Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2026 i Birdwatch

JUST before Christmas, I took a drive out onto my local fen, where several hundred Whooper Swans were quickly located foraging in a harvested sugar-beet field. A decade ago, such a sight would have been unfathomable in south Lincolnshire. Sure, the nearby Nene and Ouse Valleys in Cambridgeshire have had good populations of this winter visitor for many years, but it’s a recent phenomenon that they have expanded north over the county border into the Welland Valley. This reflects the remarkable upsurge in the Whooper Swan population – despite the odd setback, such as a nasty bird-flu outbreak in the species during autumn 2025, the population is going from strength to strength. Sadly, the situation couldn’t be more different for Bewick’s Swan – I only saw my first individuals of…

January Rarity of the month: Booted Eagle, Marazion, Cornwall A fast-paced start to the New Year drew birders to the North-East for a fine hat-trick of Ross’s Gull, American Pipit and White-billed Diver. It was Cornwall that held the biggest bounty, however, as the discovery of a palemorph Booted Eagle wintering near Marazion from mid-month tempted a long procession of twitchers into a journey south-west, resulting in the species being finally unblocked for many. The discovery of Ireland’s second Black Scoter alongside White-winged and Surf Scoter off Inch, Co Kerry, marked the first time all three Nearctic species have been recorded together on this side of the Atlantic. There was an unprecedented arrival of 24 Lesser White-fronted Geese from the Swedish reintroduction scheme in North Norfolk. A Least Sandpiper in…

I may be biased, but in my opinion Greenland White-fronted Goose is among the most handsome of our grey geese. The dark chocolate plumage, extensive black barring on the belly, white facial frons and striking orange bill mark them with a touch of class. Their distinctiveness is no accident. Despite being a mere subspecies of the circumpolar Greater White-fronted Goose, which numbers around five million individuals worldwide, recent DNA analysis showed that Greenland birds are more genetically distinct than any of the other subspecies that breed from western Russia east throughout the Eurasian and American Arctic. This implies that the small, remote population that today stands at only 13,000 birds has been genetically isolated from others of its kind for a protracted period, explaining its unique morphology. It breeds in…

This month’s panel: Mike Alibone, Keith Betton, Rob Hume and Josh Jones DESIGNED with improvements in mind, Opticron has upgraded its now discontinued Natura BGA ED 8x42 to produce a more efficient and cost-effective binocular with an enhanced image – the WA ED. While my first look through this newly improved model delivered impressive results, I’ll drill down into the design aspects before returning to an assessment of the optical quality on offer. Compared to its previous incarnation, some interesting changes have emerged. While both their chassis share a finely textured body armour, a new-style curved bridge surround, with a smooth inset, makes greater contact with your fingers, the ridge between the two areas helping to produce a firmer grip. Enhanced design Another difference can be found in the design…

IF I was to be dispatched to photograph all the members of one bird family, I think I’d also choose penguins. Firstly, there are only 18 of them, so the challenge would be achievable, and most importantly, I’d have several brilliant trips along the way! Ursula Clare Franklin managed to do exactly this as an enthusiastic amateur photographer over several years. Joining several pre-planned tours, Ursula set about achieving Mission Penguin after the loss of her husband in 2012. The task took her on eight journeys, of which five were towards the Antarctic and Subantarctic zones, plus others to Australia, South Africa and Peru. Taking each of the penguins in turn, she describes their characteristics, plus breeding strategies, prey and predators and key threats. All the various plumages from chick…

IF you’re new to the world of creating bird art, your first question might concern what to use: Oil paint? Acrylic paint? Water-colour? Gouache? Pencil? Pastel? The list goes on and there are far too many options to accurately cover here. There’s an overwhelming variety of mediums available and most of us don’t have the budget, time or space to try everything all at once. Believe me, I’ve had a go! A walk around the legendary art tent at Global Bird-Fair has had me inspired to try just about every medium – apart from woodwork, which I’ll leave to the experts. My home studio is a museum of half-finished water-colour experiments, inherited oil paints and a selection of pastels. I want to preface the following by saying there is no…

Ayeyarwady Broadbill (Cymbirhynchus affinis; above) is a bird few have heard of and – as far as we know – no person alive has seen. Its obscurity is largely owed to its confused taxonomic status. Despite being universally treated as a species in the 19th century, most sources over the past 125 years have considered it to be the affinis subspecies of Black-and-red Broadbill (main image), a colourful, rather clownish species found widely across South-East Asia from Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, south through the Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo. But Ayeyarwady Broadbill, endemic to south-west Myanmar, is indisputably distinctive. Compared to other populations of Black-and-red Broadbill it is about 15% smaller, with a much less massive, shallower bill. It also has three curious elongated crimson spots on the tertials…

Report Bufflehead, Flintshire and Caernarfonshire, December 2025 AT lunchtime on 8 December, Geoff Robinson made a thrilling discovery in the form of Wales’s first Bufflehead at Point of Ayr, Flintshire. Remarkably, this North American diving duck was feeding alone on the sea, making the find all the more extraordinary. Quick-moving birders were able to get to the site in time to see the bird as the tide receded, but only two hours after news broke, it took flight and flew off east. Given the disappearance of the adult drake Bufflehead at Killarney, Co Kerry, in late November, and considering that movements of a drake Bufflehead between Britain and Ireland had been linked in early 2024, it felt natural to believe that the Co Kerry bird might have hopped the Irish…

