Thanks - a long way from your patch. The reserve has matured well and it is an interesting local site to visit.

Tawny Owl
Essex, 21/04/2026
Taking a break in the box entrance. She seems to be an expert at taking #birds; catching another jackdaw (4th) last night, as well as a huge rat.

Grey wagtail
Hanningfield, Essex, 20/04/2026

Relatively quiet WeBS today but the supporting #birds included a new singing nightingale area, cetti's & garden warblers, yellow and grey wagtail, swift, swallow, house and sand martin

Tawny owl
Essex 16/04/2026
Due to the kids taking over the box, the female is spending as much time outside as the mobbing blackbirds and corvids allow. The feathers are jackdaws, she has caught three so far.

"Common" Nightingale
Hanningfield, 18/04/2026

Nightingale
Hanningfield, Essex. 17/04/2026
#birds

A few Kingfisher shots from SWT Worlingham marshes last week #ukbirding

The tawny owls are feeding and protecting 8 and 9 day old chicks. Stock doves and jackdaws have been inside the box while she has been sitting on the eggs and were chased out. This morning while resting in the entrance she had enough and a jackdaw became a midday meal for the thee of them. #birds

Dartford warbler

Wood lark

Male lesser spotted woodpecker

Goshawks sparring

A local reed bed and heath morning, followed by a visit to the Brecks, produced the #bird species that a visiting colleague was hoping to see. A sing off between three nightingales, that seem to have came in over-night, and a pair of drumming lesser spots were highlights.

Thousands disappointed after flocking to coast to see ultra-rare bird Thousands of bird enthusiasts flocked to Lowestoft on the Suffolk coast, hoping to see a rare bird called a great black-headed gull.

The irony of the Lowestoft Journal (once a decent paper wayyy back in the day) running a story about a mistakenly mis-id gull with gull pictures with the wrong names in the captions.... And 'thousands' didn't turn up. Nowhere near those numbers! #fakenews www.lowestoftjournal.co.uk/news/2596334...

Red-crested pochard
Hanningfield, Essex, 23/03/2026
A very still morning for today's WeBS count.

Incubating a clutch of three eggs laid on the 25 & 28/02 and 03/03. Only 2 of 4 fledged last time. If the brood period is the same the hatching should begin around the 25-27th. The male has been bringing a mix of short-tailed vole, wood mouse and brown rat each night. #birds #EssexOwls

Hume's warbler and Firecrest
Sparrows nest, Lowestoft, 06/03/2026

It was epic,Cheryl. And unexpected, as I only had a weeks notice that a space had become available. It is somewhere I have always wanted to go and was everything I had imagined. The people, the scenery and the wildlife.

Hi. Both are opportunistic hunters and carrion feeders, eating fish, ducks, geese, gulls... Very similar to coastal bald eagle.

Steller's sea eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus) versus
White-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla)
Pack ice off Rausu, Japan, 14/02/2026
Go #birds!

Steller's sea eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus) &
White-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla)
Taken from a boat in the pack ice off Rausu, Japan, 14/02/2026
Go #birds!

Steller's sea eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus) &
White-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla)
Taken from a boat in the pack ice off Rausu, Japan, 14/02/2026

A @bwntours.bsky.social tour of Japan led by Dave Farrow @mr-shortwing.bsky.social & Howard Vaughn
@howardvaughanbeb.bsky.social #birds

Red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis)
Tsurui-Ito Tancho Sanctuary, Japan, 13/02/2026
#birds

Red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis), Otowa Bridge, Tsurui-mura, Japan @ -18 degrees C

Red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis)

Tancho - Red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis). Tsurui-Ito Tancho Sanctuary, Japan

Tancho - Red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis). Tsurui-Ito Tancho Sanctuary, Japan

Red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis)
Tsurui-Ito Tancho Sanctuary, Japan, 13/02/2026
Taken on a @bwntours.bsky.social tour of Japan led by Dave Farrow @mr-shortwing.bsky.social & Howard Vaughn
@howardvaughanbeb.bsky.social

Sable

Brandt's Jay - Garrulus glandarius brandtii

Marsh Tit - Poecile palustris hensoni

Asian Rosy Finch in the fog

Day 11 - Winter in #Japan for @bwntours.bsky.social - 15th February 2026
blueeyedbirding.blogspot.com/2026/03/day-...
The final day on this extraordinary adventure. @mr-shortwing.bsky.social @chrisddarby.bsky.social @jimwillett.bsky.social #BirdsSeenIn2026

Blakiston's Fish Owl

Glaucous Winged Gull

Sika

Red Fox

Day 10 - Part 2: Winter in #Japan for @bwntours.bsky.social - 14th February 2026
blueeyedbirding.blogspot.com/2026/03/day-...
The Valentine's Day that kept on giving...
#BirdsSeenIn2026 @mr-shortwing.bsky.social @chrisddarby.bsky.social @jimwillett.bsky.social

White-tailed Eagle

Steller's taking out a White-tailed Eagle

White-tailed Eagle

Steller's Sea Eagle

Day 10 - Part 1: The Eagles: Winter in #Japan for @bwntours.bsky.social - 14th February 2026
blueeyedbirding.blogspot.com/2026/03/day-...

I am still lost for words...

#BirdsSeenIn2026 @mr-shortwing.bsky.social @chrisddarby.bsky.social @jimwillett.bsky.social

Japanese macaque
Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park, Japan, 06/02/2026
Behind the scenes.

Japanese macaque
Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park, Japan, 06/02/2026

Japanese waxwing
Honshu, Japan, February 2026
Dispersing mistletoe. #birds

Red-crowned cranes
Otowa Bridge, Tsurui-mura, Japan 13/02/2026
"It will be cold in the morning, but worth it!"
#birds

Red-crowned Cranes

White-backed Woodpecker

Pelagic Cormorants

Blakiston's Fish Owl mid fishing leap

Day 9 - Winter in #japan for @bwntours.bsky.social - 13th February 2026
blueeyedbirding.blogspot.com/2026/02/day-...
Dawn to dusk with Hokkaido's dancing Cranes and fish hunting Owls. @mr-shortwing.bsky.social @chrisddarby.bsky.social @jimwillett.bsky.social #BirdsSeenIn2026

Lesser White-fronted Goose and Crane duo

Japanese Skylark

Red-billed Starlings

Black-faced Spoonbill from Korea

Day 7 - Winter in #japan for @bwntours.bsky.social - 11th February 2026 blueeyedbirding.blogspot.com/2026/02/day-...
Cranes, Geese & rare Starlings on the fields of Arasaki & some crab-eating Gulls up the spectacular coast. @mr-shortwing.bsky.social @chrisddarby.bsky.social #BirdsSeenIn2026