Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2026 i Bird Watching

Ruth Miller: “Black Guillemot, so dapper and sharply plumaged. And they breed locally!” John Miles: “It has to be Long-tailed Skua, having seen so many along the Solway Firth.” Amanda Tuke: “Gannets are fabulous. I love spotting them skimming the waves and watching them fish.” Stuart Winter: “Puffin. Comic, iconic and yet it's ironic how I am still waiting to see one. Long story…” …and the Bird Watching team's answers Matt Merritt: “Kittiwake – ever since seeing them at close hand when I was at university in Newcastle, they've fascinated me.” Mike Weedon: “I've always been very fond of Razorbills – the closest thing (in looks) we still have to the marvellous (but extinct) Great Auk.” Cover pic: Puffin DAVID CHAPMAN/ALAMY…

twitter.com/BirdWatchingMag facebook.com/BirdWatchingMag RARITY RATINGS Common, widely distributed Localised – always a treat Very scarce or rare WHITE STORK The massive, striking, iconic White Stork is essentially a widespread breeder across southern and central Europe. Wandering birds from the continent will reach the UK every year. But there are also birds which escape captivity each year and an increasing number of roaming wild bred birds from re-introduction schemes in south-east England. Incidentally, the last ‘natural’ breeding of storks in the country was in 1416. As big as a Crane but with a huge red bill and largely white plumage, apart from black flight feathers, they can sometimes be seen soaring on ‘good raptor days’, or they are found walking rough damp fields, looking for food. Check for rings (a possible sign…

#My200BirdYear ticklist Download and print off our #My200BirdYear ticklist to track your progress… www.birdwatching.co.uk/ my-200-sign-up You can track your progress in #My200BirdYear by joining us on the Birda app, as featured in our recent Gear Guide. Download the app, sign up for the #My200BirdYear challenge, and log your sightings as you make them. While you're at it, Birda's monthly and geographically-based challenges are a great way of motivating yourself towards the bigger target, too, and by interacting with other users you can develop your ID skills. YOUR LOCAL PATCH Whether inland or coastal, migration will have been very evident on your patch as it accelerated during April, and birds will continue to move through over most of May, even as summer migrants settle in to breed. On wetlands, the chicks…

It is easy to think of the month of May as the heart of spring and so the start of the breeding season. This may be so for some of our late arriving summer migrants, or the arctic-breeding waders which head through the country in late April into May. However, many other birds will have been nesting for months by the time May comes around. And, naturally, after months of nesting, baby birds will be popping up here, there and everywhere, this month. But, are you ready for them? Could you identify one of these little cuties? Here is a chance to put yourself to the test. Please put a name to each of these six baby birds, fresh out of the nest. Then, turn the page to check your…

In association with os.uk/osm MAX MILES ON FOOT: 5 MIN TIME: 4 HOURS This is part of the RSPB reserve of Geltsdale, now covering more than 13,000 acres situated in the North Pennines National Landscape, and has many of the species that have made that reserve such a favourite for birders. JOHN MILES WHERE TO WATCH 1 You can start your walk at Clesketts, where in spring you may even start with a Grasshopper Warbler trilling away in the rough vegetation. Check for breeding waders and start your walk up the track towards the tarn. Scan the fell and lower land for hunting Hen Harrier and Kestrel, with the chance of Wheatear along the track. 2 Take the track across Tarnhouse Fell heading towards Tindale village. Here are breeding Snipe,…

In association with os.uk/osm MAX MILES ON FOOT: 3 MIN TIME: 3 HOURS The woodland section of this walk comprises mature deciduous stands with coppiced areas ideal for summering Nightingales and warblers. Away from the trees the walk winds through a mixture of paddocks, grazing pasture, arable farmland and hedgerows, plus the wide-open spaces of the Brede Valley along with adjacent wet meadows and tangles of riparian growth. Scanning of the hillsides often yields soaring birds of prey. Resident species combine with passage migrants and summer visitors. PAUL TRODD WHERE TO WATCH 1 Paddocks and hedgerows around the hamlet should yield finches, tits, corvids, Pied Wagtail, Green Woodpecker and Stock Dove. In summer, Swallows and House Martins breed in out-buildings and on houses respectively while Sparrowhawk and Kestrel regularly hunt…

