Sign in

Bill Haines (West London Birding)

@bh-wlbirding.bsky.social
157 followers 136 following 40 posts

Ringer, birder, moth-er and occasional noc-migger. Runs West London Birding, a a sole-trader ornithological consultancy based in Ealing, London

PostsRepliesMedia
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Waiting for opening time.
020
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
In 14 years of monitoring Sand Martins nests at #WWTLondon this is the first leucistic chick I’ve come across. Birds handled and ringed under licence. #NRS #londonbirds #ringing
Normal and leucistic Sand Martins chicks
0100
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
An interesting find, resting on my furled [closed] bird ringing mist-net @wwtworldwide.bsky.social London Wetland Centre this morning - Eyed Hawk-moth (a moth ✅!). Safely removed and put in a nearby bush. #TeamMoth #mothsmatter #LondonMoths
An Eyed Hawk-moth resting on a person's hand
060
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
115 Sand Martin pulli ringed (under licence) today @wwtworldwide.bsky.social London Wetland Centre. This brings the total number of chicks ringed this season to 239 with still another 2 months of nest monitoring to go. Safe travels little ones and 🤞 for some good returns. #birdringing #londonbirding
Sand Martin chick
0100
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
'White U594' has become the first of @theroyalparks.bsky.social colour-ringed Greylag Geese to travel more than 100km from its site of ringing. It was seen in Lakeside CP, Eastleigh, Hants. in late March having been ringed at #theroundpond in Kensington Gardens in Aug 2025. 📸 Gemma Parker. #ringing
170
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Nice to get in on the Oak Beauty action this morning. I’d forgotten how large they were! #mothsmatter #teammoth #londonmoths
0190
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Great report of a Tufted Duck from @theroyalparks.bsky.social. This little duck, ringed at #Serpentine #Hydepark in Dec 2023 made it all the way to the Rusian arctic circle, ca 2000km NE of Moscow. This shows just how far ducks wintering in London can migrate. #Londonbirds #birdringing #duck #BTO
1297
Reposted by Bill Haines (West London Birding)
Friends Of Midway Atoll (FOMA) @friendsofmidway.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
#Wisdom is back! The world’s oldest known living banded bird, Mōlī (Laysan albatross) queen, has returned to Kuailhelani (Midway Atoll). #Birds
11779232
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
Stoked to have controlled this #Firecrest in the 'wild' area of @londonzoo.bsky.social. It had been ringed at @landguardbo.bsky.social in October and is almost certainly a continental migrant. It is one of only ~6 Firecrests that have travelled over 100km in the UK #Londonbirds #birdinging #BTO
1396
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
#cootstudy Anyone know who has used colour-ring WN(NDV)? It was in The Regent’s Park in London today. If so can you send me the metal ring number. Thank you.
000
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
Really excited with my first ever Vestal in my garden moth trap in west London last night 😀. #teammoth #londonmoths #mothsmatter
1492
Reposted by Bill Haines (West London Birding)
Kane Brides 🦆 @kanebrides.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
I've been updating our collaborative #CootStudy database. I started the study 17 years ago & thanks to a network of bird ringers across Britain & Ireland we've now colour-marked 4,400 Coot & received over 13,000 re-sightings. Pretty cool for a bird you hardly see in flight! #Ornithology #BirdRinging
15711
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
An excellent start to the 2025-26 season of the waterbird monitoring project for @theroyalparks.bsky.social yesterday with 22 birds of 7 species captured and ringed under licence, incuding individuals for both #cootstudy & #NMP #birdringing #londonbirds
2111
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
A leucistic drake Common Pochard in the Colne Valley today for those of you who like that sort of thing.
020
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
Following on from an earlier posts about 'blue 2369', this is a great example of the same staging site being used pre- & post-breeding by one of the c/r Black-headed Gulls we ringed @theroyalparks.bsky.social last winter. Safe trip back to London! 📷Maarten Hotting. #londonbirds #gulls #birdringing
071
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
Interesting c/r gull sightings from @theroyalparks.bsky.social waterbird project seem to be like buses. Here's #Blackheadedgull blue 2356 looking very smart in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation on 14/05/2025, 2116km E of #TheRoundPond (where she was ringed in November 2024). 📸Mariia Azbeleva
Colour-ringed summer plumage Black-headed Gull ringed in London and resighted recently in St. Petersburg
061
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
A first for @theroyalparks.bsky.social waterbird monitoring project. One of our #blackheadedgulls (blue 2369 -ringed in December '24) was recorded on a camera trap! And even better is that it was on a small island in the Ijsselmeer (Netherlands). 📸courtesy of @maartenhotting.bsky.social. #ringing
Picture of colour-ringed Black-headed gull taken with a camera-trapMap showing movement of black-headed gull between London and the Netherlands
071
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Our first 'customer' for CES Ringing 2025, Reed Bunting ABJ5611. She was ringed as a juvenile in June 2021 so is nearly 4 years old. #CES #birdringing #birdbanding #londonbirds
Head portrait of a female Reed Bunting (bird)
050
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
Always nice to get a White Ermine in the moth trap, especially such a fresh one early in the season, even if it is hiding its right antenna. #moths #mothsmatter #londonmoths
080
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Proud parents U416 ♂️ & U580 ♀️ (ringed under licence as part of @theroyalparks.bsky.social Waterbird Montoring Project) with their new family. One of a number of pairs of #GreylagGeese seen with young in #TheRegentsPark today. #ringing #colourringing #Londonbirds #geese
Pair of colour-ringed Greylag geese with thie new goslings
050
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
000
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
Caught and colour-ringed our last 4 #blackheadedgulls of the ‘24/25 season today in @theroyalparks including this smart lady. Safe travels guys and gulls (pun intended)
1162
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
With spring seemingly arriving many of @theroyalparks.bsky.social #Blackheadedgulls are thinking about, or already have left for their breeding grounds in continental Euope/Fennoscandia. Our #colour-marked birds have been seen this week in Southend and the Issjelmeer in the Netherlands. #migration
Black-headed gull in flight
061
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
Wisdom (the world's oldest known bird) has done it again! friendsofmidway.org/wisdom-preva... 📸Dan Rapp (USFWS)
010
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
Definitely quality over quantity at this morning's ringing session in #HydePark @theroyalparks.bsky.social. 14 birds captured including Pochard and Gadwall as well as the more frequently captured Coot, Black-headed Gull, Mute Swan and Greylag Goose @birdingtothemax.bsky.social @NJ_Burnham #ringing
Female PochardDrake GadwallCoot
090
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
Every year, without fail on #BigGardenBirdwatch weekend all our ‘regular’ birds do a bunk. It’s as if they know😂. Anyone else noticed this phenomenon? …… 🧵 1/2
130
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
Great work at #TheRegentsPark by @magnusphotog.bsky.social today who managed to ring-read the #Shelduck that we ringed at #StJamessPark in Jan 2023 (and was also resighted there in Jan 2024). Wonder where it goes during the summer? @theroyalparks.bsky.social #birdringing #londonbirds
0121
Bill Haines (West London Birding) @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
Nice rapid movement of one of our @theroyalparks.bsky.social colour-marked #blackheadedgulls. Taking just 7 days from N. Poland to London presumably as a result of the onset of colder weather on the continent and at an average of ca.170km per day. #Londonbirds #ringing
0111