Liam Andrews

Finished the @gibpoint day list with 120 sp! Brilliant day with 2 lifers, 3 year ticks and 14 Gib ticks. Highlights included barred wabler, several Y-B wabler, Snow Bunting and even better veiws of Jack snipe (x2) Birds Observatories Bird Race @lincsbirders @Lincsbirding

@SmalePerry @Vaasetter I think the current system is, ship assisted birds are accepted so long as they CAN make it hear under it's own power. Which obviously begs the big question of exactly which could make it hear under it's own power!

@Vaasetter @pseudoliam So, I'd like to know, if we can discount it getting here under it's own steam, what's the issue if it was ship assisted (especially if other ship assisted birds end up accepted)? Or is there suggestion of a more sinister origin?

The Day of the Grackle... Really enjoyed a couple of days down south w/the Edgellers where L & I took in the funky Boat-tailed Grackle. It's arrival prompted renewed debate re the British List & categorisation of undoubteldy wild birds (with low/minimal vagrancy probability). 1/4

@SmalePerry @Vaasetter Bobolink and Alder flycatcher also same area, and two REV on Lundy... Suprised the ship didn't sink 😂

@pseudoliam @Vaasetter 2 Magnolias and a Bay-breasted on same ship??😜

@Vaasetter Has anyone ever published an analysis on the likelihood of different species arriving near ports? Couldn't find anything on a quick surch of BB. Would maybe give some insight although not on indervidual records.

@pseudoliam Exactly that Liam. Pure guesswork as to mode of transport (whirring wings or otherwise). Seen some interesting analysis elsewhere on probabilities etc., this week but there's always potential for "error" or a random act of vagrancy. Warblers trouble me less than Sparrows etc.

@Vaasetter If we open that can of worms I think all American passerines could be seen as suspect... Britain's only Canada warbler close to a shipping lane not far from a presumably ship assisted Grackle? Geuss the problem is for most species it's purely geusswork if it arived by boat.

@pseudoliam I'd still rather differentiate further beyond a D1 & a D2. A separate category for wild birds that hitched a ride off a boat (& however the Paddyfield Pipit got here) feels appropriate. But the nightmare of unpicking those Category A Nearctic sparrows would be anything but easy.

@Vaasetter I agree with a distinction between ship assisted and escaped but wouldn't it be easier to sort in cat D rather than E? D1: a bird in which there is doubt it's a genuine wild bird. D2: a bird which is doubtless wild but likely transported by ship. Or something similer.

A new category, that acknowledges species' wildness, whilst also understanding that ship-assistance isn't a barrier to acceptance above & beyond Category E feels appropriate. Yes, it's a can of worms (hello non-nearctic species, Pied Crow) but a shrewd shift seems right. 4/4

Another day, another bold wader. This juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper was quite content feeding on the excess of invertebrates along the shoreline around us. macaulaylibrary.org/asset/643444040

Couldn't resist a post work twitch for the Walberswick Zitting Cisticola this evening and it showed better than expected!

@ChrisEdley4 @OwenBeaumont1 It was at Whitbarrow. Along the footpath beyond "The Rooms @ Rawsons" but we also had one close to the car park there. The Butterfly Conservation Cumbria website has good sightings info with grid references if your planning a trip.

@pseudoliam @OwenBeaumont1 Whereabouts did you get them please Liam?

Great weekend in Cumbria with @OwenBeaumont1 the big highlight being High-brown Fritillary! The last British butterfly* I needed to see! And at least a dozen showing amazingly well! *out of the resident extant breeding species. Still need vagrants!

An inadvertently well-timed trip to Cumbria over the weekend meant we were there bang on for High Brown Fritillary. After a failed search in the heat of the day on Saturday, an earlier visit on Sunday led to some excellent views @pseudoliam

E6 lives on! The geriatric Avocet at Frampton again today. Rings not getting any easier to read!

@SBOmad @RSPBFrampton @OwenBeaumont1 @InstaBirders @Lincsbirding Yes, the Frampton list must be crazy by now!

@pseudoliam @RSPBFrampton @OwenBeaumont1 @InstaBirders @Lincsbirding Number 44 for you?

Frampton Marsh wader sp #44! Collared Pratincole. Showed decently well although hardly moved the whole time!

Collared Pratincole at a breezy @RSPBFrampton this afternoon @RareBirdAlertUK

American Golden Plover showing amazingly at @RSPBFrampton. My 43rd wader sp on the site!

I returned home yesterday after a week on Lesvos with the gang 🇬🇷 Some brilliant birding and arguably even better scenery. A collective 188 species recorded throughout the week and around 25 lifers personally. Bring on the next one!

This lovely Blue-headed Wagtail brightened up a wet, overcast census this morning. After some patience and army crawling I was able to get close enough to read the full ring number. Turns out it is one of the brood from last years breeding success on Shetland! @FI_Obs

Common Ringed Plovers are known to decorate their nest scrapes with fragments of shell and small flat stones, however some individuals have been noted to use other materials to decorate their nests. Read more: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/articl… 🥇Subscriber Content

@Eperviet We did get some Blue Petrel but unfortunately not as close as the Prions

@pseudoliam 👍 This reminds me of that : classicalimages.com/products/1840-…

Salvin's Prion - Blue-grey gems of the Subantarctic. On the Flock to Marion Again voyage, there were so many spectacular birds, but seeing tens of thousands of these absolute masters of their environment was definitely one of the highlights... Just wish they were easier to ID...

@ClevedonMoths @miles_cluff Being around Marion it was really a case of Salvin's unless obviously different but did have some odd looking birds. One below has reduced black on tail, flared super and fairly slender bill, second has a flared super + massive bill. Experts on board said both likely Salvin's 🤷

@pseudoliam @miles_cluff Considering the willingness of people to chime in on identification, the silence on this thread amused me:- birdforum.net/threads/prion-… Still unedited pics for me from that one. Hopefully, on a trip soon where they seem to call them all Slender-billed Prion to avoid confusion. 😀