Marcus W

Back from Botswana! What an amazing experience camping in the African Bush was! Couldn’t have dreamt for better wildlife sightings on this Safari, Lions hunting Cape Buffalo, multiple leopard sightings, Wild dogs with cubs!! Truly an Amazing life experience I will Treasure!!!!

💥Penduline Tit 💥 First lifer of 2026 and absolutely over the moon with the views we got of the Avon Penduline tits!! Watching them feed at close range more than made up for the disaster of the day we was having up to this point dipping the Kentish Plover at Burnham

@Marclinby Amazing shots! By far the best I have seen so far! Last one is a cracking picture

The 1st winter drake Smew at Southport Marine Lake, Lancashire this morning.

@NeillsOutBirdin @BirdGuides Epic stuff 🙌🏻 sure the birds know when its a Monday 😂😂

A mega days birding around Southport today. Smew, Surf Scoter! an exceptional find Graham Clarkson. Twite, Hen and Marsh Harrier, Merlin, Buzzard, lots of Geese, Pinks, Whitefront and Snow. A White Stork flew north...dropping from view, we caught up with it..mega! @BirdGuides

@kristianwade_ Strong start to the year 🤔😂

Some great winter birding over the last few days, with 103 species mainly in the NW - highlights of Tundra Beans, Russian White-Fronts, Smew, Ring-Necked Duck, Twite, Slav Grebes, Snow Goose and more!

Great morning with @kristianwade_ doing some proper winter birding, scanning through hundreds of pinks at @WWTMartinMere, had some luck with close views of a White front and a Barnacle, sadly still not caught up with the Brent yet!!

Nice few Patch ticks today✅, showy Spoonbill on the Mere and then watched the Short-eared owl at last light which was special as I hadn’t seen one on the reserve for over 10 years, dipped the Brent that was reported scanned the pinks for hours but no joy, great day out!

Looking back at some memories from 2025, 25 lifers and some memorable twitches with friends new and old, loads of good birding experiences, really enjoyed my patch list in 2025 now up to 85 species, sadly no overseas trips this year but already have some booked in for 2026!

@ParkyBirder @RSPBLeightonM @JoeWyersR New camera set up is getting the job done mate 👌 great shots them

Nice crisp morning visit to @RSPBLeightonM today with @JoeWyersR. Highlights included constant Otter sightings all morning, the long staying Scaup, 7 Bearded Tits, 8 Marsh Harrier, 3 Russian Whitefronts near the salt marsh complex and ‘Graham’ the Hooded Crow around Crag Foot.

Lovely patch tick today @WWTMartinMere with these two Russian White-fronted Geese, love the speckling on the bellies, such a stunning Goose

@AlanDaviesbirds @ParkyBirder Really hope so Alan!

@MarcusW992 @ParkyBirder Ouch! Hopefully relocated again.

Gutted to have dipped the Welsh Bufflehead today, seemed I left it a day late 😩 good to have a catch up with @ParkyBirder either way! Jealous of you all that have managed the amazing views and pictures in previous days! Would have been Christmas come early but wasn’t to be 😂

@DorothyHeaphy @ParkyBirder Hopefully will be refound again! Haha like the idea but if I’m flying to Ireland it will be for the Harlequin!!!!

@MarcusW992 @ParkyBirder The Bufflehead in Killarney Ireland disappeared for a week or so and was found on another lake a few miles away. Its still there on Kilbrean lake...maybe a flight to Cork, 1 hours drive to Killarney, see the Bufflehead and fly back same day!!

@RobSwift5 @ParkyBirder I defo agree about the confusion on yesterday’s initial sighting 🤔 was a lovely place to waste a couple hours though! Scaup was a nice second prize duck 😂

@MarcusW992 @ParkyBirder Yes, join the ‘club’ we dipped as well, from an early arrival. All agreed that this morning’s news sighting was highly questionable. 🧐 However a good range of Birds in the area !👍

@janpaul4u @ParkyBirder Hope so! Will defo have another try if refound somewhere else!

@DFoyLiv That last shot is stunning!!

Finished for the year this afternoon & made a dash to Foryd Bay, Caernarfon for the drake Bufflehead...I made the right decision, had the bird to myself in front of a stunning sunset! Lovely site, full of waders streaming in and flocks of PB Brents out in the bay.

@ajordanwildlife Amazing shot!

Bufflehead in north Wales on Saturday

Some Digiscope footage from today @WWTMartinMere first nice showy Sparrowhawk keeping a watchful eye on a group of Snipe and the Drake Ring-necked still showing extremely well from the Discovery hide!

Good patch list tick today @WWTMartinMere with this showy Drake Ringed-necked Duck

Bit more of the 1st -winter Grey Phalarope at Brougham, initially I was really worried as I didn’t have my scope with me, just my bins and camera! As you can see my worries soon faded 😂 @BirdGuides @cumbriabirds @CumbriaBirdClub

Completed the Phalarope’s today with this lifer Grey Phal, showing itself extremely well in a flood puddle near Brougham Castle! Epic day around the Lake District area