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Chris Darby

@chrisddarby.bsky.social
254 followers 121 following 212 posts

Retired marine scientist. Birding mainly Kessingland, Suffolk & Runwell, Essex. chrisdarbyimages.blogspot.com

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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 18h
Tonight’s aurora from Suffolk; with a bonus shooting star.
The aurora borealis in Suffolk tonight.
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Essex 8 (eight) white storks just gone east over Brock hill heading to rettendon turnpike as a circling flock 200 ft high. @essexbirdnews.bsky.social
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Reposted by Chris Darby
Gavin Durrant @gavindurrant1.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
4 shots from a sequence showing a Short eared owl unsuccessfully trying to rob a Barn owl of its prey #ukbirding
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Also 110+ Grey Phalaropes 2 Long-tailed Skuas (juvs) 1 Pomarine Skuas 15 Arctic Skuas 6 Great Skuas 3 Sabine’s Gulls (1 ad / 1 subad / 1 juv) 1 Little Gull (1stw) 1 Black Tern (juv) 20 Arctic Terns 85 Sandwich Terns 17 Red-throated Divers 3 Puffins
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Sea watched The Bridges of Ross, Co. Clare yesterday with a group from @oriolebirding.bsky.social 08:00-15:30 Force 6 W turning Force 5 N Not too shabby! 100+ Leach’s Storm-petrels 2 European Storm-petrels 2 Great Shearwaters 64 Cory’s Shearwaters 300+ Sooty Shearwaters 2000+ Manx Shearwaters
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Lightning over Suffolk yesterday.
Lightning aeroplane leaving vapour trails in the sky
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Red-footed falcon Lowestoft 1/09/2026 A very confiding juvenile has apparently been in the center of the town, sitting on a roof and fence, since at least Friday. #birds #ukbirds #suffolkbirds @suffolkbirdgroup.bsky.social
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Whinchat & Lesser whitethroat Kessingland, Suffolk 29/08/2026 No sign of the wryneck today before the rain stopped play #birds
WhinchatLesser whitethroat
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Purple sandpiper Kessingland sluice 27/08/2026 Also 10 wheatear, redstart and the common warblers moving through. Autumn is coming! #birds
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Reposted by Chris Darby
Gavin Durrant @gavindurrant1.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Kingfisher beats a Three spined Stickleback against the perch so hard it leaves the fish impaled by it's spines. #ukbirding
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Photo-bombed by an airliner while filming the partial eclipse. There were also some nice reflections in the reservoir.
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Yesterday's partial eclipse filmed from Hanningfield, Essex
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Black storks Kessingland 04/08/2026 Species 125 for the garden - well overdue as I have been away for three previous singles. #birds Tracked by the BINS and local WhatsApp groups north along the Suffolk coast and up into Norfolk. @suffolkbirdgroup.bsky.social @lowestoftlizards.bsky.social
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
www.reuters.com/business/aer... #birds
reuters.com
Bird nests of fibre-optic cables show war's impact on Ukraine
Woven from fibre-optic cable and grass, a small ​bird's nest found near the front line of the war in Ukraine shows how the more ‌than four-year-old conflict is reshaping the natural environment, resea...
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Grey wagtail 25/06/2026 Aira force, Cumbria
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Venus in conjunction with the new moon 17/06
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
These days the main rarity for the area is little owl.
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Reposted by Chris Darby
Howard Vaughan - blueeyedbirder.com @howardvaughanbeb.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Not quite sure how to sum up the first full day on the MV Ortelius on our @bwntours.bsky.social Svalbard tour. We got very lucky indeed with two Polar Bear encounters. The second from the zodiac was unexpected and beyond anyone's expectations. We are still lost for words.
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
European badger Essex, UK
European badger, photographed in a reflection pool
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Gull-billed tern Minsmere RSPB 31/05/2026 Thankfully, at Island Mere it was feeding on dragonflies, not the avocet chicks it was taking on the scrape @rspbminsmere.bsky.social @suffolkbirdgroup.bsky.social #birds #suffolkbirding
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Gull-billed tern Minsmere RSPB 31/05/2026 Reterned for better views feeding close to Island Mere hide @rspbminsmere.bsky.social @suffolkbirdgroup.bsky.social #birds #suffolkbirding
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
With the rainbow colours + black and white (10) that gives 10^6 =1,000,000. Agree excessive.
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
A stealth predator. The locals will not be expecting it.
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Gull-billed tern Minsmere RSPB 30/05/2026 We were in shock when the fish we thought it was carrying, turned out to be a chick. Identified from the images as an avocet. @rspbminsmere.bsky.social #birds #suffolkbirding @suffolkbirdgroup.bsky.social
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
That’s good quality. What is the camera?
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
Red-footed falcon Carlton marshes, Suffolk, 7/5/2026
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
