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Reposted by Humphrey Keeper

Birds of Poole Harbour @harbourbirds.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Great range of birds across the harbour today: 94 Spoonbill, 4 Glossy Ibis, 1 Little Stint, 2 Goshawk, 2 Osprey, 2 WT Eagle, 4 GW Egret, c300 Avocet, 3 Green Sand, 2 Pochard, 1 LRP, 3 Marsh Harrier, 1 Red Kite, 50+ Ringo plus ‘the usual’ @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social @birdguides.bsky.social

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

A terrific six days spent in and around Tarifa and Doñana last week with @joesn.bsky.social and co. An overwhelming number of new species, I'd recommend the area to anyone looking for any sort of wildlife adventure!

A distant Short-toed Snake Eagles passes overhead on migration

A Pilot Whale breaks the surface in the Strait of Gibraltar

A Western Black-eared Wheatear perches on a dry plant

A lanky red-legged Black-winged Stilt stands to attention in some water

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BirdGuides @birdguides.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

A small number of 'pioneering' Osprey pairs that establish territories away from existing breeding populations could hold the key to accelerating the species' recovery across Britain and Europe, new research suggests:

f.mtr.cool

'Pioneering' Ospreys could accelerate recovery of UK populations

A long-term study has revealed that a small number of Osprey pairs play a disproportionately important role in recolonising areas beyond established breeding populations.

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Surprised to find this very unseasonable Slavonian Grebe at Stithians Reservoir in Cornwall yesterday afternoon alongside 3 Wood Sandpipers. The photo was taken on my phone through my bins. @cbwps.org.uk #ukbirding

A small water bird in water behind a muddy bank

One of the Wood Sandpipers, a small mottled brown wading bird along the side of a stream

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Birds of Poole Harbour @harbourbirds.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

An adult male Honey Buzzard came and landed on our Osprey nest briefly this afternoon, digging in the nest searching for a potential wasp or bees nest?! @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social @birdguides.bsky.social

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mkwright67.bsky.social @mkwright67.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

6T7 at play today on this afternoons visitor experience at Careys @harbourbirds.bsky.social @ukoi.bsky.social

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mkwright67.bsky.social @mkwright67.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

6T7 & maybe 6T6 together over the viewing platform at Careys @harbourbirds.bsky.social @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social @ukoi.bsky.social

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Visited Collard Hill on my way back from Pembrokeshire last month. Sadly I didn't run into any Large Blues, but I was fortunate enough to see my first ever Hornet Robberfly hunting over some dung. It caught this dung beetle after a couple of attempts! #UKWildlife

A large yellow and orange fly sits atop a pile of dung with a small black beetle in its mouth.

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Leela Channer @leelachanner.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Anyone know what this tiny crab might be? Three of them on a compass jellyfish on the Pembrokeshire coast a few weeks ago.

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Shocked to see this monster while swimming at Manorbier Beach in Pembs today. A huge Barrel Jellyfish that proved popular with the other beach-goers! #UKWildlife

A big blue-tinged jellyfish beneath the surface of the water. The bell is margined with purple frills and has several frilly oral arms trailing.

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

A childhood dream fulfilled for me last night with a short feature on Springwatch! Thanks to Jo and Josh for making it such a cracking segment! And everyone who came along on the night @finleyhutchins2.bsky.social @sibthorpia.bsky.social @jamesdrage.bsky.social @leelachanner.bsky.social #teammoth

James, Finley, and I setting up one of the moth traps in and around the ruins at Poltesco, while being filmed.

One of the moth traps we had set up around the site

Two Cream-spot Tiger Moths, probably the highlight of the night, other than one Small Mottled Willow

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Finally found my first nudibranch yesterday after 7 years of abject failure in the rock pools of Falmouth. This Orange-clubbed Sea Slug (Limacia clavigera) was hiding beneath some kelp. With @leelachanner.bsky.social

A white slug with numerous tendrils ending yellow and orange clubs sits on a brown bit of kelp which dwarfs the tiny slug.

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Leela Channer @leelachanner.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Polycera quadrilineata in Falmouth yesterday, with @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social. Spotted floating on the surface at the edge of the rocks, and seemed to be using the tide to move between different areas of seaweed. Time for some research...

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

An incredible night's mothing at Pendennis Castle yesterday resulted in migrants galore! 13(!) Eastern Bordered Straw were the highlight, with good numbers of lots of other migrants too. With @finleyhutchins2.bsky.social @leelachanner.bsky.social #teammoth

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Leela Channer @leelachanner.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

A fantastic puffin and seabird cruise with @harbourbirds.bsky.social! Plenty of auks, including the sought-after puffins; common and sandwich terns hunting; a couple of gannets; and a beautiful sunset by the Old Harry Rocks. Thanks for the suggestion @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social

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Birds of Poole Harbour @harbourbirds.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Incredibly exciting news, one of our newly returned 2-year old Ospreys, male 5R0 has just briefly landed on a harbour nest platform with Scottish ringed female 6J8, a 2024 female from the Tweed Valley & was recently seen in the Usk Valley @careyssecretgarden.bsky.social @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social

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Birds of Poole Harbour @harbourbirds.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Busy weekend with seabird cruise on Sat eve, then back-to-back spring and sunset safaris y'day & today! Seabird highlights - 3 Pom Skua, 3 Puffin, stacks of Guillemot + great views of Kittiwake & Razorbill Harbour highlights - Osprey hunting, sum-plum sanderling, Grey Plover, hunting Hobby & more

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Springwatch is back tonight folks, 8pm, BBC2! I've got a feeling it's going to be a corker 👀 !

