 40+ Brambling, 2500+ Starlings, 1-2s Fieldfare, Siskin, 20+ Blackbirds, flushed a SE Owl, Peregrine & 2 Yellow-browed Warblers.

Went to see the stunning Turkestan Shrike today with @sconebirding.bsky.social, seeing it catch beetles, tipulids and even a hawker dragonfly. Also lots of singing Dartford Warblers, a Woodlark and 24 Crossbills. But no joy with the Zitting Cisticolas so couldn't pull off a two-tick day #UKBirding

Thank you so much @btobirds.bsky.social for another BRILLIANT Bird Sound ID course! My grandson (Indy) and I went to a spot on the River Fowey to see if we could hear any of the warblers. We heard loads of Willow Warblers... and we think/hope the last bird in this clip is a Garden Warbler? #birds

Very many thanks for the lovely feedback, Brigit, and congrats for identifying (and sound-recording) a Garden Warbler straight away! 👏

Currently into my 4th pair of Aigle wellies, having ditched over-priced, underperforming Muck Boots in 2015. I'm getting 2000–2500 miles per pair, with a bit of help from McNett Aquasure after 1.5–2 yrs of daily use (including a fair bit of autumn saltmarsh/bramble action). [2/2]
#birding

Things like 'How to configure Audacity for nocmig' (or indeed, *any* bird sound recording) don't change that fast. And the things that do (e.g., equipment options) change *way* too fast for dinosaurs/part-timers like me to keep up with (and it comes down to personal preference, too) 😆

Largely cos when I tried to set up a feed for Norfolk birding, my head nearly exploded.

If you *just* want your feet to stay dry. Or warm. Or comfy. Or secure on most wet surfaces. Or bramble-/gorse-/barbed wire-proof, there's lots of choice. However, if you want most/all of those: Aigle Parcours. 4.5mm neoprene-lined for lower-paced birding, unlined ones for yompers like me! [1/2]

nocmig Recording nocturnal bird migration

Bit 'old skool', I know, but... nocmig.com

Pick your own superlative for this morning's first-calendar-year Caspian Gull at @btobirds.bsky.social #NunneryLakes reserve this morning. 😄
#birding #ukbirding #norfolkbirding

I know you'll have been on tenterhooks all night, so just to let you know that today's score is a very respectable 57 in 57! I was lagging behind after 52 mins before a sudden flurry of fly-over Kestrel, Mistle Thrush, Yellowhammer, Linnet and Reed Bunting! 😁

Ah... you might have to work in 5-minute blocks if playing this game, Julian! 🤔

Raven is still noteworthy here, and there's been a drop in sightings this year – hope our neighbouring estate (not known for a love of corvids!) hasn't cottoned on to them 🤞

You do, however, have the added motivation of the 'far-flung island that's half the distance from Norway as it is from London' factor! 😆

Any tips to help focus your concentration in the field? I have a standard game: How long can I keep the species total on my #BirdTrack list at/above my total minutes #birding? Today, I started at 06:50 and ran aground at 43 spp/07:33. Need something for beyond that!

Admittedly, it might just be me.

Who was first to document The Robocop (Canon micropensis)? Gyr Crakes published this on YouTube 14 years ago 🕵‍♂️

Scots Pines reflected in shallow pool, against a bright blue sky

Map of the Nunnery Lakes reserve in Thetford, with orange lines showing routes walked in September 2024

Line graph of bird species recorded at the Nunnery Lakes, Norfolk in September 2024

It may not be a coastal migrant-magnet, but I'm lucky that I can walk my patch from home. 15 #BirdTrack lists so far in Sept: Green Sandpiper every time, 3 Whinchat, Swift 13/9, Marsh Harrier, Woodlark, 13 Kingfisher recs, 2 each of Great White Egret & Hobby. #lowcarbonbirding #NunneryLakes #birding

A touch of frost in the Brecks, for the third consecutive day. ❄️

Apparently, 'kleptoparasitism' doesn't qualify as a word with multiple letter t's and containing p, o, l.
I'm not angry – just disappointed. @levparikian.bsky.social

Do you ever get that sense of dowitchà vu?

Yes please, Daryll

Of course, nobody should be *expecting* to see a Red-flanked Bluetail in the UK in the first week of September – of the 37 September reports of bluetails on BirdGuides, all but one are in the 3rd or 4th week of the month, the outlier being Kilminning, Fife on 10/9/2022.

On the plus side, it helped keep me focused in my last couple of hours on Scolt on Saturday, as I walked back along the Wheatear-strewn beach...

Willow Warbler on bramble

Male Wheatear on Hawthorn

Redstart on a fence post

Spotted Flycatcher on bramble

Uplifting to be surrounded by common migrants yesterday!
For the record, not *all* birds face left on Scolt Head.
#birding #norfolkbirding

Bar chart showing bird species totals by day at BTO Nunnery Lakes, September 2024 compared to September 2023.

1 Whinchat – not to be sniffed at, these days. Also what Neil and I would've had no hesitation logging as a Fieldfare, had it been a month later. Only seen going away, and didn't call. Decent diversity for early September, too: 67 species (8 more than I managed during 11 hours on Scolt yesterday!).

Sunrise over wetland at Nunnerh Lakes reserve, Norfolk

Surely *one* of the migrant birds that arrived in East Anglia over the last 72 hours will have been dropped into the #NunneryLakes by the pre-dawn rain?! 🙏 Pretty sure the 6 Green Sandpipers were already here...
#birding

Aw thank you, Ruth! Yes: the structure screams 'wrong-for-anything', and trying to W–H–B–L it quickly confirms that conclusion! That said, there are a few real gulls that look nearly as made up: Swallow-tailed and Pacific spring to mind!

AI-generated gull on a rock

⚠️ Warning @daily-mail.bsky.social & anyone buying Shutterstock bird pics: many 📷 by Tahseenamjad are AI-generated! This is NOT Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus), but rather Big Fictional Gull (L. madeupensis). Shame; the other images in this piece are right: www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...

Gert, I think the female Sparrowhawk is a female Kestrel. Structurally, wings are rather narrow-based, tail is rounded-tipped even when closed, and has 4(+) narrow dark bands, then a broader dark terminal band (marked on cropped version). Freeze-frame from our @btobirds.bsky.social Raptor ID course.

Image of a Mallard with outstretched wings alongside the wording: BTO Warbird ID Course. Tuesdays at 7pm and Wednesdays at 10am or 7pm on set dates in September. Improve your identification of ducks, geese, swans and other waterbirds on this two-part online course. Find out more and book www.bto.org/training

Are you a bewildered by wildfowl? 🦆 Unsure about Shoveler? Scuppered by Scaup?
Our online Waterbird ID course, run by our expert team, could be just the thing for you! Discover dates and book a place ➡️ www.bto.org/training #Ornithology #BirdID

Screenshot of Met Office app, showing 10% chance of rain

Meadow in heavy rain

How accurate do I find the forecast? Let's just say I wish I'd ignored it and worn a raincoat...
#birding...