10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2023

As soon as I looked at it more closely it was quite clear that it wasn’t a scaup of any species, despite its resemblance to a North American Lesser Scaup. I hadn’t considered the possible parentage more than the two probable species involved, but intriguingly a Pochard drake x Tufted duck looks quite different.

Geese 179

Geese Ducks Falcons Latvia 179

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2024

With its striking combination of colour rings I suspected that it would be easy to find out more about this particular bird, and I was right. Black-tailed godwits winter in large numbers on the estuaries of both Norfolk and Suffolk, and we know that nearly all these birds breed in Iceland.

Lithuania 130

Lithuania Morocco Iceland Ireland 130

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 16, 2020

The Ural Owl inhabits old and undisturbed boreal forests, in an unbroken belt from Sweden and Finland across Russia to Japan, and is rarely seen to the south, only here and there, in the Carpathians (Slovakia/Ukraine/Romania/eastern Serbia) and Dinaric Alps (Croatia/Bosnia/western Serbia). Two years ago I screamed “UralOwlUralOwlUralOwl!!!”,

Serbia 243

Serbia Owls Slovakia Bosnia 243

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 17, 2019

Two hundred yards further, the first Common Goldeneye and Smew started to appear and, while counting Smew and geese, a Great Bittern took flight from one stand of reeds to another, right in front of us. These globally threatened raptors breed from Ukraine eastward through Siberia and only a few come to overwinter here.

Geese 139

Geese Serbia Birds Estonia 139

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2022

Given the complexity of the research, the result feels like a bit of a letdown – “northern populations start migration earlier than southern populations, especially in autumn” The species name of the Chestnut-eared Bunting is fucata , from the Latin “fucare”, to paint red.

Birds 197

Birds Eggs Bangladesh China 197