Joe Sargent
@joesargent.bsky.social
Mardy northerner stuck down south complaining about all the birds he dips.
For my artwork, check my insta: joesargeart
For my artwork, check my insta: joesargeart
Usual Bristol Autumn experience of not seeing any migratory birds but hearing redwings calling above whenever I leave the house after dark
November 8, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Usual Bristol Autumn experience of not seeing any migratory birds but hearing redwings calling above whenever I leave the house after dark
The real stars today were the other birdwatchers who pointed out all these birds. I think I'd only have got the temminck's on my own. All the others were helpful birdwatchers directing people towards them
Things weren't going well for the first 2 hours at @slimbridge-wild.bsky.social, then BOOM
YBW at Kingfisher Hide (visual lifer, heard before last year also at slimbridge)
Bittern at Zeiss Hide
Spotshanks at South Lake
Temminck's Stint on Rushy (UK lifer)
All targets seen except med gull
YBW at Kingfisher Hide (visual lifer, heard before last year also at slimbridge)
Bittern at Zeiss Hide
Spotshanks at South Lake
Temminck's Stint on Rushy (UK lifer)
All targets seen except med gull
October 26, 2025 at 8:26 PM
The real stars today were the other birdwatchers who pointed out all these birds. I think I'd only have got the temminck's on my own. All the others were helpful birdwatchers directing people towards them
Things weren't going well for the first 2 hours at @slimbridge-wild.bsky.social, then BOOM
YBW at Kingfisher Hide (visual lifer, heard before last year also at slimbridge)
Bittern at Zeiss Hide
Spotshanks at South Lake
Temminck's Stint on Rushy (UK lifer)
All targets seen except med gull
YBW at Kingfisher Hide (visual lifer, heard before last year also at slimbridge)
Bittern at Zeiss Hide
Spotshanks at South Lake
Temminck's Stint on Rushy (UK lifer)
All targets seen except med gull
October 26, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Things weren't going well for the first 2 hours at @slimbridge-wild.bsky.social, then BOOM
YBW at Kingfisher Hide (visual lifer, heard before last year also at slimbridge)
Bittern at Zeiss Hide
Spotshanks at South Lake
Temminck's Stint on Rushy (UK lifer)
All targets seen except med gull
YBW at Kingfisher Hide (visual lifer, heard before last year also at slimbridge)
Bittern at Zeiss Hide
Spotshanks at South Lake
Temminck's Stint on Rushy (UK lifer)
All targets seen except med gull
Fingers crossed the Slimbridge temminck's hasn't fucked off today in the nice weather and I can add it to my UK list tomorrow
October 25, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Fingers crossed the Slimbridge temminck's hasn't fucked off today in the nice weather and I can add it to my UK list tomorrow
Crested tit a nice bonus to my year list in a local Bois Guillaume park. Always track down the conifer trees in France for them but my first one this year was in deciduous in a mixed tit flock 🤷
October 9, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Crested tit a nice bonus to my year list in a local Bois Guillaume park. Always track down the conifer trees in France for them but my first one this year was in deciduous in a mixed tit flock 🤷
Still on the fence as to whether these are golden or grey plovers. The beak and bird looked too dainty to be grey but beak looked too long to be golden and body too grey.
RSPB Birders fbook page useless cause I'm not asking them to ID a sparrow
RSPB Birders fbook page useless cause I'm not asking them to ID a sparrow
October 7, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Still on the fence as to whether these are golden or grey plovers. The beak and bird looked too dainty to be grey but beak looked too long to be golden and body too grey.
RSPB Birders fbook page useless cause I'm not asking them to ID a sparrow
RSPB Birders fbook page useless cause I'm not asking them to ID a sparrow
Look at all these YLGs in amongst the GBBGs, in Normandy of all places! The YLGs favoured the salt marsh in large numbers while the beach was full of herring gulls
October 3, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Look at all these YLGs in amongst the GBBGs, in Normandy of all places! The YLGs favoured the salt marsh in large numbers while the beach was full of herring gulls
Black redstarts in France. I saw them in both Dives-sur-Mer and Houlgate this week, 2 villages right next to each other on the Normandy coast. I've seen them in many small villages, particularly seaside ones, across France.
It's a shame we've lost this with just the Channel between us.
It's a shame we've lost this with just the Channel between us.
October 2, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Black redstarts in France. I saw them in both Dives-sur-Mer and Houlgate this week, 2 villages right next to each other on the Normandy coast. I've seen them in many small villages, particularly seaside ones, across France.
It's a shame we've lost this with just the Channel between us.
It's a shame we've lost this with just the Channel between us.