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

A nice walk to Ham Common at lunch delivered plenty of good inverts. The highlights being my vote for Britain's Favourite Butterfly (vote at britainsfavouritebutterfly.co.uk ), a Sawfly (Strongylogaster sp.), and what I think is Ptychoptera contaminata? @dorsetbutterflies.bsky.social

A small black and yellow insect on a bracken flower

A lanky fly sitting on a verdant green leaf with patterned wings

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

It ain't easy being green 🟢🟩💚 The Hairstreaks are being done unbelievably dirty by the main illustrations only being upperwing :( Go and vote for your favourite UK butterfly! britainsfavouritebutterfly.co.uk/butterfly/gr... britainsfavouritebutterfly.co.uk

britainsfavouritebutterfly.co.uk

Green Hairstreak - Britain’s Favourite Butterfly

The Green Hairstreak is one of the 60 beautiful butterflies found across the UK. Will it be Britain's Favourite Butterfly?

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

BLOG ALERT: It has been a while since I have shared a blog post, mostly because this one took me so long to write. This a little bit about my trip to Uganda with @leelachanner.bsky.social . Trigger warning for an image of a dead animal! single-handed-naturalist.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-...

single-handed-naturalist.blogspot.com

The Link Bus from Kampala to Kasese and Other Stories

For the past three years, my partner, Leela, has been regularly travelling to a peninsula in the far West of Uganda to carry out her PhD res...

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BTO England @btoengland.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Are you aged 11–17 and do you love nature? There's still time to apply for our brilliant BTO Bird Camp in Dorset, 17–19 July, kindly supported by @harbourbirds.bsky.social Applications by Sunday at 23.59 please! www.bto.org/our-work/you... 📷 BTO England Bird Camp staff in 2023, BTO Youth

Young people (BTO staff members and youth volunteers) on the BTO England Bird Camp 2023. Photograph by BTO Youth.

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

I had an eventful morning helping out on our Osprey Recovery tour with @harbourbirds.bsky.social . I was scanning the trees over Carey's when I picked out a funny looking kite. A few seconds of checking it confirmed it as a Black Kite!!!! My rarest find ever, and Dorset gets better and better!

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Mya Bambrick @myabambrick.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Looking forward to this next weekend! Now open to under 30s too 🪶🤩 Book for free here: www.bto.org/our-work/eve... @btobirds.bsky.social @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Osprey soaring over Wareham Channel by Arne viewed from Ham Common Viewpoint. Spent a while circling low over Shipstal before being lost to view at 4:55. @harbourbirds.bsky.social

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British Birds @britishbirds.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

This month's main paper in British Birds: Observations on the use of a solar park by Corn Buntings in southern England Read more: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti... 📸Thom Shannon

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

The Swineham Red-Spotted Bluethroat showed briefly this morning at 9:49. My second lifer this week after seeing the Forster's Tern on Brownsea Lagoon on Friday. Dorset seems to have some pretty good birds! @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social @harbourbirds.bsky.social

A small brown and cream bird with a stunning blue and orange throat sitting on a dirt path between two grassy banks.

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Birds of Poole Harbour @harbourbirds.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Brilliant Spring Safari this AM: 5 WT Eagle, 1 Osprey, 3 Spoonbill, 1 Common Sand, 2 Whimbrel, 2 Marsh Harrier, c50 Avocet, 20+ Swallow, c20 Dunlin, c10 Common Tern, 1 FORSTER’S TERN (Brownsea Lagoon), 1 Red Kite, c300 Blackwit, 2 Greenshank @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social @birdguides.bsky.social

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Mick Brooks @mick666.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Interloper at Lytchett Bay @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social proved to be a good birding (and more importantly butterfly) companion this afternoon. Looks like you have another good un @harbourbirds.bsky.social (although we didn’t find any of his target birds, so may be a Jonah…!)

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

It was good to see my first few Orange-Tips of the year today at Lytchett Bay, as well as my first Bearded Reedling in Dorset at Swineham. With @mick666.bsky.social @dorsetbutterflies.bsky.social

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Excited to have moved down to Poole to start working with @harbourbirds.bsky.social ! Also excited to be exploring a new patch, Ham Common looks to be a treat and I can't wait to be visiting regularly throughout the summer!

The view from Ham Common viewpoint, looking out over Arne in the distance, Poole Harbour, and short gorse which makes up a good portion of Ham Common

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Was incredible to see this movement of spotless policemen skipper butterflies on the Mweya Peninsula in Uganda yesterday evening! Fortunately @leelachanner.bsky.social had seen it before, and shared this paper about the phenomenon doi.org/10.4314/met....

