Dave Andrews
Previously @iPterodroma on Twitter. Birding and general wildlife. Ex-consultant ecologist now secondary school Head of Biology. Guernsey-born, residing in Norfolk for 20 years.
- The killdeer at Ripley was a long awaited British tick for me having not been around for the past Norfolk ones. How nice would it be to find one of these, Mega, no fuss, easy straightforward identification. #rarebirdsuk #ukbirding
- The Great-tailed Grackle was a fun addition to today's Killdeer twitch with @jameslowenwild.bsky.social and @stuartwhite73.bsky.social wasnt at all bothered by passers by, but didn't like mopeds! #rarebirdsUK #ukbirding @birdguides.bsky.social @rarebirder.bsky.social
- So no one found it, understandably in the first picture so I've cropped and zoomed in. Should be a bit easier!... Spot the bittern!
- I brought you "Spot the cock" and "Spot the snipe" but this is a new level of difficulty... "Spot the bittern"
- A trip round the broads and nearby today produced 88 species with highlights including RN Duck, smew, scaup, Tundra Bean, swans, lots of cranes etc. finished off at Bintree mill for nice views of the Dipper #NorfolkBirding
- You had one job... Think we'll be struggling to get Andean Gull on the uk garden list. And as for this "bunting" 🤦
- After a week out of the county and watching from afar as the winters birding finally hotted-up, I was pleased to catch up with the Black-bellied Dipper on my first attempt yesterday. Even if a bit distant. #NorfolkBirding #rarebirdsUk
- Spot-the-'cock and Spot-the-snipe. Always a good game.
- An optimal weather window & some free time = a long drive+boat+flight to North Ronaldsay-joining Jack Morris for some rarity hunting. A lot of effort but no big prize. Our finds inc. Little Bunting, multiple YBWs, Northern Bullfinch & Barred Warbler. Pallas's and Raddes seen also #RarebirdsUK
- A couple from a trip out to East Hills last Saturday. Pallas's Warbler found by @stuartwhite73.bsky.social, Osprey over wells harbour and a Merlin. Dusky Warbler was all to brief (got a sound recording though) and a Tree Sparrow was my first migrant one ever in North norfolk. #NorfolkBirding
- Seen 4 species of Swift here, sadly no 5th... Never mind at least I couldn't find anyone to come with me, so didn't make a 9 hour round trip to so no swift on another cliff
- The stunning Turkestan shrike at Dunwich this morning, showed beautifully in the morning sun, despite the blustery conditions #RareBirdsUK #SuffolkBirding #UKBirding
- Nice family walk at winterton this morning, 2 sp. of shrike, dartford, woodlark, 4 redstart, scattering of wheatear. Despite the kids' help failed to flush out a locustella #NorfolkBirding
- Black Guillemot, 88+ Arctic skuas, 2 long tail, 3 Bonnxie, 6 Sooty, 50 manx, black tern - the highlights of sheringham seawatch 6:30 - 11am. A few other bits were seen but where were our Corys!? #NorfolkBirding
- Having found a couple in Guernsey a few years back i wasn't super enthusiastic, but Walberswick is a nice place to be on a summers day so why not. Unsurprisingly the experience was not the same as the Guernsey ones (last picture) but i did manage a digiscoped couple of shots... #SuffolkBirding
- Out scouting for Honeys in Norfolk, drew a blank but Goshawks now more and more widespread. #BirdingNorfolk
- Failed to catch up with the Eagle today, scanned the glandford valley 8:30 - 11:15. Popped down to Blakeney for a cake. 11:27 the bird shows, was back in the valley by 11:30... No further sign 😭. Went to Cley later, no birds of note, but common lizard was nice on boardwalk.
- A supposed relaxing morning birding around Brownsea interrupted by the Eastern Bonellis warbler at Dungeness. Jumped on the ferry and arrived at Dunge at 5. In the 4 hours we were on site the 4 sec view in the bins was more than most people got. An extremely frustrating bird! #KentBirding #twitching
- A great days "birding" on Portland Bill with @beardybirder.bsky.social . Not much seen in the way of birds (3GN divers the best) but a host of great wildlife, the best being an absolute unit of a Leatherback turtle(!) just of the lighthouse. @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social
- A recently fledged family party of "not-so-long"-tailed tits in the garden this afternoon. Means they must have built nest in Feb and layed first egg in early March! @btobirds.bsky.social Mobile only shot.
