Nature warden looks back on his time as nature reserve warden at one of Norfolk's most dynamic wetlands

       

A Spoonbill in flight features on the cover of a recently-published book that is likely to be in demand among birders. In it, Holkham's senior nature reserve warden, Andrew Bloomfield reflects on his time at one of Britain's most important and exciting wetland landscapes. It is available, at £40 in hardback, from the Holkham gift shop.

Weekend Egyptian Nightjar in Shetlands is first sighting for Scotland and third for Britain

                                                    

The Egyptian Nighjar is a fairly common native of  North Africa and Arabia 

IMAGINE the pleasure for a birder of looking out of one of the windows of your house and seeing  . . an Egyptian Nightjar!

So it was for former British Birds editor Roger Riddington, a long-time resident at Pool of Virkie in Shetland.

It was the first sighting in Scotland of this strange-looking bird and only the third British record - the others being on June 23, 1883, at Rainworth in Nottinghamshire and at Portland Bill on June 10,1984.

Many birders have made the trip by ferry from Aberdeen to the Shetlands  capital, Lerwick, but, as of  early morning today, the bird has not reappeared.

 * Photo: Morhaf Kamal Alianee/ Wikimedia Commons     

Book to be published early next year will explore the life, behaviour and distribution of the Bullfinch

                                              

A publication month of February next year has been set for the latest book by one of Britain's most eminent ornithologists, Prof Ian Newton. The recommended retail price is likely to be £65, but it is understood  there will be a significant discount for those who pre-order with publishers T & AD Poyser.

Listen out for the warblers! Small Essex broadleaf woodland on market for £47,000

The songbird-rich Garrett Wood at Gosfield in Essex has come on the market at a price of  £47,000. It is mostly made up of oak, beech and birch which provide a home to warblers, woodpeckers, owls and more. The size is 2.67 acres. Details are available from woods4sale.co.uk                          

Whinchats on the move - with up to 18 on a single day at Spurn in East Yorkshire

                                         

It's been a good week for Whinchats on the Spurn peninsula in Yorkshire with as many as 18 sighted last Sunday. However, this juvenile was sighted this morning  on the other side of the Humber Estuary on Cleethorpes saltmarsh (with three Wheatears nearby). 

Nice coloration - shame about these ornamental Golden Orioles' wonky beaks

                                                     

The orioles - sadly the beaks aren't quite right

THE fact that they have been restored after damage may reduce the hammer price for these Meissen porcelain Golden Orioles  when they go up for auction later this month.

It does not take too much scrutiny to discover imperfect repairs to the bills of both birds plus, less obviously, damage to either wings or tails on at least one of the birds.

But they are creations with pedigree so Yorkshire auction house Tennants  of Leyburn expect the orioles, which are being  sold as a single lot, to achieve between £200 and £400.

The sale is being held at Leyburn on Saturday September 12.

                                             

How the same species is depicted in John Gould's The Birds of Great Britain (1873) 

Higher and higher! Chough numbers continue to soar on the Cornish coast

                                                      

The Chough as depicted in John Gould's The Birds of Great Britain (published in 1873)

IT has been a bumper breeding season for Choughs on the Cornish coast.

A total of 161 young birds - 32 more than last year - have fledged from 56 successful pairs.

The 2025 figure was a record since numbers have been kept, so this year's tally beats it.  

The success marks a remarkable comeback since the species died out in the county in 1973.

The recovery is understood to have been triggered when three adventurous birds  from Ireland  arrived at Lizard Point in 2001, with two of them becoming the first breeding pair for almost three decades.

The turnaround is testament to a rnge of conservation inititiatives by the likes of the Cornish Chough Conservation Network, Cornwall Birds, the RSPB, the National Trust and Natural England.