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Andrej Spiridonov @andrejpaleo.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Dynamic balance of plants and megafauna on the geological time scales and not a succession👇 "Revisiting Europe's temperate forests: Palaeoecological evidence for an herbivory-driven woodland-grassland mosaic biome" www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 🧪 ⚒️ #Geology #Paleobio #Macroecology

sciencedirect.com

Revisiting Europe's temperate forests: Palaeoecological evidence for an herbivory-driven woodland-grassland mosaic biome

Understanding the pre-Homo sapiens baseline of the temperate forest biome is crucial for interpreting present-day biodiversity patterns, ecosystem fun…

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Leela Channer @leelachanner.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

See below for an excellent birding blog (unbiased perspective from a potentially biased individual)

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

I've started a blog to start the new year, and the first post is up about my trip to France for the new year. I haven't quite got the hang of brevity yet, but don't let that stop you from getting to the treat at the end: single-handed-naturalist.blogspot.com/2026/01/new-...

single-handed-naturalist.blogspot.com

New Year Trip to the foothills of the Pyrenees and the Gard

Why Blog? Before I detail my observations from this trip, I think it would be best to elaborate on why I wanted to start this blog. I have...

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

A trip to the Grotte de l'Hortus in Hérault this morning provided a long awaited lifer in the form of a wallcreeper. It was joined on the crags by a supporting cast of three blue rock thrush, peregrine, and crag martins. With @leelachanner.bsky.social

A huge cliff surrounded by woodland, foregrounded by an empty winter vineyard and set against a blue sky with wispy clouds

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

A crested tit hollering in a shrub outside the window where I'm staying in the Pyrenees was my first bird of 2026! Hopefully many more to come

The view from the window of where I'm currently staying in the Pyrenees. You can see a mountain in the distance

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Been working on a little video looking at IDing Aythya ducks over the past month. Feel free to give it a watch here as a little early Christmas present (if you're a fan of niche ducks): youtu.be/f4aF7_zONIM?...

youtu.be

A Deep Dive into Aythyism

YouTube video by Humphrey Keeper

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

youtu.be

A Deep Dive into Aythyism

YouTube video by Humphrey Keeper

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

I can't recommend this enough! Come work with a brilliant team of young people enthusiastic about the natural world

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 26/10/2025

The Ring-necked Duck which has been enjoying Helston boating lake recently came very close yesterday! #ukbirding @cbwps.org.uk

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Great couple of days birding down here in the South West. A quick trip down the Lizard on Tuesday for the Steppe Grey Shrike was followed by a day trip across to Scilly yesterday, where the Eyebrowed Thrush showed incredibly well despite the rain!

A bird distantly perched on a bush at the edge of a field. The steppe grey shrike

A bird perched in amongst shrubbery: an eyebrowed thrush

A bird perched in somewhat darker shrubbery: an eyebrowed thrush

A group of damp birders in a small woodland looking out across a field at a clump of trees

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

Bonkers day-trip to St Agnes yesterday provided two lifers. The mourning dove didn't move much but the spotted sandpiper, american pipit, and hoopoe all put on a show to make up for it. With @leelachanner.bsky.social @liamlangley1.bsky.social and quite a few others!

A very tired mourning dove, perched on a blue pallet

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Impressive showing from the Arctic Tern that's been about at Argal Res for the past few days @cbwps.org.uk @leelachanner.bsky.social

A small bird sits in the evening light at the water's edge

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Peter Stronach @macstronach.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

Just back from a pelagic trip out to the Whittard Canyon area on the continental shelf edge with @scillypelagics.bsky.social @scottinscilly.bsky.social @nomadbirder.bsky.social Madeiran Storm Petrel reclassified from MEGA!!! to scarce summer visitor in one evening with 84 counted last night! 😂

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

Had a great time at Spurn's #migfest this weekend. Not too many birds but good to spend some time with friends new and old. with @joesn.bsky.social @finchleybirder.bsky.social @samodonnell25.bsky.social @desertwarbler.bsky.social @amiranuseibeh.bsky.social and many many more

Birders waiting around in the early hours in a field with a spotting scope visible in the front of frame, a structure and some bushes are seen in the background.

An array of windmills out to sea with the sun rising behind them.

A small brown bird chilling on a beach, it is looking to its right. (An Arctic Skua)

Two small wading birds walking in some mudflats, surrounded by water and rocks. (Curlew Sandpiper and Dunlin)

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

Lovely to see a few knot this morning at Snettisham, accompanied by a spectacular supporting cast of glossy ibis and little stint with @joesn.bsky.social @rspbtitchwellsnett.bsky.social

Some of the knot that take part in the spectacular

A glossy ibis flying just above some greenery, with a grey sea in the background

A little stint feeding along the edge of the water amongst pebbles and vegetation.

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Humphrey Keeper @humphrey-keeper.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

Another invert treat from the BTO weekend in Shropshire. A Dark Sword Grass from the moth trap!

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