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Chris Williams

@hilbre

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25.08.2024
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Latest posts by Chris Williams @hilbre

Rock Pipit with nesting material

Rock Pipit with nesting material

Black Redstart

Black Redstart

Black Redstart

Black Redstart

Black Redstart

Black Redstart

Not just the team @hilbrebirdobs.bsky.social getting on with spring maintenance, a nice Black Redstart near home too. #ukbirding

08.03.2026 19:03 👍 19 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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New to Spurn? Want to improve your wildlife identification skills? Join us for one of our exclusive Residential Retreats! 🐦🦋🦌

We are now taking bookings for our spring and summer dates for 2026, which you can find with further information here:
spurnbirdobservatory.co.uk/.../spurn-re....

06.03.2026 11:39 👍 8 🔁 1 💬 4 📌 0
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Cracking morning @hilbrebirdobs.bsky.social with @philwoollen.bsky.social & my eldest. Highlights a c-ringed Stonechat (ringed on Mull🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Aug25), another which we caught&ringed (1 of 5 on), 3 Chiffchaff, 2 Coal Tits (scarce spring migrant at Hilbre) and much more (all on our blog) #UkBirding #Ringing

04.03.2026 21:42 👍 44 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 0
Male Northern Wheatear on sandstone rock North End of Hilbre Bird Observatory

Male Northern Wheatear on sandstone rock North End of Hilbre Bird Observatory

My earliest ever #Wheatear this morning @hilbrebirdobs.bsky.social - a beautiful male just returned from Africa. The wonder of migration 🌍 #UKBirding

05.03.2026 18:40 👍 50 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Another lovely early spring morning @hilbrebirdobs.bsky.social ... male Stonechat and Wheatear #Birdringing #Ukbirding

05.03.2026 20:26 👍 26 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
5th March 2026 Weather: SE force 5 with mist, later SE backing north 4   But the sun shone through later. The first Wheatear of the year, on this excepti...

Our blog for another great early spring day on Hilbre Islands LNR is uploaded, click on the link to view: hilbrebirdobs.blogspot.com/2026/03/5th-march-2026.html?m=1

05.03.2026 22:33 👍 6 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
Stonechat

Stonechat

Knot & Dunlin

Knot & Dunlin

Male Hen Harrier

Male Hen Harrier

Wood pigeon

Wood pigeon

#ukbirding

01.03.2026 16:49 👍 20 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Male Hen Harrier

Male Hen Harrier

Male Hen Harrier

Male Hen Harrier

Purple Sandpiper

Purple Sandpiper

Stonechat

Stonechat

Spring was in full swing @hilbrebirdobs.bsky.social with all the locals back in full voice, Stonechats buzzed around the paddock fences & waders fed as the tide moved them. Great to see a male Hen Harrier come in from the North before heading West, a sadly rare bird here now. #ukbirding

01.03.2026 16:47 👍 33 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0
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So pleased to see flicks of Purple Sandpipers too, clearly not bothered about the eagles! #ornithology

22.02.2026 10:34 👍 11 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Long-tailed Ducks & Waxwings, Tromsø Norway.

22.02.2026 09:33 👍 8 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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White-tailed Eagles Tromsø Norway recently.

22.02.2026 09:28 👍 16 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
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BTO's Young Bird Observatory Visitors Programme opens doors for the next generation of birders Free placements at UK bird observatories give young people hands-on experience in fieldwork, migration study and life at the sharp end of bird monitoring

BTO's Young Bird Observatory Visitors Programme opens doors for the next generation of birders www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/v2/Content/B...

20.02.2026 14:20 👍 5 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
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The winter regulars greeted me @hilbrebirdobs.bsky.social in the cold & damp, we were rewarded after doing a few repairs with a couple of Porpoises off the North end headed into the estuary

15.02.2026 20:52 👍 12 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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A recent trip to Norfolk for the @birdobscouncil.bsky.social meeting meant we birded the poor weather and caught up with the Eastern Black Redstart eventually, Cranes in the mist and a nice Hume’s warbler (honestly!)

15.02.2026 20:34 👍 7 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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We’re recruiting at Spurn Bird Observatory 🐦

Head Little Tern Warden + 2 Assistant roles available at Beacon Ponds this season.

Details here 👉 spurnbirdobservatory.co.uk/news

08.02.2026 18:30 👍 8 🔁 12 💬 0 📌 0

Latest developments in this crucial story summarised: eastangliabylines.co.uk/opinion/a-su...
Please share!