Gros Banc - Normandy was as dead as I expected, but did manage some barwits and happy to find an osprey. These plovers that seemed too long-billed & silver to be golden but not strong-billed enough to be grey, with their prominent supercil caused much confusion before I decided they were just golden
September 30, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Gros Banc - Normandy was as dead as I expected, but did manage some barwits and happy to find an osprey. These plovers that seemed too long-billed & silver to be golden but not strong-billed enough to be grey, with their prominent supercil caused much confusion before I decided they were just golden
Normandy doesn't always have the best birds but I DID just happen to raise my binoculars at the exact moment 2 arctic skuas appeared from nowhere to mob some sandwich terns right over the beach before barrelling down the coast with a 3rd distant one
September 30, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Normandy doesn't always have the best birds but I DID just happen to raise my binoculars at the exact moment 2 arctic skuas appeared from nowhere to mob some sandwich terns right over the beach before barrelling down the coast with a 3rd distant one
At Dives-sur-Mer I was thinking I'd be lucky to see 1 YLG but they seem to be the most numerous larus here. Never seen 1 in Normandy before and here they're everywhere! Like being on the Atlantic coast!
Bonus black redstart singing on a roof. Also a first for my Normandy list
Bonus black redstart singing on a roof. Also a first for my Normandy list
September 29, 2025 at 3:48 PM
At Dives-sur-Mer I was thinking I'd be lucky to see 1 YLG but they seem to be the most numerous larus here. Never seen 1 in Normandy before and here they're everywhere! Like being on the Atlantic coast!
Bonus black redstart singing on a roof. Also a first for my Normandy list
Bonus black redstart singing on a roof. Also a first for my Normandy list
Up to the Normandy coast next week. Not sure if Normandy is a major route through for autumn migration but hope to see some waders. Cheeky barwit? Grey plover? You all know me though; I will see nothing 😂
September 26, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Up to the Normandy coast next week. Not sure if Normandy is a major route through for autumn migration but hope to see some waders. Cheeky barwit? Grey plover? You all know me though; I will see nothing 😂
Well, hard to believe but I saw 4 birds in 4 hours 😂 2 juve gannets, 1 probable manxie and 1 putative sooty (see my other post - opinions welcome).
Not sure if bad time of year, bad time of day or what but the channel was empty
Not sure if bad time of year, bad time of day or what but the channel was empty
Personal seawatching stations on the Guillaume of Normandy crossing! Praying for a sleepy baby 😂
September 25, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Well, hard to believe but I saw 4 birds in 4 hours 😂 2 juve gannets, 1 probable manxie and 1 putative sooty (see my other post - opinions welcome).
Not sure if bad time of year, bad time of day or what but the channel was empty
Not sure if bad time of year, bad time of day or what but the channel was empty
BTO video on skuas says all arctic skua plumages show the white wingflash when shearing so I think I may have got a lifer sooty shearwater that was just bending its wings a bit weird (high headwinds maybe?)
Pretty sure I saw a sooty shearwater on channel crossing. All dark in good light, flap flap flap glide flight, effortlessly outpacing boat. But wings looked too bent for shearwater. Could have been an artic skua? But absolutely no white wing flashes. Do some skua plumages lack this?
September 25, 2025 at 7:50 AM
BTO video on skuas says all arctic skua plumages show the white wingflash when shearing so I think I may have got a lifer sooty shearwater that was just bending its wings a bit weird (high headwinds maybe?)
Pretty sure I saw a sooty shearwater on channel crossing. All dark in good light, flap flap flap glide flight, effortlessly outpacing boat. But wings looked too bent for shearwater. Could have been an artic skua? But absolutely no white wing flashes. Do some skua plumages lack this?
September 24, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Pretty sure I saw a sooty shearwater on channel crossing. All dark in good light, flap flap flap glide flight, effortlessly outpacing boat. But wings looked too bent for shearwater. Could have been an artic skua? But absolutely no white wing flashes. Do some skua plumages lack this?
Personal seawatching stations on the Guillaume of Normandy crossing! Praying for a sleepy baby 😂
September 24, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Personal seawatching stations on the Guillaume of Normandy crossing! Praying for a sleepy baby 😂
Osprey hunting at Herriotts fantastic to watch. +2 wood sand, 3+ ruff, 4 greenshank, countless green sand, a group of snipe on the island, and a common sand on the channel. @bristolbirding.bsky.social
September 21, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Osprey hunting at Herriotts fantastic to watch. +2 wood sand, 3+ ruff, 4 greenshank, countless green sand, a group of snipe on the island, and a common sand on the channel. @bristolbirding.bsky.social
I'm always interested by the concept of "ferality" and what people count as having seen a bird. I think we'd all count feral pigeon, canada goose etc. I personally would count R-C Pochard. I wouldn't count ruddy shelduck though, which is weird. What is people's limit?
