Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2025 i Birdwatch

When it comes to the subject of gulls, birders can often find themselves belonging to one of two groups: ‘larophiles’ or ‘larophobes’. This can be down to either a love or hate relationship with complex identification challenges or the often not-so-picturesque locations which lend themselves to productive gull-watching. However, a few species do break through these stereotypical barriers and quickly win over any who are lucky to be graced with their presence. The High-Arctic duo of Ross’s and Ivory Gulls often feature at the top of the list of a birder’s most-desired gulls, but another sought-after species which is more likely to be observed in Britain and Ireland each year is Sabine’s Gull. The species is another High-Arctic breeder and a rare sight for many here due to its offshore…

Located at the mouth of Galway Bay and stretching an impressive 14 km from east to west, Inishmore is Ireland’s largest offshore island at some 31 sq km. Together with the adjacent islands of Inisheer and Inishmaan, it forms what is collectively referred to as the Aran Islands, and geologically represents an extension of the unique landscape of The Burren in northern Co Clare. Due to the remarkable karst landscape, Inishmore is often referred to as The Rock by local birders. Culturally the island is closer to the Connemara region of Co Galway, and the Irish language is spoken widely between these two areas – the Irish name for the island is Árainn. Birding history In terms of birding effort, Inishmore has been visited on an on-and-off basis for the…

BIRDS come in all shapes and sizes, and so do their feathers. How a bird looks depends on its contour feathers, the outer waterproof ones which give the birds their colours as well as many other interesting ornamentations. The main body feathers of a bird have similar shapes but the wings, tail and some head feathers can be longer and often play a part in courtship. As well as the outer plumage, birds have two other types of feathers which provide warmth. These are semiplumes, which have a shaft and fluffy barbs, and down feathers, which have no shaft and are fluffy. There is also another feather called a filoplume, which is usually associated with contour feathers and has a fine bare shaft sometimes with a few wispy barbs at…

I’ve got the holiday blues. We’ve been to La Tranche-sur-Mer on the west coast of France. It’s a mixture of picturesque pine woods, beaches and seaside towns filled with shops selling flip flops, souvenirs and plastic tat, beach bars, creperies and boulangeries. The first question birders always ask: any good birds there? It’s not that sort of holiday. Our girls would not be impressed by a hardcore birding trip when there’s so much swimming, surfing and shopping potential. I recently asked Georgie why she didn’t like birds, and she swiftly corrected me: “No mummy! I love birds, but birdwatching is boring!” Ouch. Even though it’s not a top birding destination, I can’t get enough of it. I used to visit Vendée with my parents, so it’s deeply nostalgic for me.…

Britain and Ireland July 2025 JULY brought another sweltering month of weather, although landbird rarity interest had tempered somewhat after June’s excitement. It was a different story when it came to seabirds, however, with another strong opening to the seawatching season. Proceedings got off to a fabulous start on 13th, when a swing to south-westerly winds from the mid-Atlantic delivered a truly remarkable prize for a handful of Cornish seawatchers: Britain’s second Soft-plumaged Petrel. First logged past Coverack at 6.10 pm and then Lizard Point a short while later, a heads up regarding its potentially mega identification meant that five lucky observers were in position at Porthgwarra as this Southern Hemisphere Pterodroma cruised past at 8.24 pm. Britain’s first Soft-plumaged Petrel was tracked along the coast between East Yorkshire and…

I love seeing others getting excited about a bird. It might be one they’ve been seeking out for a long time, travelled miles to see, or a species so unexpected that they get lost in the adrenaline rush. However, when you know that the bird in question isn’t what they think it is, there’s a fleeting moment that must be handled with confidence, one way or the other. One option is to correct the misidentification, while the other is to ignore it and humour the observer. Hesitate over this decision and you could end up down an awkward rabbit hole yourself. Leave it too late and you are effectively committed to agreement, so you need to cross your fingers and hope that you don’t get name-dropped online later or that…

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THIS is the latest title in Pelagic’s Data in the Wild series, which covers a wide range of practical applications for the analysis and interpretation of environmental data. Back in 2016 this included the title Camera Trapping for Wildlife Research, which addressed the professional end of the market. This new book focuses more on the consumer market and reflects the advancement and availability of home camera systems in the last decade. My own efforts in this area have centred around using a simple trail camera to detect animals in the garden so this book represents quite a big step up from that and it is worth considering what it is you are hoping to achieve. If it is just a few shots from a trail camera, then this book will…

THERE are so many reasons to visit the Philippines, but for me the best of these is that no other country the size of the UK manages to support as many endemic species. The fact that the Philippines has more endemic birds than Europe, China and North America combined says it all. Another amazing fact is that although two-thirds of the area is taken up by two large islands, there are in total more than 7,600 other islands, some of which still have no name and plenty of them are rarely visited by anyone. Pitched against this is the sad fact that on the two main islands (Luzon and Mindanao), much of the best habitat for birds has been lost to forestry or agriculture. Indeed, most of the endemics are…

