Balnakeil 27th May 2026

A last-minute decision to head to Scotland's NW corner today hoping for a late May surprise. On the drive up a Weasel ran across the road which gave me hope for a morning of surprises. 

In the craft village the only migrant of note was a Spotted Flycatcher, while two Cuckoos were making a good racket. Onwards to the marsh which is usually the most exciting part of this area, and proved to be today, as I caught up with the long-staying drake Garganey. A flava-type Yellow Wagtail also flew over... two Highland ticks in very quick succession! Also on the marsh was a Wood Sandpiper, an Arctic Skua and Osprey flew through, and off shore, one of the islands had a good number of Puffins nesting.

A scan of the sea was rewarded with three Risso's Dolphins.

Willow Warbler

drk Garganey

Osprey

freeze-framed shots of the Risso's Dolphins

the marsh at Balnakeil

entrance to Balnakeil

Loch Ness 24th May 2026

A sad start to the day with hearing about the passing of John F Cooper, a birding legend and the finder of countless Sussex firsts, mostly at Beachy Head, where I first met him in 2005. His last mega find here being the 2015 Short-toed Treecreeper, which was unfortunately one of the final times I saw him out in the field. My thoughts are with Doreen, David, Brenda, and the rest of family.

This afternoon, news of a White-billed Diver on Loch Ness had us rushing down to Fort Augustus where thankfully Emily spotted it hugging the eastern shoreline. Patience proved vital as the bird did eventually come closer. A dark-phase Arctic Skua was a very odd sighting here too!

a rather poor image of the White-billed Diver

Beachy Head 15th May 2026

It's always nice when a commitment down in Sussex coincides with a county tick, in this case, my first Subalpine Warbler of any sort. Thankfully, this was a male and easily identifiable as an Eastern! The last twitchable Subalpine Warbler I believe was at Pagham Harbour, an autumn female-type on the peninsular somewhere, maybe 2006 or 07. Probably a good job I didn't bother with this as it wouldn't be down to species status nowadays. 

an awful phone-bin shot
of the male Eastern Subalpine Warbler

Rubha Reidh 12th May 2026

Having kept a close eye on the looming weather fronts and NW winds approaching the Northwest corner of Scotland, it felt like a safe bet to venture that way in the hope of witnessing the annual Long-tailed Skua movement. 

Now, North Uist is and always will be the best place to see them, in excellent numbers and close range, but the best I could summon on mainland was one of my favourites. Rubha Reidh Lighthouse to the north of Gairloch juts out enough to warrant a seawatch. With squally showers predicted from mid-afternoon onwards, it felt like a perfect 'storm'.

Despite my morning session proving fruitless with just a single Pomarine Skua north, reports of Long-taileds from Uist and further north of mainland Scotland gave me hope, and with showers forming out to sea from 2pm, I finally latched onto my first flock, comprising nine birds. Although distant, absolutely unmistakable. 

Over the course of the next three hours, a total of 70 Long-tailed Skuas flew north, including a superb flock of nine that were relatively close in. It is thought most of these birds would have missed Skye altogether, and instead come through the Sound of Harris, as Skye reported no birds yesterday, but I'm unsure whether anyone was actively searching for them. The close group of nine presumably did come up the western peninsula of Skye?

Once the showers stopped, passage ceased abruptly. 

Totals 0945 - 1745

Long-tailed Skua- 70 (groups of 9, 13, 3,9,11,15,10)
Pomarine Skua - 14
Arctic Skua - 14
Great Skua - 3
Skua sp. - 7
Manx Shearwater - 10
Puffin - 8

Recent Highland Goodies

Although it's so far been a fairly quiet spring in Highland, and no doubt the best is still to come, it's been a good start. 

This morning, I went to see a singing male Woodchat Shrike at Brora. Found last night, I was half expecting at least someone to be present in the hour I was watching it, alas, it was just me. A stunning bird! Afterwards a brief seawatch off Lothbeg Point produced my first 'Highland' Little Terns, with four passing south. 

Last week, and only five minutes from home, a female Ring-necked Duck spent a few days on Loch Laide along with some fine summer-plumaged Slavonian Grebes.

A Little Ringed Plover was another good bird, this being at Udale Bay which spent at least two weeks here.

Other than these, it's been great to see Pied Flycatchers, Wood Warblers, stacks of Grasshopper Warblers, Cuckoos and Tree Pipits.

Woodchat Shrike at Brora

female Ring-necked Duck on Loch Laide

Married 11th April 2026

 

Sundarbans NP, Bangladesh - January 2026

After our two nights up at Satchari NP in the NE of the country, we then re-positioned, via a very long drive, down to Khulna (Bangladesh's third largest city) and launched in our vessel southwards into the heart of the Sundarbans. 

Over the next five days, we had ample opportunity to seek out the region's most desired species, the key ones being Masked Finfoot and White-eared Night Heron. We thankfully struck gold on both very efficiently on our first diurnal and nocturnal outings, but over the course of the next few days we obtained some grand views of both. Overall, we saw two male Masked Finfoot, but no females. 

The Masked Finfoot is sadly fairly soon going to be pushed into the extinction category. Its habitat, freshwater mangrove channels, are reverting to saline, due to sea-level rise and increased frequency in monsoons, therefore pushing the salt water further inland. The habitat of the finfoot is therefore decreasing as the further north you go, the closer to human interaction there will be. Over fishing and general disturbance are other key attributes to the specie's demise. The local leader suggested there may be as few as 33 individuals remaining in Bangladesh... a tragic total. 

Other decent birds encountered during the outings were Brown-winged Kingfisher, Malayan Night Heron, Ruddy Kingfisher, while on the boardwalk close to the park headquarters, I was finally able to add Mangrove Whistler having missed it several times in SE Asia; Mangrove Pitta eventually showed well and a single corner of this area was like being on Fair Isle, as it held both Brown and Taiga Flycatchers, Dusky and Blyth's Reed Warblers, and a Brown Shrike!

One of the highlights though was a near-miss, as we encountered a very fresh set of Tiger pugmarks, predicted to have passed only half-hour before we arrived. We did however see two Mainland Leopard Cats, both Smooth-coated and Short-clawed Otters and Saltwater Crocodiles. Both Irrawaddy and Ganges River Dolphins were seen well, the former a new cetacean for me.

Masked Finfoot

White-eared Night Heron

Brown-winged Kingfisher

Mangrove Pitta

Our home on the Sundarbans, the Biwali, owned by Pugmark