Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2025 i Birdwatch

Finder’s Report Harlequin Duck, Co Donegal, from 9 October 2025 RECENT reports of Grey-cheeked Thrush and Red-backed Shrike on Tory Island, Co Donegal, were too good to pass up on, so on 9 October, after a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Belfast, Ian Young and I arrived at Magheraroarty Harbour and awaited the 40-minute ferry across to Tory. We met up with Robert Vaughan, who was also heading over for the day. Ian and I headed in the direction of the ‘East End Garden’, where the thrush was periodically attending a ground feeder set up by Anton Meenan. We set up camp. Ian quickly sighted the thrush as it popped out, allowing brief but excellent views before it scuttled back into the undergrowth. Hungry for another new bird, Ian and I headed…

The bird I found most gripping this autumn was the Eastern Nightingale in Aberdeenshire. Although golzii is not currently recognised as a species in its own right, and close scrutiny of the bird’s appearance introduced some debate regarding the identification, it clearly was not of the nominate form. It was obvious that it had come from far away to flick its long tail on a coastal garden fence. In any case, even a ‘standard’ Common Nightingale would have been a big deal in Scotland. Alongside debate about the bird’s subspecific identity, it was hard to miss the chat around what had become an unexpectedly delicate viewing situation. The bird had chosen the garden by the car park at Rattray Head, a well-known parcel of habitat for migrants, regularly checked by…

Avian vagrancy constantly throws up intriguing puzzles for birders to don their detective hats and get stuck into solving. It is, for many of us, part of the fun of birding – trying to understand patterns of occurrence and gain a better insight into the extraordinary lives of birds. In few places is this more apparent than Britain, a relatively well-birded nation on the western periphery of Europe whose avifauna is well studied, richly documented and heavily propped up by migrant and vagrant species. Why do we get so many more records of a particular species in one year compared to the next? Why has a previously ultra-rare species become much more regular? Or indeed, why has a once frequently seen bird become less so? Why are there periods of…

The memory of your first sighting of a White-tailed Eaglen ever leaves you. Mine was 45 years ago! I was on holiday on the Isle of Mull with my good friend Eric Kidd. We were both aware of the project to reintroduce the species, which is also known as the ‘sea eagle’, to Scotland and that the Isle of Rum to the north of Mull was where it was happening. We never dreamed we’d actually see one, but in May 1980, as we drove slowly towards Tobermory along the shores of Loch Spelve after a day watching otters, something very big caught our eyes. For some inexplicable reason I was recording our chat on a cassette player. I still have that recording. Eric asked: “Anyway, what’s that big bird flapping…

ENDEMISM is something I associate with exotic countries such as Madagascar, where 90% of the fauna and flora cannot be found anywhere else. However, here in Britain we have endemic species to be proud of, even though some are hard to find (and admittedly sometimes not particularly stunning to look at). Britain has fewer endemic species than many countries due to its proximity to continental Europe, to which this island was once connected, enabling species to recolonise following glaciations. However, we have 50 endemic vascular plants and 20 unique insects. By comparison, we have no endemic mammal species and only one endemic bird. This book is a celebration of the unique wildlife that Britain supports, in which James Harding-Morris sets off around the country in search of some of the…

Following a tip-off from my boss, Mark, we settled down to watch a documentary fresh from the USA in August 2025: Listers: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching. I was quietly sceptical. Most of the twitchy-cum-listy documentaries we’ve seen previously have skirted on the ridiculous, with the producers (understandably) focusing along the extremes, the laughable or the pitiable. I get it. Think Twitchers: A Very British Obsession, which was of its time and entertaining, but determined to paint some of the main characters in an unnecessarily negative light. More recently there have been some fictional films and series, such as The Residence (Netflix 2025), which focused on a detective intent on solving a murder in The White House. The subplot – she was a birder, except that pretty much all her…

Britain and Ireland October 2025 WHILE some of the nation’s very highest listers bemoaned the lack of ticks during October, there was nonetheless no shortage of megas on offer as east met west – with the month’s highlights reel including some of the most sought-after ‘Sibes’ on the British list and a number of top-class ‘Yanks’ to boot. Indeed, October produced firsts for both Britain and Ireland as well as a number of rarities not seen or twitchable for many years, providing welcome grip-backs for those listers not sat at the very top of the rankings. Americans after Amy A succession of transatlantic lows in the days following Storm Amy made it a great spell for Nearctic visitors. A Grey-cheeked Thrush in Co Donegal and a dead Black-billed Cuckoo in…

The drawn-out demise of the royal formerly known as Prince Andrew has long seemed inevitable and should prompt a wider look at the role that royalty plays in our society. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has had a royal patron for more than a century, mostly the person who I still think of as ‘the’ Queen, but now her eldest son, ‘the’ King. Despite rumours to the contrary, the royal patron has no influence on the work of the RSPB but I remember constructing diplomatic responses to long hand-written letters from Prince Charles (as he was then) back in the day. The National Trust, WWF-UK and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust also have King Charles III as their patron, as does the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust.…

