An excellent opportunity for 14 young birders to visit Lundy, boat and board included -- lundybirdobs.org.uk/news-and-sig...

Additional funding for young people to get out to a bird obs, through the BTO here -- www.bto.org/our-work/you...

Tree Pipit and Redstart new for year this morning. Female Firecrest caught and ringed in new arrival of Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler yesterday evening.

At Bull Point, three reeling Grasshopper Warblers at dawn this morning, plus good numbers of grounded Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Blackcap feeding in flowering blackthorn scrub. Single flyover Tree Pipit, Redpoll & Curlew. Continued strong passage NW of Linnet & Goldfinch #devonbirds #ukbirding

At a blustery Morte Point this a.m. an odd mix of seabirds displaced on the southern edge of Storm Dave, incl 65 Kittiwake & 35 Manx Shearwater, heading back W, and 130 Swallow & 204 Linnet piling N as skies cleared and winds dropped. Also 11 Turnstone, 11 House Martin & 3 R-t Diver. #ukbirding

Yesterday saw a flurry of new migrants including 2 Black Redstart, a few Sand Martins and a couple of new Siskin. A ringing session in Millcombe today saw the 1st Willow Warbler ringed/of year, 3 Chiffchaff and 3 Blackcap ringed. Where are the Chiffchaffs???

Bull Point this morning: modest movements of finches, Meadow Pipits & Pied/alba wagtails. Highlights: 1 Swallow W at 07:30, 2 Sand Martin, 5 Common Scoter W. Grounded migrants = 16 Chiffchaff, 2 Willow Warbler, 2 Blackcap, 8 Wheatear, 13 Stonechat. Also 7 Peacocks & 1 Comma #devonbirds #ukbirding

Looking east from Bull Point just before sunrise

Classic spring Wheatear sitting on the very edge of the headland facing out north out to sea

Bull Point: busiest morning of spring passage so far, with 3 Sandwich Tern W, 18 Sand Martin, 11 Chiffchaff and a Wheatear. Plus migrating finches (incl 44 Goldfinch & 62 Linnet), wagtails (15 Pied & 11 unidentified albas) and small numbers of Woodpigeons. Mostly before 08:00. #devonbirds #ukbirding

Bull Point calm but heavily overcast & chilly this morning. A few migrants on the move, incl 3 Sand Martin, 4 Skylark, 9 Pied Wagtail, 3 unid’d alba wag, 1 Grey Wag, 46 Meadow Pipit, 23 Linnet & 4 Goldfinch. Noticeable influx of 6+ Chiffchaff. #UKbirding #devonbirds

You bet! First PPE we reached for. Too many stories of where things didn’t work out so well on that front…

This was a first “in all my years etc…” 🤣 Spoon feeding – or at least spoon watering – a Tawny Owl!

But… it was clearly fit enough to have escaped its confinement before dusk! I let it be and opened the shed door and windows. It flew strongly, sat in the hedge for a few minutes – much to the consternation of nearby Blue Tits – then off it went into the wood. So a successful ending.

Heard a strange noise coming from our chimney flue this morning. After a challenging extraction, with crucial help from Matt, our local sweep, we managed to free this adult Tawny Owl. We checked it over, made sure it drank some water, and kept it in a box for dusk release this evening. #ukbirding

The Curlew was released on the Cranbourne Estate, Dorset on 27/07/2025 and was in that area the day before I saw it at Bull Pt. From North Devon, it crossed the Bristol Channel to Kenfig National Nature Reserve, then moving further north within Swansea Bay. Info courtesy of @gwct.org.uk

Sunrise at Bull Point was accompanied by singing Chiffchaffs and followed a bit later by the first Sand Martin of the year – my earliest site record. 14 alba wagtails & a Grey Wagtail overhead, c100 staging Meadow Pipits feeding. #devonbirds #ukbirding

Brilliant! Where in The Gambia was 8R3 seen?

