Birding 2023 roundup. So hard to pick four. Especially having been in the Pennines and at a Snettisham spectacular! Suffolk waxwing, bittern and snipe from ⁦@RSPBMinsmere⁩ and the long-billed dowitcher at ⁦@NWTCleyCentre⁩ with the wonderful ⁦@parkbirdslondon⁩

Fab morning at KGV reservoir in the illustrious company of Young Birder of the Year 2024 ⁦@Elliott81758817⁩ getting 3 new for me. Scaup, goosander, kite, peregrine, goldeneye and, here, black throated diver, slavonian grebe, black-necked grebe, great northern diver 😍

@Elliott81758817 @LondonBirdClub @WansteadBirding Amazing shots. 😍

Lovely treat to see this cattle egret (one of three) ⁦@Natures_Voice⁩ boyton this morning 😍

Amazing that this dartford warbler survived the crowds on ⁦@CityCorpHeath⁩ yesterday and fabulous to see it getting used to its rather populated surroundings

A quick foray onto ⁦@CityCorpHeath⁩ to finally catch this splendid dartford warbler, originally found by ⁦@rubatroid⁩ two days ago - the first on HH for 30 years!!!!!! What an absolute birding treat! 🥰

The glory that is ⁦@CityCorpHeath⁩ #notabirdpic

Fantastic news for our very own Andrew Thomson - an absolutely outstanding scientist researching the deep Earth with extremely challenging and original techniques - well done Andy! @LeverhulmeTrust @ucl @uclmaps @ES_UCL

Gotta love a kestrel ⁦@CityCorpHeath⁩ ❤️

Another chatastic morning ⁦@CityCorpHeath⁩ with also flyovers of meadow pipits

It was stonechatastic on ⁦@CityCorpHeath⁩ this morning! #lovebirds

Oh alright then. Another one.

Kingfisher anyone?

Birdtastic commute through Regent’s Park with redstart, spotted flycatcher, willow warbler, whitethroat and here, wheatear. Best single outing haul in London I’ve ever had 😍 #lovebirds

In a dawn raid of ⁦@RSPBMinsmere⁩, with 70 species, only one played ball and posed for photos. Everything else was miles away. So I give you, dear reader, the common sandpiper. #lovebirds #loveminsmere #especiallyatdawn

I post this in memory of Tony Duckett - my last postcard to ⁦@parkbirdslondon⁩ - this is the long-billed dowitcher we saw at Cley last year. One of my best ever days birding. A very kind and generous man who will never be forgotten.

Some 60+ fab birds in and around ⁦@RSPBMinsmere⁩ including here stone curlew, common plover +1, spotted redshank, greenshank. Also saw common and green sandpipers, spoonbills, little ringed plovers, dunlin, redshank, little gull, 50-100 sea things (scoters?), GWE, bittern…

Olympics. @BBCSport dreadful coverage. Having to chop and change between channels mid event, and not having full coverage of all sports. It’s the biggest sporting event in the world. The @bbc has failed. (Not the presenters) And I’m now subscribing to Eurosport. Fail.

Now this is more like it…..

The glory that is ⁦@CityCorpHeath⁩ and one of my favourite HH birds, fairly common elsewhere but here on Hampstead Heath I get to see about one a year. Always very early morning. Nobody around. Just me and the common tern. Love it.

Fab early morning on ⁦@CityCorpHeath⁩ watching this young peregrine falcon being chased by up to four kestrels around Boudica’s field. In fact the kestrel count over the walk was 7. #lovebirds #lovehh #anditdidntrain #much