Why do we love pittas? It’s a question that I have long pondered, and one that numerous commentators have sought to answer over the years. The answer, I think, is both multi-faceted and complex. In 2009 I spent 12 months trying to see all the world’s pitta species in a single year. The story of that lunatic and delightfully arcane mission formed the basis of a book, The Jewel Hunter, and my year in the field and the following months spent writing the book gave me plenty of opportunities to consider exactly what it is that contributes to the enduring appeal of pittas. It’s fair to say that I have been more completely smitten by pittas than most. Having decided to spend a year in pursuit of them, I set…

SMALL in size it may be, but Bedfordshire is a county that makes the birding headlines with impressive frequency. Indeed, despite being some 70 km from the sea at its closest point, this landlocked county nonetheless punches above its weight ornithologically year after year, producing an array of rare, scarce and locally significant records. Much of this may be attributed to the diversity of habitats found within the county borders, with pockets of beechwood, fenland, river valleys, chalk-grassland outcrops and, significantly, artificial landscapes such as former clay and sand quarries in various stages of restoration. Given that my ‘home’ area of Peterborough encompasses a similar range of environments and its local bird-club recording area is of equivalent size to Bedfordshire, it was with great interest that I opened the pages…

DECEMBER has always struck me as the month when the garden exhales. The pace slows, the noise fades, and what’s left behind feels calm and honest – structure, stillness and a surprising amount of life quietly ticking away beneath the surface. As birders, many of us use this time to reflect on the year past – birds we’ve seen, trips we’ve been on and the moments that stayed with us. It’s much the same in the garden and I often find myself looking back over the past 12 months, wondering what’s worked and what hasn’t, which small decisions made the biggest difference for wildlife and, of course, the garden wildlife highlights of the year. The main lesson I relearn every year – and hopefully one I have repeated enough here…

ONE of the challenges for a birder with a family is to find destinations that are good for birding while offering plenty for the family to do. Jamaica is a place that caters for everyone; with some planning you can see most of the endemics and have time for the beach too! The impressive country checklist of 306 species belies the fact that there are only 108 residents, although 29 are endemic. There are also around 50 North American species that spend the winter here, which is when most birders choose to visit due to the favourable weather conditions. Although the key birds are present all year, the rainfall and heat can make the birding quite testing at other seasons, particularly as some Jamaican roads are in poor condition. If…

Finder’s Report Mourning Dove, St Agnes, Scilly, 7-16 October 2025 ALL birders know that birding brings both highs and lows. After more than 60 years in the field, I’ve certainly had my share of both. One of my most memorable lows came in 2013, when I dipped the long-staying Mourning Dove on Rum, Highland – a trip all the way from Cornwall, no less. Ever since, the species has been high on my wish list in a British context. In October 2025, I made my annual autumn visit to the Isles of Scilly. While I was there, the approach of Storm Amy raised hopes that something from across the Atlantic might make landfall. On 7 October, my partner Louise and I decided to visit St Agnes. By mid-afternoon we had…

Western Palearctic October 2025 A record-breaking arrival of Nearctic passerines in Iceland left birders across Europe casting envious glances north. Eleven species were found there during October, with Bobolink, Philadelphia Vireo and Brown-headed Cowbird all representing Icelandic firsts. The cowbird was found by a visiting American birder on 24th and looked right at home as it hoovered up breadcrumbs under benches in Reykjavík. It later transpired to have been present since 11th. The day after news of the cowbird broke brought a post on Facebook from a homeowner in Tjarnabyggð, attached to which were photos of a male Varied Thrush! This was a welcome grip-back for those who missed the Iceland’s first record in May 2004. South-west Iceland snagged the majority of ‘Yanks’, with Hermit Thrush, Alder Flycatcher, Tennessee Warbler,…

DESPITE the subtitle mentioning seabirds this is a book predominantly about islands, with 46 chapters of varying lengths about islets worldwide. Many are visited as ‘stepping stones’ on the way out to take part in various seabird research projects, with birds scarcely mentioned in some cases, if at all. All islands treated are described from the author’s own experiences and sharp observation, having visited some places only once but others many times. The chapters deal with history, historic sites, the people, their lifestyles and food, their dogs and livestock, and their outlook on life in these often-remote places. We hear how the author travelled, what he ate and even how he survived some extreme adventures. But then, in many cases, the birds come to the fore – and often in…

Pre-order your copy online now – see www.birdguides.com for details of how to subscribe and save more than 20% a year! ■ Wild wanderers and feral flocks Snow Goose is most often seen as an escape from captivity in the UK, but genuine wild vagrants from North America arrive annually and small, established feral populations also exist. Sam Viles takes a look at the complex status of this goose. ■ The tidal watchtower The Dee Estuary is an important habitat for many birds, including waders and wildfowl on a continental level. At the heart of it is Hilbre Island Bird Observatory, and Chris Williams introduces the ‘obs’ and discusses its history and key species. ■ Working out wigeon American Wigeon is a scarce but regular visitor to the UK, arriving from…