When birding, each season brings a new delight as we move steadily through the year. Bird numbers ebb and flow with every changing month, week and weather system, and their associated impacts. Whether it’s waking up to the first true dawn chorus of the year, seeing young being fed by their parents, marvelling at the magic of migration, or finding something completely unexpected, every season brings its own moment of appreciation. Winter may seem like a time of stillness and solitude, but head to the right spots and this is the time of year to witness bird abundance at its most dramatic and majestic. With this in mind, what follows is a journey to 10 of the best places in Europe to see outstanding flocks of wintering birds. Note that…

This month’s panel: Keith Betton, Kit Day, Chris Harbard, Dan Owen and Ruth Weaver THE seep call of night-flying Redwings in October is a sure sign that winter is on the way, but in my experience, opportunities to photograph this species tend to be better in the New Year. As winter goes on, Redwings will exhaust their favoured feeding sites in more peaceful locations, after which point they are more readily found in busier places such as parks and gardens, where they can become more tolerant of people. Their choice of food, and therefore your approach to photographing them, could depend on the weather. In mild conditions, Redwings will be working grassy areas such as parks, paddocks and lawns in search of worms. In harsh conditions, staking out some berry bushes…

THE smallest duck to occur in Britain, Eurasian Teal is a relatively common species found across a range of wetland habitats, although it is much more ubiquitous outside of the breeding season. Its moult timing is in keeping with that of other duck species, with adults performing a complete post-breeding moult in summer and a partial prebreeding moult starting shortly after. During the former, all primary feathers are moulted at once, rendering the birds flightless for around one month, making them particularly vulnerable. As a result, drakes moult their head and body feathers into browner, female-type plumage to help camouflage, otherwise known as ‘eclipse’ plumage. During this plumage drakes also gain orange sides to the bill, but these are easily overlooked. Post-juvenile moult is partial and includes parts of the body.…

PASSIVE acoustic monitoring (PAM) is one of the latest technological techniques to be used in ornithological research. It involves using special equipment to record sounds from the environment, then analysing the recordings to obtain vital information. Naturally, this method will only record wildlife that makes a sound, but it is incredibly useful as it can be left unattended for long periods and will capture many sounds that would otherwise never be heard by humans. Birds, mammals, fish and invertebrates are studied with PAM – and it’s worth pointing out that the absence of sound can also constitute important information. Standards for PAM have been drawn up to try and ensure that there is compatibility between projects and to enable repeatability. PAM can be used in a wide range of areas,…

Finder’s Report Lesser Crested Tern, Exmouth, Devon, 3-12 December 2025 FINDING a major rarity was not on my mind when the Stuart Line Cruises’ Exe Estuary birding trip departed from Exmouth, Devon, on Wednesday 3 December 2025. Revelling in the razor-clear morning light I was hopeful of photographing the usual Exe Estuary fare such as Brent Goose, Avocet and Black-tailed Godwit in better-than-usual conditions. Slowly passing Dawlish Warren I heard the distinctive call of a tern; I have heard Sandwich Terns here many times before. Like most modern birders I had that moment of dither when trying to decide between grabbing a record shot or actually getting a great look at the bird through binoculars. Realising that any tern in December is highly unusual I raised my camera and took…

Whether carpeting a brown field in brilliant white or flying in to roost on the flooded wash-lands in their droves, there are few finer winter sights and sounds than a bugling flock of swans. The birds’ chorus alone rules out the familiar resident Mute Swan, which is largely silent bar the odd grunt – these noisy swans are in fact long-distance migrants that have travelled thousands of miles to reach here, emblematising the migratory flyways along which Britain and Ireland are such integral stops. As well as their impressive visuals these birds epitomise the wilderness, bringing a slice of the Arctic to our shores every winter, and stimulating great joy and wonder in the observer. Where were they born? What might they have encountered on their high-latitude breeding grounds and…

There are two Loch Levens in Scotland. A 14 km-long sea loch on the west coast at Glen Coe and a large freshwater loch located in the east, on the east side of Kinross. This article will focus on the latter, which is a breeding site, migration pit stop and wintering area for thousands of ducks, geese, swans and other birds. With a length of 6 km and width of 3.5 km it’s the largest natural shallow water-body in lowland Britain, with an average depth of 4.6 m. However, the loch was about 25% larger in the early 19th century, before the canalisation of the River Leven and its partial drainage. A rich history Loch Leven was designated as a National Nature Reserve (NNR) in 1964 and is also a…

WHEN out birding, and particularly at a twitch, you will often see a few photographers standing some distance from the main crowd. The bird everyone has come to see is showing and they’re missing out, so what are they playing at? The chances are it’s all about the perch. They have identified a particular tree, rock or other place that will provide a photogenic perch for the bird to use, and they are waiting patiently, hoping for it to play ball. So, what makes a good perch? Firstly, you want a fairly clean perch without a lot of twigs sprouting from it, to minimise the chances of the bird choosing a spot with a stick directly in front of its eye or other important feature. Then there are the aesthetics…

A recent study into the diets of insectivorous bird species has offered a detailed insight into how they might be affected by declines in their food supplies. Earlier research revealed that insect-eating birds consume an estimated 400-500 million tons of prey each year, with forest-dwelling species eating at least 70% of this total. The latest findings come from a look at the arthropod food of 94 European bird species to see how the richness of their diet relates to the species, age, habitat, conservation status and other factors. The bird species studied consumed a wide range of arthropods, with more than half of them being beetles, flies and grasshoppers. Any decline in a particular order of arthropods will affect those species with a less diverse diet more than those with…