It's got an orange breast, it sits atop raised perches, and it's attracted to gardeners. What bird is it? It's the Stonechat, of course. It is a close relative of our beloved Robin, and you might be surprised to know that it has also been recorded feeding close to gardening humans, and for the same reason. Both species spend much of their time perching above ground and searching the earth or grass below for invertebrates, and when humans disturb the soil, it creates a bounty of exposure, unveiling multiple unsettled six-legged morsels. Stonechats are a birder's friend, perching upright and conspicuously when many other birds hide. The difference, of course, lies in the respective birds’ habitats. The Robin is a woodland creature, and the Stonechat frequents open country, especially heaths,…

The Red-throated Pipit is among one of the many species that I dreamed about seeing ever since I was a young ornithologist. A classic pipit, it is a little streaky brown job that twitchers sometimes sweat over, even though they are not a hardcore premier league rarity in the UK. Indeed, I know very few birders who have seen many of these pipits within our shores. Most are detected, often unseen, by their drawn out squeaky call as they pass overhead. But a lot of these flyovers are eventually discounted by rarity committees due to the sparsity of firm evidence, especially if there are no good views of the bird itself and the call is only heard once and not recorded. During the breeding season, the faces and throats of…

It's that time of year when the thoughts of confirmed land-lubbers such as myself turn to the oceans – a birding year isn't complete without at least one visit to the coast to look for some of the species that, in the UK, we're lucky enough to have internationally important numbers of. Seabird ‘cities’ are always a thrill, but although it can seem a dauntingly difficult task at first, so is seawatching – once you've ‘got your eye in’, you realise that what looks like miles of empty, open sea is actually swarming with birds. So, take the advice of David Callahan on page 20, and add some seabirds to your #My200BirdYear list in 2026. Of course, there's no more enticing target to start with than our cover bird, the…

NO STING IN THE TALE With bulging compound eyes, long antennae and elongated beak, the Common Scorpionfly prompts thought of an extraterrestrial being rather than an insect. The name ‘scorpionfly’ derives from the male's curled abdomen tip. This menacing-looking structure is not a sting, however, but a genital capsule – so is used in mating, not murder. Britain has three species of scorpionfly: look for them on low vegetation in woods and along hedgerows. MOTH Web of life As its common name suggests, Spindle Ermine caterpillars congregate to feed in a web on Spindle bushes. The whitish webbing can cover several metres, and the larvae may almost entirely defoliate their host plant. BEE Giant parasite Britain has nearly a score of species of blood bees, named after their hairless red…

Most of us will know an inspirational local birder or two. Whether it is due to their tireless commitment to enthusing others, helping organise surveys, promoting a regional bird club, or training ringers, we are often in awe of their seemingly endless dedication and skill. Well, now is the time to celebrate these champions by nominating them for the 2026 Marsh Awards! The three main categories are: Marsh Award for Ornithology, Marsh Award for Local Ornithology and Marsh Award for Young Ornithologist Along with these awards, BTO also recognises those who've made notable contributions to ornithology by awarding the Dilys Breese Medal, Bernard Tucker Medal, and Jubilee Medal. Past winners of these awards include Sheena Harvey, Mary Colwell, Chris Packham, Stephen Moss, Jack Baddams, Megan McCubbin, Dominic Couzens, Harriet Mead,…

The lights in the hall are dimmed. ‘Adventures of the 30-minute Birder’ – the title of tonight's talk – is on the screen. I click to the next slide, a frosty landscape, with bracken in the foreground and trees beyond. “So a dozen birders are staring at this woodland edge in Richmond Park”, I say. “It's a quiet January afternoon, the light's falling and the city centre glows behind us to the north-east. A couple of Red Deer tentatively cross the path to the west of us and then a Tawny Owl hoots from deep inside the wood. I'm gripping my binoculars with one hand, keeping the other warm in my pocket, and wriggling my toes to stop them falling asleep. After a short but chilly wait in the dark,…

In association with os.uk/osm MAX MILES ON FOOT: 4 MIN TIME: 4 HOURS Mull is a wonderful place for all 12 months of the year, with so many locations in which to look for a wealth of wildlife. This area can be easily missed as you drive past, so take the time to explore throroughly. JOHN MILES WHERE TO WATCH 1 Mull is nearly cut in two by the large sea loch of Loch Na Keal. This area is ideal for several species you can see from the road, such as wintering Great Northern Diver. A roost here can have over 100 birds, perfect for a dusk visit. Wintering Barnacle Geese often feed on the lush grass of the farm here. 2 As you turn the corner the rocky coastline…

