Profile avatar
birdingdad.bsky.social
Bass playing, cricket loving Nature Geek. North Yorkshire, UK. Https://birdingdad.blogspot.com All opinions are my own :-)
162 posts 506 followers 288 following
Prolific Poster

Seven Sand Martins at Wheldrake Ings this morning. Still c300 Black-tailed Godwits, 12 Ruff and hundreds of ducks. @ldvnnr.bsky.social @yorkbirding.bsky.social

Two Little Ringed Plovers at Bank Island this morning @ldvnnr.bsky.social @yorkbirding.bsky.social Still c300 Blackwits, 7 Riff and 40 Dunlins at Wheldrake Ings. Drake Garganey reported from Bank Island.

Great @yorkscoastnature.bsky.social Goshawk Tour in North Yorkshire today, with several birds seen. Some great display with a 2cy female doing Raven-esque barrel-roll, something I've never seen before. Quite liked this pic of a male which was moving rapidly, looking almost falcon-like.

Great news for African Penguin! BirdLife South Africa’s efforts rewarded. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Chinstrap Penguins just love icebergs, even if they are tiny! More here: birdingdad.blogspot.com #penguin #SouthGeorgia #birds

We were very lucky to see eight species of penguins on our recent trip to the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, including gorgeous Adelies in the Weddell Sea (although they are a wee bit clumsy!). More here: birdingdad.blogspot.com

Black-browed Albatrosses, New Island, Falklands, a few weeks ago. #SuperSeabirdSunday

Leucistic female Pintail among 255 Pintails at Wheldrake Ings this morning. Also, Great Egret, 396 Black-tailed Godwits, 14 Whooper Swans. @yorkbirding.bsky.social @ldvnnr.bsky.social #UKBirding

And another thing...when watching this Blue-cheeked Bee-eater near Eilat a few years ago, I noticed how bees were attracted to the bird's colourful face; it even opportunistically caught a few. Is this why this family has evolved colourful faces?

Sir Keir has misrepresented the impact of conservation on housing in Ebbsfleet. The majority of the homes are going ahead. The distinguished jumping spider isn’t even in the development area, but it is a precious habitat. Let's move beyond nature vs. growth - sustainable development benefits us all.

Important statement from @kentwildlife.bsky.social about the way that the government is deliberately misrepresenting what has happened at Ebbsfleet.

New species alert! We have added another Orca ecotype (the last one we needed!!!) to our library of stories: the Type D Killer Whale! Check out all our Killer Whales tales under the dolphin category on our left hand menu🖤🤍🖤 Photo by @birdingdad.bsky.social #WhaleTales #DolphinAwarenessMonth #orca

Two places just became free due to cancellation on our very popular GOSHAWK BIRDING SAFARI this Sat 15 March led by @birdingdad.bsky.social details & book here: www.yorkshirecoastnature.co.uk/events/153/g...

Light-mantled Albatross at South Georgia birdingdad.blogspot.com/2025/03/ligh... #SuperSeabirdSunday

Arguably the classiest seabird! Light-mantled Albatross. More here: birdingdad.blogspot.com/2025/03/ligh...

www.bbc.com/news/article... Woop!

Icebery A23a - it is a whopper! We saw this behemoth south of South Georgia at the end of January. We had to go round it! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Grey Petrel, South Atlantic last month for #SeabirdSunday More here birdingdad.blogspot.com

Stoats ? Vermin . Crows ? Vermin . Birds of prey ?! Still vermin ! The driven grouse shooting industry's obsession with vermin is just one reason why it should end . Please sign @wildjustice.bsky.social 's petition to ban driven grouse shooting now : buff.ly/3FbSxuQ

I heard someone talking on the radio this morning about leaving #dog hair out for #birds to use in their nests *If pets have been treated with certain flea treatments, this could kill the chicks* Now seems a good time to repost this article 👇 #neonicotinods www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A write up and a few dodgy pics of some of the seabirds we saw on our recent tour of the Southern Ocean: birdingdad.blogspot.com/2025/02/bird... #Seabirds #SeabirdSunday #Antarctica

Woop! www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A Very Rare Type D Sighting. Read the full story here: buff.ly/4k4PcOi Photo by @wildlifeprecey.bluesky.social #WhaleTales @birdingdad.blogspot.com

An encounter with a Type D Orca was incredible, but the next day we watched a pod of Antarctic Type As taking on the second largest animal on the planet, a Fin Whale! See here: birdingdad.blogspot.com/2025/02/shoc... #MarineMammals #Orca #Cetaceans #Antarctica

Birding the Land of Fire birdingdad.blogspot.com/2025/02/bird... No White-bellied Seedsnipe for us, but loads of other Austral specialities, in fantastic habitat.

We were lucky enough to see three different ecotypes of Orca during our recent trip to the Southern Ocean. Most surprising was seeing a solitary Type D bull, one of the least known of all. Read more here: birdingdad.blogspot.com/2025/02/enco...

Gorgeous Blue Petrel, Southern Ocean, January. #SuperSeabirdSunday

My second talk of the week. This time its my Goshawks from North Yorkshire to Berlin lecture for York @rspb.bsky.social Everyone is welcome please spread the word. If you love birds of prey you will love this! See link below for more details group.rspb.org.uk/york/news-bl... @yorkbirding.bsky.social

Church Ings, Acaster, shallow floods holding 30 Pintail, 42 Teal, 2 Gadwall, 4 Wigeon, 4 Oystercatchers, 56 Lapwings. No Curlew yet though; they may have been lost from this stretch of the Ouse south of York. @yorkbirding.bsky.social

Humpback Survives Killer Whale Attack. Read the full story here: https://buff.ly/3c5dE19 Photo by Whale Watch Western Australia⁠ This is an encounter from 2021 #WhaleTales #orca

Female Otter fishing under Naburn bridge, near Bishopthorpe at lunchtime today.

Nothing flies quite like a Pterodroma! Soft-plumaged Petrel between the Falklands and South Georgia a couple of weeks ago. With @wildlifeprecey.bsky.social @oceanwide-expeditions.com

Are newts holding up house building like Rachel Reeves says? In short, no. Natural England's District Level Licensing scheme, through which developers contribute to a pot for habitat creation, has been a great success as @jeremybiggs.bsky.social explains: freshwaterhabitats.org.uk/news/are-new...

Ushuaia, you have made us feel very welcome and have given us some fantastic birding. Last bird seen before departure, Upland Goose. With @wildlifeprecey.bsky.social

a horizon-filling group of 60+ Sei Whales at the mouth of the Beagle Channel and a pod of Peale's Dolphins alongside the ship brought our amazing journey #WayDownSouth to a suitably emotional close. 16 unrepeatable, unforgettable days with @birdingdad.bsky.social and @oceanwide-expeditions.com

The infamous Drake Passage....more of a lake this morning! Great conditions for seeing cetaceans, and we've had Gray's and Cuvier's Beaked Whales so far! With @wildlifeprecey.bsky.social

Hourglass Dolphins charging out of the swell on the Drake Passage this morning #WayDownSouth with @birdingdad.bsky.social and @oceanwide-expeditions.com

Adelie Penguin, close to the huge colony on Paulet Island, Antarctica. With @wildlifeprecey.bsky.social

All the hours spent on deck paid off with two incredible Emperor Penguins! On ice floes in the north of the Weddell Sea, Antarctica. Top find @wildlifeprecey.bsky.social !

Chinstraps, the finest of penguins #WayDownSouth on the South Shetland Islands with @birdingdad.bsky.social

Brutal stuff, but incredible to watch.