Also during my spring-like, SUNNY, patch visit: single Woodcock & Firecrest, and three Red-throated Divers offshore. Frog tadpoles already in newly created ponds, and 'pussy willows' just breaking bud. Plus @lundybirds.bsky.social clear as a bell on the western horizon! #UKbirding #devonbirds

At Bull Point today a Curlew (very unusal in Feb) flew in calling and *landed* (exceptional) revealing a GPS-tag, leg-flag and colour-rings! The bulge of the GPS tag shows up in the flight pic. Evidently a @curlewrecovery.bsky.social 'head started' bird; awaiting info on release site/date #UKbirding

Thrilled that last weekend’s @birdobscouncil.bsky.social AGM at @btobirds.bsky.social HQ in Thetford confirmed @lundybirds.bsky.social has successfully completed its 3-year probationary period and is once again a fully accredited member of the British & Irish Bird Observatory network 🥳 #ukbirding

A mild, drizzly and windy day, with strong southerly gusts, tempted a Mistle Thrush into tentative song in the valley at home for the first time this year 😊 #ukbirding

At Bull Point this morning, 2 Red-throated Diver feeding close inshore, 4 male Common Scoter flying W quite far out, and a Little Egret doing its best Cattle Egret impression, feeding among the Belted Galloway conservation grazers – white speck in the foreground😁 #ukbirding #devonbirds

New Year's Day patch birding at Bull Point yielded three Fulmar and single Gannet, Snipe, Sparrowhawk, Raven & Goldcrest among other species – very much a "winter on an exposed, blustery headland" feel to my notebook! Great to see new small-scale wetland creation by @nationaltrust.org.uk #ukbirding

Highlight of a sunny New Year’s Eve walk on the Exmoor coast near Trentishoe was a wintering Ring Ouzel feeding on hawthorn berries at the head of this sheltered combe #ukbirding #devonbirds

Five late(ish) Swifts heading ESE were the highlight of a couple of hours’ birding at Bull Point this morning, following an ethereal sunrise. #ukbirding

Reconnecting with my Bull Point birding patch after a spring & summer surveying elsewhere… This a.m: 1 Common Scoter, 4 Sandwich Tern, 430 Manx Shearwater, 20 Swallow, 9 Willow Warbler, 10 Whitethroat. #UKbirding

Homepage blog for @lundybirds.bsky.social updated with an account and photos of the dark-morph Booted Eagle that graced the island earlier this week, together with Golden Oriole & Woodchat Shrike, here: www.lundybirdobs.org.uk #UKBirding

The best sighting of the day was not a bird but this pristine male Orange Tip butterfly, still drying itself out in the sun after emerging in the garden at home. What extraordinary beauty in those transluscent hindwings! 🤩 💚

Bull Point quiet for late April. 35 Swallow, 9 Sand & 3 House Martin a poor showing for hirundines over several hours. Single Tree Pipit & Grasshopper Warbler, 4 Whitethroat & 8 Willow Warbler. Sunrise well round to the NE – over the Welsh coast already. Amazing how quickly that happens! #UKBirding

Highlights at Bull Point this morning: 1 Red-throated Diver W, 71 Manx Shearwater, 13 Willow Warbler, 9 Blackcap, 1 Whitethroat, 1 Grasshopper Warbler reeling, 3 flyover Yellow Wagtail, 7 flyover Tree Pipit, 120 Linnet, single Redpoll & 125 Goldfinch. Few hirundines. #UKBirding

The sightings blog for @lundybirds.bsky.social has been updated with details of the island's second-ever White Stork yesterday (Friday 11th April) and lots of other recent news, including a Lundy colour-ringed Wheatear seen in Mauritania: www.lundybirdobs.org.uk #UKBirding

Surveying this morning for NT-led Landscape Recovery Scheme linking Arlington Estate with West Exmoor. Great to find 3 territorial male Yellowhammers – very scarce these days in this part of N Devon. Also Red Kite, another locally scarcity, and an obvious influx of phylloscs & Blackcaps. #UKBirding