Finder’s Report Zitting Cisticola, Foreness Point, Kent, 2-3 July 2025 ON the evening of Wednesday 2 July, I decided to nip out on my bike and give Foreness a visit. I get there most mornings but hadn’t been able to today. The weather had improved from earlier – the day had started with light rain and full cloud, blown in by a light onshore northerly wind, but it was now sunny and mild. I was aiming to do an evening seawatch as the last few days had seen some movements of Mediterranean and Black-headed Gulls. Between myself and two other Foreness regulars, Barry Hunt and Kenton Evans, we had also seen our first juvenile Black-headed Gulls and our earliest juvenile Yellow-legged Gull. I slowly cycled along the coastal path checking…

Western Palearctic July 2025 THE fitting of a satellite transmitter to an adult Ring-billed Gull, known as ‘Kajzerka’, in Poland in 2021 has yielded some fascinating insights into its annual wanderings in the five years since. The latest chapter of the story took place on 11 July, when the bird visited Latvia for the first time on its post-breeding migration between Russia and Western Europe. Lingering for a time in the city of Daugavpils, it became the country’s first record of the species, although, disappointingly, news didn’t come to light until after it had crossed into Poland and the tracking information was downloaded. More accommodating for Latvian birders was a national-first Long-legged Buzzard on the outskirts of Daugavpils on 5th. Surprisingly, photographs subsequently emerged of another seen in the country…

The debate on driven grouse shooting that took place in Westminster Hall on 30 June was a bit of an anticlimax. A bunch of angry Tory MPs attended to read out briefings from the Countryside Alliance and BASC, the Greens were absent, the Lib Dems were present but might as well have been absent since they made little contribution, and the brightest moment was the uncompromising speech from Labour’s Olivia Blake whose Sheffield Hallam constituency delivered the most signatures supporting a ban. Watching the debate online as a team of men fitted solar panels to my roof, I waited to hear the words of Daniel Zeichner, the DEFRA minister who closed the debate. These ministerial remarks are the most important; almost the only truly important part of such debates as…

The best tips, advice and more www.birdguides.com This month’s panel includes: Mike Alibone, Keith Betton, David Callahan and Josh Jones Revolve Technology Ultra Compact Tripod CONSIDERED a must-have by the majority of birders, tripods have been the mainstay of support for an array of optical equipment for many years, principally comprising telescopes and cameras. Conventional design invariably incorporates extendable legs, most commonly divided into three telescopic sections in order to vary the height during use, as well as to provide a means of reducing size for transportation. It’s this last feature which is the main focus for Revolve Technology’s highly innovative new tripod which, quite frankly, is astonishing – a gamechanger that turns orthodox tripod design and manufacturing on its head. Like many others, my first encounter with the new System…

WATCHING a Eurasian Spoonbill on my patch recently was a reminder of just how much time birds spend resting. A distant blob was an unsatisfactory sighting of bird whose rapid and methodical sifting and strolling through shallow water can be an engaging joy to watch, but stock-still it stayed. That horizontal white blob speared on a cocktail stick is echoed by the flamingos on the cover of this detailed survey of the half of birds’ lives that is not spent flying, feeding, breeding or squabbling – and revelatory it is too. Pasquier’s book is well-researched throughout, studded with novel facts. Here are a few examples of the wealth of anecdotes and empirical data amassed in these far-from-fact-soporific pages. The torpor of the now-extinct Carolina Parakeet was so deep that even chopping…

Tell us what you think. Write to: The Editor, at: Birdwatch, Warners Group Publications plc, The Maltings, West Street, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PH or email editorial@birdwatch.co.uk www.facebook.com/birdwatchmagazine @BirdwatchExtra Mistle Thrush adopts Blackbird MY neighbour’s paddock is a favourite with various bird species as the muddy ground is a perfect source of worms and grubs. I couldn’t believe my luck to see a Mistle Thrush feeding its chick – normally this species is so shy, but because my neighbour is in and out of the paddock all day the local birds are used to humans. Oddly, I could see another much darker fledgling nearby with its beak open and calling for food. I assumed it was simply a darker Mistle Thrush chick but then realised it was a young Blackbird! This…

Pre-order your copy online now – see www.birdguides.com for details of how to subscribe and save more than 20% a year! ■ Booming bluetail Few rarities epitomise October birding as much as Red-flanked Bluetail, a species that has enjoyed a remarkable increase in Britain over the years. David Campbell profiles this desirable ‘Sibe’. ■ Halcyon days During the 1980s and 1990s, the Isles of Scilly formed the epicentre of British birding and produced a suite of iconic rarities. Scilly regular Ian Lycett reflects back on this golden age with some gripping yarns and special memories. ■ The unloved bustard project Despite the noble work it has undertaken in creating a population of a globally threatened species, the Great Bustard Project is still ignored by conservation and government bodies. Alex Berryman takes…