- Beautiful afternoon to take the kids for a walk and play on Kelling Beach, just so happened there was a showy American wigeon on the water meadows. Pure, cough cough, coincidence... 15 yellow wagtails dropping in was a pleasant bonus. #NorfolkBirding
- Popped to abberton on the way back from Harwich ferry this morning, it was freezing as ever but a great number and selection of birds including 9 BNGrebes, 2 slavs, and the returning Canvasback. #EssexBirding
- The opportunity to see Spectacled Eider, a bird I thought I may never see, was an excellent excuse for my first ever trip to the Netherlands. Texel was an incredible place for birds and a thoroughly enjoyable day making memories with friends. #birding
- Managed to finally squeeze in a trip down to Whitlingham to see the Red-necked Grebe and coincided with a lone White-fronted goose that dropped in earlier. Thanks as always to the Norwich birders for updates! #NorfolkBirding
- First birding of 2025 - A damp day out in NW #NorfolkBirding. 80 species. Shorelarks, glauc and Greenland Whitefront were species highlights, but the real highlight was the sight and sound of 10k pinkies overhead near docking and an unusually point blank range RBMerg at titchwell on a pool.
- As successful twitches go, one of the worst. 5hr wait for 4min view (could have been worse). Couldn't really hang around longer. Nowhere to go looking for it as it was almost certainly in the inaccessible area. And finishing with a tediously slow, heavy traffic, foggy drive home. #ukbirding
- Just a reminder to Norfolk birders joining bluesky there's a Norfolk birding feed you can add to your feeds, if you use #NorfolkBirding it will also be picked up by the national UK birding feed too, no need to use both hashtags.
- If anyone's interested I've created a Norfolk birding feed to bring together bird news posts from Norfolk. Use the hashtag #Norfolkbirding
- A rainbow-filled (not bird-filled 😥) very blustery day. Capturing @beardybirder.bsky.social vomming a rainbow was a highlight. #tastetherainbow
- Bird of the day was a Red-throated pipit, seen by Phil but sadly heard only for me as I was deep in cover. Best of the rest - more flyover hawfinches, a Rouzel, a late yellow wag, woodcock, black redstart. Popped to Tresco for an hour and saw 2 Serins & 2 lesser yellowlegs #UKBirding #ScillyBirding
- A day off Bryher on St.Agnes for all things small. First stop Least adders tongue, the smallest fern in the UK (about 5mm) followed by a Little Bunting shortly after (finally found something!). Appeared on the beach briefly, before disappearing and not being seen again. #UkBirding #ScillyBirding
- First full day on Bryher. Very windy so bushes and trees were hard work but dotterel & hoopoe on the ground and the lesserlegs continued to show well. With @moorebirdsbybike.bsky.social @beardybirder.bsky.social et al #UKBirding #ScillyBirding
- A beautiful first day on Scillies. High hopes for the next few days but Lesserlegs, large shearwaters and beautiful scenery eased us in nicely. @beardybirder.bsky.social #ScillyBirding #UKBirding
- A nice couple of hours this afternoon in the east of Norfolk made up for the lack of birds in the north. Asian Desert Warbler at Winterton, Red-backed Shrike and Richard’s Pipit at Happisburgh #UKBirding #Birds
- If anyone's interested I've created a Norfolk birding feed to bring together bird news posts from Norfolk. Use the hashtag #Norfolkbirding
- Yesterday's Siberian Stonechat at Cromer was really showy as it fed on the rough ground with a nominate Stonechat and a nice whinchat too. #UKBirding #RareBirdsUK
- Asian Desert warbler @ Winterton this morning! Fantastic bird and what a great find for what I'm told was a birding newbie. #UKBirding #RareBirdsUK
- Yesterday's planned Sheringham seawatch got ditched in exchange for a 'second for Britain' Pale-legged leaf warbler at Bempton. Occasional brief good views but as I had to be back in Norwich for early afternoon I didn't manage a photo.