Red-footed falcon Carlton marshes, Suffolk, 7/5/2026 Catching hairy dragonflies.
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Cream-coloured courser Cape Verde 03/05/2026 #birds
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Red-footed falcon Carlton marshes, 07/05/2026 With at least 30 hobbies. Best found by the silver on the upper wing showing clearly at distance. #birds
Adult male red-footed falcon Adult male red-footed falcon showing the silver upper-wing
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Red-billed tropicbird Cape Verde 02/05/2026 Having arrived in Cape Verde to meet the MV Hondius for a seabird passage to Madeira, we were told that the cruise had been cancelled due to a virus outbreak. Our thoughts are with those still on board and those who have lost friends and family. #birds
Red-billed tropic bird soaring the cliffs of Praia, Cape Verde
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Tawny pipit Landguard, Suffolk, 30/04/2026 Best seen in the morning or late afternoon, when the heat haze decreases. Can show well but usually distant. Definitely worth putting in the time. #birds
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Nice photo bomb. Is it a tern? - the bill looks too long and pointed. Possibly Forster’s winter plumage?
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
That’s a high mortality rate!
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Thanks - a long way from your patch. The reserve has matured well and it is an interesting local site to visit.
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Tawny Owl Essex, 21/04/2026 Taking a break in the box entrance. She seems to be an expert at taking #birds; catching another jackdaw (4th) last night, as well as a huge rat.
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Grey wagtail Hanningfield, Essex, 20/04/2026 Relatively quiet WeBS today but the supporting #birds included a new singing nightingale area, cetti's & garden warblers, yellow and grey wagtail, swift, swallow, house and sand martin
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
Tawny owl Essex 16/04/2026 Due to the kids taking over the box, the female is spending as much time outside as the mobbing blackbirds and corvids allow. The feathers are jackdaws, she has caught three so far.
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
"Common" Nightingale Hanningfield, 18/04/2026
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Nightingale Hanningfield, Essex. 17/04/2026 #birds
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Reposted by Chris Darby
Gavin Durrant @gavindurrant1.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
A few Kingfisher shots from SWT Worlingham marshes last week #ukbirding
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
The tawny owls are feeding and protecting 8 and 9 day old chicks. Stock doves and jackdaws have been inside the box while she has been sitting on the eggs and were chased out. This morning while resting in the entrance she had enough and a jackdaw became a midday meal for the thee of them. #birds
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
A local reed bed and heath morning, followed by a visit to the Brecks, produced the #bird species that a visiting colleague was hoping to see. A sing off between three nightingales, that seem to have came in over-night, and a pair of drumming lesser spots were highlights.
Dartford warblerWood larkMale lesser spotted woodpeckerGoshawks sparring
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Reposted by Chris Darby
James Wright @guntonbirder.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
The irony of the Lowestoft Journal (once a decent paper wayyy back in the day) running a story about a mistakenly mis-id gull with gull pictures with the wrong names in the captions.... And 'thousands' didn't turn up. Nowhere near those numbers! #fakenews www.lowestoftjournal.co.uk/news/2596334...
lowestoftjournal.co.uk
Thousands disappointed after flocking to coast to see ultra-rare bird
Thousands of bird enthusiasts flocked to Lowestoft on the Suffolk coast, hoping to see a rare bird called a great black-headed gull.
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Red-crested pochard Hanningfield, Essex, 23/03/2026 A very still morning for today's WeBS count.
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Incubating a clutch of three eggs laid on the 25 & 28/02 and 03/03. Only 2 of 4 fledged last time. If the brood period is the same the hatching should begin around the 25-27th. The male has been bringing a mix of short-tailed vole, wood mouse and brown rat each night. #birds #EssexOwls
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Hume's warbler and Firecrest Sparrows nest, Lowestoft, 06/03/2026
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
It was epic,Cheryl. And unexpected, as I only had a weeks notice that a space had become available. It is somewhere I have always wanted to go and was everything I had imagined. The people, the scenery and the wildlife.
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Hi. Both are opportunistic hunters and carrion feeders, eating fish, ducks, geese, gulls... Very similar to coastal bald eagle.
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Steller's sea eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus) versus White-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) Pack ice off Rausu, Japan, 14/02/2026 Go #birds!
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Chris Darby @chrisddarby.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Steller's sea eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus) & White-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) Taken from a boat in the pack ice off Rausu, Japan, 14/02/2026 Go #birds!
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