September 19, 2025 at 7:42 AM
I'm always interested by the concept of "ferality" and what people count as having seen a bird. I think we'd all count feral pigeon, canada goose etc. I personally would count R-C Pochard. I wouldn't count ruddy shelduck though, which is weird. What is people's limit?
Absolutely mad the stuff that's been turning up locally the summer/autumn I have a newborn baby 😂
I think my year list would already be higher than last year's total if I wasn't changing nappies and giving cuddles
I think my year list would already be higher than last year's total if I wasn't changing nappies and giving cuddles
September 16, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Absolutely mad the stuff that's been turning up locally the summer/autumn I have a newborn baby 😂
I think my year list would already be higher than last year's total if I wasn't changing nappies and giving cuddles
I think my year list would already be higher than last year's total if I wasn't changing nappies and giving cuddles
Bogey slain after all this time!!! 3 CURLEW SANDS with 2 dunlin at cheddar reservoir today along with 7 glossy ibis, 1 little stint, my first 3 knots of the year, 2 common sands, 2 blackwits and loads of ruff.
September 6, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Bogey slain after all this time!!! 3 CURLEW SANDS with 2 dunlin at cheddar reservoir today along with 7 glossy ibis, 1 little stint, my first 3 knots of the year, 2 common sands, 2 blackwits and loads of ruff.
Forever regretting not asking the guides on my boat trip around Farne Islands in 2023 about the black bird sat in with the arctics... I'll never know
Attempted breeding between an ‘American Black Tern’ and an Arctic Tern in Northumberland
Katie Baird, James Porteus, Gary Woodburn and Chris Redfern
Read more: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...
🥇Subscriber Content
📸 Gary Woodburn
Katie Baird, James Porteus, Gary Woodburn and Chris Redfern
Read more: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...
🥇Subscriber Content
📸 Gary Woodburn
September 3, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Forever regretting not asking the guides on my boat trip around Farne Islands in 2023 about the black bird sat in with the arctics... I'll never know
1 wood sandpiper and 2 greenshanks at HGB verrrrry far away on the mud. Plus a handful of green and common sand at Herriotts along with a kingfisher. No WTE or terns for me and my dad but still managed to increase my year list by 3. First birdwatching since start of June!
August 26, 2025 at 10:44 AM
1 wood sandpiper and 2 greenshanks at HGB verrrrry far away on the mud. Plus a handful of green and common sand at Herriotts along with a kingfisher. No WTE or terns for me and my dad but still managed to increase my year list by 3. First birdwatching since start of June!
Reposted by Joe Sargent
Zitting Cisticola Breeds in Britain for the First Time
Family party in Suffolk confirms long-anticipated arrival of a new breeding species on the British mainland
www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/v2/Content/Z...
Family party in Suffolk confirms long-anticipated arrival of a new breeding species on the British mainland
www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/v2/Content/Z...
Zitting Cisticola Breeds in Britain for the First Time
Family party in Suffolk confirms long-anticipated arrival of a new breeding species on the British mainland
www.rarebirdalert.co.uk
August 22, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Zitting Cisticola Breeds in Britain for the First Time
Family party in Suffolk confirms long-anticipated arrival of a new breeding species on the British mainland
www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/v2/Content/Z...
Family party in Suffolk confirms long-anticipated arrival of a new breeding species on the British mainland
www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/v2/Content/Z...
3 swifts over my house in a very wtf moment. Maybe the latest I've ever seen one. @bristolbirding.bsky.social
August 23, 2025 at 6:45 PM
3 swifts over my house in a very wtf moment. Maybe the latest I've ever seen one. @bristolbirding.bsky.social
Commodore cabin booked on Brittany Ferries Portsmouth-Caen 24th September. Mostly to allow us somewhere to look after the baby, but wondering if the window will have a good enough view for sea watching...
Got to get my birdwatching in somewhere 😂 it's been 2 months 😭
Got to get my birdwatching in somewhere 😂 it's been 2 months 😭
August 14, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Commodore cabin booked on Brittany Ferries Portsmouth-Caen 24th September. Mostly to allow us somewhere to look after the baby, but wondering if the window will have a good enough view for sea watching...
Got to get my birdwatching in somewhere 😂 it's been 2 months 😭
Got to get my birdwatching in somewhere 😂 it's been 2 months 😭