Best I could get of the Chiffchaff singing (because it won’t let me add photos and videos in the same post)

Five months without a British tick, then two come along in the same day. Iberian Chiffchaff and Marsh Sandpiper both showing very well eventually in (current and former) County Durham today. #RareBirdsUK #NEBirding

Three of the 22 Cranes flying over Ladyburn Lake

Redhead Smew flanked by male and female Tufted Ducks

Two Barnacle Geese at Hauxley along with about 20 White-fronts and up to five Tundra Bean in a large Pink-foot flock. Year ticked Egyptian at Amble Braid later too.

Scaup on Ladyburn Lake, missed this morning but a second visit was more successful

An excellent day around a small area of Northumberland today. Seven goose species including a few Tundra Bean (my 200th species for the county), 22 Cranes over while watching a Smew, plus Red-necked Grebe and Scaup in the afternoon the main highlights. #NEBirding

Photo down the footpath I’d never tried before last weekend, leading into the woods with big open fields to the left.

A distant lake swarming with Mallards plus the odd Coot, Moorhen and Cormorant - very interesting discovery on a patch with minimal open water.

Fairly late to #FootIt so only got to 45 species, but found plenty of intriguing habitat to check out in my local area (just east of Leeds).
Best find by far was only my second-ever Marsh Tit for West Yorkshire.
@footit.bsky.social

Whimbrel with a pair of Teal

Cattle Egret with Highland cattle

Great White Egret feeding

Little Egret

Had an hour at Fairburn Ings this afternoon, with the definite highlight being a Whimbrel that circled over Spoonbill Flash calling before landing for a couple of minutes, my first for the site. Good views of all three egret species too, as can often be expected there these days. #UKBirding 🪶

White-tailed Eagle overhead, Tisvildeleje. One of a pair that flew right over our heads then displayed over the forest behind.

Bank Vole, Hillerød (Teglgårdssøen)

Herring Gull, Hillerød (Badstuedam). It had developed the very successful crayfish-catching strategy of plunge-diving into the lake like a tern.

Bizarrely pale Common Buzzard, one of a pair of similar birds in the forest behind my hotel in Helsinge.

Back from a few days ‘non-birding’ holiday in North Zealand 🇩🇰, so obviously had to go find all the wildlife I could find locally. Highlights were probably two White-tailed Eagle (thanks to fortunately stumbling upon local birder Mathias), three Hawfinch and a Camberwell Beauty.

Alpine Chough perched on a roof, Piancavallo

Greater Flamingo flock behind two Common Shelduck, north end of the Venetian Lagoon east of Mestre

Black-necked Grebe (winter plumage) swimming in a canal in Venice

Pygmy Cormorant off Murano, Venice

Finishing up a week’s New Year holiday in the Dolomites and a couple of days in Venice - the latter much more birdy - with a few highlights: 🪶

TIL the new model have a Beluga face added to the design and I absolutely love it.

Blurry picture of some branches with berries and an extremely out-of-focus little yellow blob that you’ll just have to take my word on.

Taiga Bean Goose swimming in front of a Canada Goose surrounded by gulls

Very lucky brief view of the Scarlet Tanager yesterday morning with the worst record shot you’ve ever seen. Then a Taiga Bean Goose at Hay-a-Park this afternoon. Perhaps the oddest pair of midweek local(ish) birds I could have imagined. #UKBirding #YorkshireBirding

Sycamore Gap

White-winged Scoter (right-hand bird) with two Velvet Scoter, all drakes, off Bamburgh

Moon over the sea at Hauxley

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) from Amble Links

Hadrian’s Wall. White-winged Scoter. Comet. That was quite the day.

Red-breasted Flycatcher on a branch

This Red-breasted Flycatcher eventually showed well by the Spurn Discovery Centre this afternoon (and my timeline was looking a bit too blank). Three YBWs the other main highlight.