In association with os.uk/osm MAX MILES ON FOOT: 3 MIN TIME: 2 HOURS This site includes a country park, plus footpaths that thread though Oxford's urban fringe, and is a great place to get in some birding before or after visiting the city of dreaming spires. MATT MERRITT WHERE TO WATCH 1 Shotover Country Park has wooded and open areas, with the former playing host to the likes of Jay, mixed tits (including Coal Tit), mixed finches, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Great Spotted Woodpecker, warblers such as Blackcap, Garden Warbler and Chiffchaff, and the latter attracting winter thrushes (including Mistle Thrush), Whitethroat and Green Woodpecker. The woods also have a great record for Firecrest, which can take some separating from the more common Goldcrests. Sparrowhawks are also likely. 2 Along the footpath…

GET IN TOUCH birdwatching@bauermedia.co.uk facebook.com/BirdWatchingMag twitter.com/BirdWatchingMag Bird Watching, Media House, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA Garden Jays I have had Jays visiting our (St Albans) garden for three days running, which is very unusual. The one in the photo (perched on the wall) today stayed around a while, very near to the house; two visited yesterday and stayed around on the rockery; and there was a Jay the day before in our Eucalyptus tree. They are my favourite bird, so I was thrilled, as they are normally shy and elusive. We have a big garden with a lot of trees and shrubs. Ruth Paul Reader Shots Send your snaps to birdwatching@bauermedia.co.uk to be in with a chance of seeing your photo in print. All images should be high resolution JPEG…

North Norfolk In Spring 5-9 May, £999pp, £150 single supplement Enjoy a short break on this Bird Watching reader holiday, run by Oriole Birding, based at the Briarfields Hotel, Titchwell, from where we'll explore the best the county has to offer during spring migration. It's a great time of the year for Nightingale, Spoonbill, Ring Ouzel and Grasshopper Warbler, and visits to this region in previous years have produced rare or uncommon species like Hoopoe, Wryneck, Woodchat Shrike, Alpine Swift, Red-rumped Swallow, Black Kite, Citrine Wagtail, Purple Heron, Temminck's Stint and many more! This holiday promises to be a great introduction to Norfolk birding or, for the seasoned traveller, a fantastic year-list booster and chance for one or two rarities! WHAT'S INCLUDED ● Four nights of en suite accommodation at…

LIFESAVER LIFELINE PERSONAL WATER FILTER £24 If your birding is extreme, remote and intrepid, you might want one of these. It's a fat, lightweight “drinking straw” that “allows you to drink safe, fresh-tasting water directly from streams and rivers”. A replaceable filter cartridge removes 99.99% of the bacteria, parasites, microplastics and sediment from up to 5,000 litres of water. And a replaceable activated carbon filter reduces chlorine, lead, nickel and cadmium levels for up to 100 litres. 220x50x50mm. 85g dry. iconlifesaver.com VANGUARD ALTA PRO 3 263CLBPS CARBON TRIPOD WITH BALL HEAD £350 For photographers “who prioritise stability, while needing portability”. Carbon fibre with three-section, 26mm diameter legs and Arca dual-axis ball head. Ball and levers are oversized and friction control makes for smooth movement even with big, heavy kit (20kg…

SPOTTED FLYCATCHER It could be said that the Spotted Flycatcher is a bit of a ‘birders’ bird’, a tiny bit esoteric, or to be less polite, an LBJ (Little Brown Job). However, this is a bird which has a subtle and undoubted charm. This is not some kind of sympathy vote-style affection, brought about by the bird's catastrophic population decline of more than 93% over the past 60 years. It is more to do with its elegance and style, the graceful way a statue-still flycatcher will suddenly swoop from an exposed branch, and in a graceful arc, catch a flying insect in its bill with an audible snap, before sweeping back to the perch whence it came. Spotted Flycatchers are poorly named birds – at least the adults are –…

