A nice bonus during my Mersey Gateway Environmental Trust CBC survey earlier today. The long-staying male Ruddy Shelduck gave me a lovely fly-by, in gorgeous morning sunshine.

Photography-wise there is really nothing to beat February sunshine in the UK. After so many miserable days, drained of colour, finally the light to make your images pop! Peregrine at Buckton Cliffs earlier today. @bucktonbirder.bsky.social @bemptonbirder.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social

As usual, we are going to have to shut the gate on this non-native species, but the cost will now be very steep, as the horse has long bolted!

Talon Contest Part 2: Clean-up Squad Far too many people have negative impressions of vultures. If you describe somebody as a ‘vulture’ you are definitely not paying them a compliment. They clearly need better publicity as they are serio...

I've just published Talon Contest Part 2. This time it features the Clean-Up Squad. Liberally illustrated with photographic images. I hope it enourages you to give due respect these unglamorous, but highly impressive members of the bird world. www.jeffclarkenature.com/post/talon-c...

Talon Contest: Part 1. Eagles In a diverse and fully-functioning ecosystem like Kruger National Park there are numerous ecological niches into which otherwise seemingly similar species can fit and thereby avoid continual direct co...

If you like raptors then my latest, highly illustrated, blog should satisfy that interest. It covers many of the Eagle species found in Kruger National Park. Let me know if you enjoy it and please feel free to share to others you know love raptors. www.jeffclarkenature.com/post/talon-c...

Mid-winter isn't renowned as the time to visit UK seabird cities, but the Buckton & @rspbbemptoncliffs.bsky.social are defying that logic for one species at the moment. Northern Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis seems more abundant than in the summer months in recent days @bemptonbirder.bsky.social Curious!

A Crown of Kingfishers The Greeks considered Kingfishers to be born of the sea, hence the name Halcyon which translates as hals = sea and kyon = born. The mythology surrounding them has it that they could calm the sea durin...

A blog about one of my favourite bird families and a series of recent encounters.
www.jeffclarkenature.com/post/a-crown...
I hope you enjoy the article and the pictures.

A hippo

Oxpeckers, in this case a Yellow-billed Oxpecker, are not necessarily the benign friends of herbivores, injury sites reveal their vampiric inclinations.

I photographed this Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola, at Sunset Dam, Kruger NP last week. It is a long-distance migrant to northern Europe. Relatively common at inland wetlands in SA. Nearest ringing/banding record from Europe is Mozambique @btobirds.bsky.social . Same bird same spot 2yrs ago? Probs.

Dancers in the Dark Sometimes I look at a field guide and a creature leaps off the page and explodes inside my imagination. The first time I saw an illustration of a Pennant-winged Nightjar Caprimulgus vexillarius it ble...

Here's a blog about one of my best-ever birding adventures. When the experience is even better than you imagind it would be. www.jeffclarkenature.com/post/dancers... @krugernationalparc.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social @hesitantweasel.bsky.social

Finally, after many misses, caught up with Greater Painted Snipe in @krugernationalparc.bsky.social last week. This female was in a creek near Letaba. The beauty of a self-drive Safari is getting opportunities like this.

That moment when you find a semi rarity on a commercial bird survey and you have no knowledge of the BTO code. 🤣 Turns out Little Bunting does have a 2-letter code. FYI it's LJ. The alt 5-letter code is LITBU @btobirds.bsky.social @hesitantweasel.bsky.social @bucktonbirder.bsky.social

Nature is never static, declines and increases are a constant. Great to see the revival of Eurasian Teal numbers wintering on the upper Mersey Estuary has continued. Nearly 1000 birds on today's Low Tide Count. @hesitantweasel.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social @btobirds.bsky.social @haltonbc.bsky.social

I've just payed in a further £80.01 to @birdlifemarine.bsky.social towards #savingseabirdsglobally following donations at my recent talks. Every penny makes a difference. @rspb.bsky.social

Scarcely believable but a truly damning illustration of the vested interests controlling Parliament. Baroness Young should explain herself to RSPB members!

Peregrine Falcon giving me a look of contempt, as it whipped along the cliffs at Buckton heading toward Jubilee Corner, earlier this morning. @rspbbemptoncliffs.bsky.social

Our local Eurasian (Common) Kestrels Falco tinnunculus seem to have had a successful breeding season in the @rspbbemptoncliffs.bsky.social and Buckton area. A scan from a good vantage point often reveals 6, or more, in the air at any one time. @bucktonbirder.bsky.social @bemptonbirder.bsky.social

Despite lots of suitable habitat, it's taken a surprisingly long time for me to add Common Stonechat to my Buckton patch list. @bucktonbirder.bsky.social @rspbbemptoncliffs.bsky.social

Also an Osprey south through Buckton pond 09:25

Attrition It’s September as I type these words. The hedgerows are resplendent with berries, awaiting the fall of migrant thrushes from continental Europe, the cereal crops have all been harvested and the fields...

A new blog featuring the perilous lives of the young raptors found along the coastal fields and cliffs of Flamborough Head. www.jeffclarkenature.com/post/attrition @flamboroughbird.bsky.social @bucktonbirder.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social @rspbbemptoncliffs.bsky.social @bemptonbirder.bsky.social

The bushes of Buckton and Bempton are still hosting plenty of these beautiful little bandits (Lesser Whitethroats Curruca curruca), feasting on the elderberries to fuel their migrations. @bucktonbirder.bsky.social @rspbbemptoncliffs.bsky.social Photo from this morning along Hoddy Cows Lane.

I get sick of hearing people, who should know better, indulge in in RSPB bashing. Get over yourselves! No organisation is perfect but the RSPB, in my lifetime, has done more than any other body in the UK to protect our wildlife. @rspb.bsky.social Thank you! Here's a Marsh Harrier to celebrate you.

By now (31st July) most UK breeding warblers have started their migratory return to favoured wintering grounds. This Common Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) at Buckton seems to have elected to cram in an extra brood. Still feeding the fledglings today. @flamboroughbird.bsky.social

I spent an enjoyable half-hour playing peek-a-boo with the Lesser Whitethroats along Hoddy Cows Lane yesterday evening. @bucktonbirder.bsky.social @flamboroughbird.bsky.social @btobirds.bsky.social @rspbbemptoncliffs.bsky.social @hesitantweasel.bsky.social

Has anyone else every seen the curlew tribe 'anting'?

In Iceland I watched this Eurasian Whimbrel pick ants off the plants & place them deliberately on different part of its plumage. @btobirds.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social @aba.org @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social @birdsnewzealand.bsky.social

Rolling in the Deep As a cruise ship wildlife speaker and as a member of the Ocean Wildlife Encounters (OWE) team, I get to visit some pretty remote and exotic parts of our blue planet. As the song goes "Far have I trave...

Sowerby's Beaked Whale is an infrequently observed cetacean. Here's my blog about a recent fantastic encounter in the Iceland Basin www.jeffclarkenature.com/post/rolling... With plenty of instructive and thought-provoking images. @whalesorg.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social

Celebrating #WorldOceansDay on the East Yorkshire coast at @rspbbemptoncliffs.bsky.social and Buckton. Taken this morning at this sensational seabird city.

Top shot. Fab.

My local Peregrine tiercel was on a favoured perch calling to his partner early this morning. It's usually the falcon I see perched there so it made a change.