Great to see Stone Curlew at Spurn today #spurnbirds

I wouldn’t use any scope without support unless it had image stabilisation. They cost upwards of £2k

Opticron MM4 50 ED is the best out of those scopes. If you intend using it anywhere other than from a hide you’ll need a tripod or monopod.

OM System OM-1 ii and 300mm f4

Well chuffed to find this drake Blue-winged Teal with a group of Shovelers at Potteric Carr. The only previous record was in April 1998, which I dipped. #patchbirding #gripback

that's high praise from Donny's no1 😉

Spoonbills

Birds of the month so far at Potteric Carr

I've just upgraded from a Nikon P900 to the OM System OM-1 ii and 300mm lens on the recommendation of a few birders. Only used it once so far so still at the bottom of the learning curve, but I'm really impressed #birdinggear

Puts a whole new slant on feeding the birds 🤮

🤦🏻

🚀 Incredible movement alert!

Our @PulsarWild sponsored CTT-tagged Jack Snipe has just completed an astonishing journey reaching Belgium from Staffordshire in just 7 hours 9 minutes! 🇬🇧➡️🇧🇪

That’s an average speed of 30+ mph for one of our most elusive and secretive species. 🤯

Big movement of Whoopers overnight and this morning through the Doncaster area. Pity I'm stuck indoors, but recorded some over the house last night. Got a boy racer at the same time - typical! The joys of #nocmig 🙄

Belton area. Its on the Isle of Axholme Community Group FB page

I remember a talk by Andrew Grieve about Blacktoft Sands when he talked about the discovery of 100's of Common Scoters flying up the Humber heading inland. Since taking up #nocmig I still find it amazing when I get recordings of scoters over Doncaster in the dead of night

I've been hoping for a kittiwake to pass through Potteric Carr over the last couple of days. Sadly no kits yet but these 3 delightful Black-necked Grebes have been hanging around.

a sleeping male Common Scoter

Potteric Carr got in on the today's Common Scoter action when a fine drake was found. But probably the rarest bird I'll get this year was a Willow Tit. Its the first I've had in months and could well be the last 😔

Red Grouse

Whooper Swans

heather moors in the Peak District

A glorious day for a walk in the Peak District. Got a few birds I've not seen in long while, like Red Grouse and Dipper. A group of 18 Whoopers on Langsett Res was a nice surprise.

Sorry to hear that Clive Byers died yesterday. There'll be many who knew Clive a lot better than I did but I considered him a friend. Always fun, always helpful to a fellow illustrator and always happy to provide a floor to crash on.
A great guy I wish I'd known better.

Have a read of this review which compares them www.scopeviews.co.uk/Zeiss10x40SFL.htm

Jack Snipe at Potteric Carr. Found with the thermal imager. Phonescoped hence not getting it all in frame.

Bittern

Bittern

Bittern in a reedbed viewed through thermal imager

Great views of Bittern at Potteric Carr. First picked up in the reeds through the thermal and then it walked out into the open. #phonescoped

ELs are still made but close focus is downgraded to 3.3m. Swaro NL Pure are probably the best, followed by Zeiss SF and Leica Noctivid. You could downsize to x32 to lighten the load without losing much image quality.

What’s your budget?

#birdinggear

1st winter Mediterranean Gull with Black-headed Gulls

Adult winter Mediterranean Gull with Common Gulls

1st-winter Med Gull at Lakeside and adult Med Gull at Lound in the last few days of 2025. Quite pleased with the results, phonescoped with the little Kowa TSN-55A. Hoping for a proper white-winger in the next few weeks🙏

First #patchbirding twitch of the year for this juvenile glaucous gull at North Shields Fish Quay, which gave good views late this afternoon before heading off towards South Shields Pier. I didn't see one here last year, so it was great to see this one so early in 2026. #nebirding

Rohan Spark top before repair

Rohan Spark top after repair

Collar on Rohan Spark top repaired by Alpkit. Should get a few more years wear out of it now.

Its Isle of Axholme Community Group on FaceBook. Link should work if you have a FaceBook account

Post on FB by Paul Greaves yesterday www.facebook.com/share/g/1DNp...

Chirpity says MT 99%