25.01.2026 09:55 👍 107 🔁 77 💬 1 📌 4
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Slightly random one...
Wondering if there might be a Manchester/Salford birder who might be thinking of heading over for the Speke grackle tomorrow (maybe the roost?), please drop us a DM 👍 (...and if you've got a spare pair of bins, even better 😉😂).
Thanks v much, Mark
#manchesterbirders
#grackle

25.01.2026 19:58 👍 4 🔁 7 💬 0 📌 0
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The long overdue 2024 BOC News is now published online at
tinyurl.com/BOC-News-2024
Some amazing images and stories from around the Observatory network and a memoriam for the late Steve Wing.

03.11.2025 13:35 👍 15 🔁 6 💬 1 📌 1
Firecrest catching insects

Firecrest catching insects

Firecrest finding insects

Firecrest finding insects

Firecrest caught insects

Firecrest caught insects

Firecrest

Firecrest

More Firecrests because they’re boss! #ukbirding

30.10.2025 16:45 👍 35 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Eyebrowed Thrush

Eyebrowed Thrush

Eyebrowed Thrush

Eyebrowed Thrush

Eyebrowed Thrush

Eyebrowed Thrush

Richard working from his field sketches

Richard working from his field sketches

Finally rewarded after putting in the hours when this beautiful Eyebrowed Thrush showed for us on St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly recently. #ukbirding

25.10.2025 07:23 👍 17 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Red-backed Shrike

Red-backed Shrike

Brambling

Brambling

Merlin

Merlin

Greenshank

Greenshank

Red-backed Shrike, Brambling arriving, Merlin and a solitary Greenshank waits for me each autumn in Covean, St Agnes. #ukbirding

24.10.2025 20:14 👍 14 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Black Redstart

Black Redstart

Black Redstart

Black Redstart

Black Redstart

Black Redstart

Black Redstart

Black Redstart

Sitting with a Black Redstart in Porth Killier St Agnes #ukbirding

24.10.2025 20:00 👍 22 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Firecrest

Firecrest

Firecrest

Firecrest

Firecrest

Firecrest

Firecrest

Firecrest

There were reasonable numbers of Firecrests on St Agnes this October #ukbirding

24.10.2025 19:43 👍 15 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Spotted Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly #ukbirding

24.10.2025 14:55 👍 30 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Mourning Dove

Mourning Dove

Mourning Dove with Turtle Dove

Mourning Dove with Turtle Dove

Mourning Dove

Mourning Dove

Mourning Dove

Mourning Dove

Mourning Dove on St Agnes Isles of Scilly recently #ukbirding

24.10.2025 14:39 👍 13 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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We’re hiring a doctoral researcher in the area of migration ecology.
The work will focus on the question of how and when migratory songbirds learn where their home is using #Motus.
Part of the Cluster of Excellence NaviSense and linked with @sfb1372.bsky.social

uol.de/job788en

#ornithology

20.10.2025 10:13 👍 48 🔁 36 💬 0 📌 2
Buff-bellied pipit

Buff-bellied pipit

Buff-bellied pipit

Buff-bellied pipit

Lapland Bunting

Lapland Bunting

Lapland Bunting

Lapland Bunting

Buff-bellied (American) Pipit & Lapland Bunting were nice on St Agnes recently #ukbirding

08.10.2025 05:51 👍 33 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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So nice to see a Turtle Dove on St Agnes today, the only place I’ve caught up with them in recent years #ukbirding

04.10.2025 19:34 👍 22 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Hoopoe, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly

Hoopoe, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly

Hoopoe, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly

Hoopoe, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly

Hoopoe, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly

Hoopoe, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly

Hoopoe, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly

Hoopoe, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly

A lovely Hoopoe, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly

02.10.2025 18:06 👍 30 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 1
Wilson’s phalarope, St Mary’s Isles of Scilly

Wilson’s phalarope, St Mary’s Isles of Scilly

Wilson’s phalarope, St Mary’s Isles of Scilly

Wilson’s phalarope, St Mary’s Isles of Scilly

Richard’s Pipit, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly

Richard’s Pipit, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly

Richard’s Pipit, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly

Richard’s Pipit, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly

Made up to see my third phalarope species (Wilson’s) of the Autumn followed by a cracking Richard’s Pipit

02.10.2025 18:04 👍 10 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 1