Come the middle of March, I had been visiting Deeping Lakes LWT almost every early morning before work, and at weekends. This little patch had already provided some very decent birds, including Snow Goose, Tundra Bean Geese, three Glossy Ibises, Scaup and three different Kittiwakes. On 8 March a beautiful adult Mediterranean Gull appeared, my 100th species for the site so far in 2026. Number 101 was a Redshank which piped itself in on the morning of Saturday 14 March. I soon racked up 50 species in the first couple of hours of daylight, including a female Scaup and Raven. But news was coming from elsewhere (mainly the Nene Washes) of counts of 500 Black-tailed Godwits, and small herds of Cattle Egret coming in to roost, and I was getting…

I've written before of the most wanted lifer, which I encountered on a huge boulder as we forded a stream in India. A ‘jungle’ Wallcreeper was as unexpected as it was welcome. Anything new turning up anywhere is, of course, always welcomed. Years ago, I'd just returned from a trip that included a visit to Singapore; there, I saw waders I'd never seen before and got quite used to their diagnostic features. It was only a week or so later, when I was visiting a local reserve by myself in the early morning, that I set up my scope. I peered through the viewer and immediately saw a Terek Sandpiper. I think I probably did a cartoon-like double-take. I shook my head and looked again. But I was right, it…

THE DOs “Do tailor your talk to your audience. Most groups enjoy birdwatching storytelling but for certain audiences more technical content will be appropriate. Always support your talk with plenty of bird photos.” Ruth Miller, Bird Watching magazine columnist “Start small, with something you are passionate and knowledgeable about. There's always something new to learn in birding – no-one knows everything even though they might think they do.” Richard Hill, Sheffield Bird Study Group “I have found adding bird songs/calls (by inserting audio clips into the presentation) very effective. For example, Hoopoes are attractive birds but their calls are so evocative and will probably stay with the audience for longer.” Peter Bryant, Bristol Ornithological Club “Time your talk accurately. If they asked for an hour and 20 minutes plus interval…

In association with os.uk/osm MAX MILES ON FOOT: 2 MIN TIME: 2 HOURS The gravel pits around Thrapston offer plenty for the birder. In a future issue, we'll look at the Titchmarsh NR end of the complex, but the area around the sailing lake, close to Thrapston itself, is a good place to start. MATT MERRITT WHERE TO WATCH 1 Walking from the car-park, the scrubby area next to the sailing lake is good for Whitethroat in spring. You may hear Cetti's Warbler, too, while Willow Warblers pass through on migration, and other warblers could include Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Garden Warbler. 2 It can be hard to view onto the sailing lake, and the amount of disturbance there means it can be quiet, but the likes of Mallard, Gadwall, Tufted…

My previous article, looking back at the development of bird photography over the past 40 years, got me thinking about how far we have come and how much control we now have over our images. Back in the days of film, for most people the image creation process finished at the sound of the shutter. There are still photographers who retain this mindset and simply accept what the camera records digitally, believing that any alteration detracts from the ‘purist’ nature of the photograph. However, in reality, pressing the shutter is only the halfway point. Just as film photographers once used darkroom skills to refine their analogue photographs, today we have an array of digital editing tools to bring out the very best in our images. Many of these tools have…

WILD PAVEMENTS BY AMANDA TUKE FLINT, HB, £18.99 BOOK OF THE MONTH Bird Watching’s own Amanda Tuke has come up with a book based on her experiences in her native London. It's ideal for folk who love the capital, with hardly a corner of this huge city untouched by her findings and observations – everything from visible migration to going out to ID the trees brought from all over the world is tried, and after reading you can try it, too. She also travels to several other towns and cities, exploring what they have to offer, and the title will tell you that the book is not just about birds, as Amanda is a keen finder of plants around urban areas. A great first book with, I'm sure, more to…

In the 1980s, the world was a very different place, as was the birdwatching scene. Then, the sole monthly journal devoted to birds was British Birds, an august periodical aimed mainly at the ornithologist and only available through the post by subscription. In 1986, the M25 was opened by the then prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who also gave the go-ahead for the Channel Tunnel, while the UK's first national all colour newspaper, Today, was launched. It was also in March of that year when Bird Watching magazine was born. With Chris Dawn at the helm for the first two years, the early editions may not have been in full colour, but the lively, wide-ranging content of news and articles on travel, equipment, optics, rare bird sightings, book reviews and identification…