Eurasian Wigeon in flight
Conservation project is using ringing and tracking to better understand how Eurasian Wigeons use landscapes around reservoirs for feeding, roosting and avoiding threats.
Read more: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...
🥇Subscriber Content
📸David Tipling
Ready to look for your next birding book? Take a peek at our Book Reviews in the latest journal from British Birds.
Features:
- Life Changing Cley & Salthouse Marshes
- The birds of Bedfordshire
- A Passion for birds
- The Peregrine Falcon
Read the reviews: britishbirds.co.uk/volume-119/i...
Ringing of migrants is a major part of our work and we rely heavily on drift migration. Hilbre Bird Obs receives funding from the British Birds Charitable Trust grants for purchasing materials to repair the Heligoland traps.
Read more: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...
📸Steve Williams
This month's main paper in British Birds:
Observations on the use of a solar park by Corn Buntings in southern England
Read more: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...
📸Thom Shannon
Latest news piece on the British Birds website:
RSPB issues new guidance for feeding garden birds
Read now: britishbirds.co.uk/news/rspb-is...
📸Ben Andrew (RSPB-Images)
News from the BBRC has been published following their AGM in January:
- Bonaparte’s Gull dropped as a BBRC rarity
- BBRC rarities; even when a specific id has not been proven e.g either/or records
Read the full report: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...
🥇Subscriber Content
📸Thomas Willoughby
Main paper inside the April British Birds Journal:
AviList, a unified global bird checklist: what it is and how it will help conservation
britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...
🥇Subscriber Content
🎨 Kirsty Yeomans
Discover Malham Tarn and Moor in this month's British Birds Journal
Over the years, 102 bird species have bred on Malham Moor, although in an average year around 70 do so. Change is constant.
Read more: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...
📸Patch Image by Denis Lord
📸Brambling by David Tipling
Numbers of Western Capercaillies Tetrao urogallus at RSPB Abernethy nature reserve have increased by 50% since 2020, offering cautious optimism for one of Scotland’s most threatened bird species.
📸capercaillie by Mark Rayment
Read more: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...
Open Access paper:
The value of tracking: the art of reading bird tracks and signs
For birds, these traces include their tracks, feathers, eggshells, nests, feeding signs, and scat or pellets.
📸 David Wege
Read the article: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...
Image using the British Birds logo and front cover of the British Birds Journal with a Red-rumped Swallow.
Spring has sprung!
The April issue of British Birds Journal has landed online, and has taken flight to your letterboxes.
In this month's issue:
📄The value of tracks and signs
📄Avilist
📄Corn Buntings on a solar park
& book reviews, News & Comment and much more!
6/6 We @jezierskimt.bsky.social now hope to compare cave vs building colonies. We hope that this will provide insights into the domestication (and conservation) of wild Rock Doves. Our pilot project was funded by: @btobirds.bsky.social @scottishbirding.bsky.social @britishbirds.bsky.social
Another job done in one of our heligoland traps @hilbrebirdobs.bsky.social thanks to a grant from @britishbirds.bsky.social charitable trust. Ramp on Newton replaced with new marine ply. Once the hail stops it’ll be given a protective coat of paint!
The Fillingham (Lincolnshire) Great Grey Shrike is still present this afternoon. Always a bit distant but great to see again before it leaves (BOC shot) #lincsbirding @lincsbirding.bsky.social @btoengland.bsky.social @britishbirds.bsky.social
Saw a rare bird and haven't yet submitted to the BBRC?
We still have outstanding records that do not yet have submissions including:
- Scops Owl, Gower
- Black-browed Albatross, Norfolk
And many others on the Missing Records List:
britishbirds.co.uk/rarities-com...
📷 David Carr
The RSPB has confirmed plans to reduce visitor infrastructure at Radipole Lake and Lodmoor nature reserves in Weymouth, Dorset, citing the need to prioritise limited resources for wildlife conservation.
Read more: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...
🥇Subscriber Content
A new bird-tracking project using the Motus Wildlife Tracking System has been launched through a partnership between the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club (SOC) and Tay Ringing Group.
Read more: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...
🥇Subscriber Content
📸 Rock Pipit by SOC
The Snowy Owl has been declared Regionally Extinct in Sweden, marking the first time in 20 years that the country has officially lost a bird species.
Read more: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...
📸David Tipling
🥇Subscriber Content
Eurasian Curlew has declined sharply across the UK and Ireland, driven primarily by sustained breeding failure rather than adult mortality. Ultimately, the future of the Curlew reflects wider choices about land use and biodiversity.
Read more: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...
📸 Beth Clyne
The magnitude of the sighting only hits home with full context – the species involved was European Robin – the first record for Canada. It is one of just a handful of records for the whole of North America.
📸 Louis Lemay.
This month's Free Access Editorial Team Choice: Canada Warbler in Pembrokeshire!
Magnolia Warbler at St Govan’s Head, Pembrokeshire, found by Toby Phelps was then added to with the discovery of Britain’s first Canada Warbler.
Read more:
📸 Canada Warbler by Graham Jepson
Keep an eye on all things British Birds!
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📸Little Owl by David Tipling
As a breeding species in the UK, the Black Redstart is well documented and has been monitored by the RBBP since its inception in 1973. As of 2023, the UK population is estimated at 85 breeding pairs (Eaton et al. 2025).
Read more: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...
📸 Carol Gill
End of 2023, a total of 3,084 North American landbirds of 94 taxa had been recorded in the Western Palearctic. The most frequent of these species include Red-eyed Vireo, American Pipit & Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Read more: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...
📸 Mike Durkalec
🥇Subscriber Content
Landing on your doorsteps - The British Birds journal’s March 2026 issue
Highlights:
• Eurasian Curlew conservation
• North American landbirds on boats
• Britain’s first ever Canada Warbler
britishbirds.co.uk/journal/volu...
Following the December 2025 paper on detecting& monitoring Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, we’re inviting your questions.
We’ll put them to the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker Network next weekend when they meet,&publish their answers soon
The paper: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...
Add your questions below
British Birds packing for the BTO conference 2026. Caption reads: See you there!
We’re excited to be at the @btobirds.bsky.social conference tomorrow and look forward to learning about all the great research underway and the upcoming monitoring work planned.
#BTOConference2026 #ornithology #research
BB eye: A birder’s guide to High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI)
A clear, timely overview of bird flu, outbreak history, and how we monitor its impacts on wild bird populations.
📰 Open access until the end of February!
🔗 britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...
📸 Common Crane, by David Tipling
CALLING ALL YOUNG BIRDERS!
The British Birds Charitable Trust awards grants to young birders to encourage them in their birding. Successful projects have included research, habitat conservation, ringing, and visiting an observatory.
Read more & apply: britishbirds.co.uk/grants/how-t...
