Gavin Thomas
@gtalstonwader.bsky.social
Birding | Patching Alston Reservoirs & Seaforth | Nature | Waders | Swifts | LFC | Beers | Me mates | Seatherney | RSPB Ecologist - views are my own
Cutting reedbeds helps slow succession, diversifies structure & provides better viewing of wildlife. This cut area @rspbengland.bsky.social #Saltholme is currently hosting up to 9 #JackSnipe. Lots of happy #birders enjoying close views of the bobbing camo masters today. #RSPBEcology
October 20, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Cutting reedbeds helps slow succession, diversifies structure & provides better viewing of wildlife. This cut area @rspbengland.bsky.social #Saltholme is currently hosting up to 9 #JackSnipe. Lots of happy #birders enjoying close views of the bobbing camo masters today. #RSPBEcology
It's not often #Liverpool Bay is the envy of UK birders, but when everything aligns & #LeachsPetrels are dancing along the beach just feet away, it's a special place to be. Here's @dan-gornall.bsky.social's day being made on Wallasey beach. #StormAmy. #seabirds #superseabirdsunday
October 5, 2025 at 8:00 PM
It's not often #Liverpool Bay is the envy of UK birders, but when everything aligns & #LeachsPetrels are dancing along the beach just feet away, it's a special place to be. Here's @dan-gornall.bsky.social's day being made on Wallasey beach. #StormAmy. #seabirds #superseabirdsunday
#StormAmy delivered today with a decent tally of wind-blown #seabirds on the Mersey. 35+ #LeachsPetrel the undoubted highlight. Here's two having a little feed together whilst battling out of the river mouth just beyond the #NewBrighton breakwaters. #seabirds #superseabirdsunday
October 5, 2025 at 6:27 PM
#StormAmy delivered today with a decent tally of wind-blown #seabirds on the Mersey. 35+ #LeachsPetrel the undoubted highlight. Here's two having a little feed together whilst battling out of the river mouth just beyond the #NewBrighton breakwaters. #seabirds #superseabirdsunday
Record breaking day at #Seaforth with 83 species seen, my highest day total there ever. Highlights were a male Hen Harrier heading stratospherically high SW, the Grey Phalarope showing much better, 5 juv Curlew Sands, juv Little Stint, Spotted Redshank, 2 Ruff & a juv Black Tern. #Lancsbirding
September 21, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Record breaking day at #Seaforth with 83 species seen, my highest day total there ever. Highlights were a male Hen Harrier heading stratospherically high SW, the Grey Phalarope showing much better, 5 juv Curlew Sands, juv Little Stint, Spotted Redshank, 2 Ruff & a juv Black Tern. #Lancsbirding
And here's @petekinsella.bsky.social and Phal.
September 19, 2025 at 8:22 PM
And here's @petekinsella.bsky.social and Phal.
Gruesome scenes @spurnbirdobs.bsky.social yesterday where this juvenile female #Sparrowhawk impressively took down a #Magpie near the YWT visitor centre. The event stopped passers by and traffic! Nature can sure be brutal. #raptors #birdsofprey #spurnbirds
August 30, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Gruesome scenes @spurnbirdobs.bsky.social yesterday where this juvenile female #Sparrowhawk impressively took down a #Magpie near the YWT visitor centre. The event stopped passers by and traffic! Nature can sure be brutal. #raptors #birdsofprey #spurnbirds
I. Love. August. Exquisite juvenile #WoodSandpiper currently gracing #GrimsarghWetlands #Lancashire. #waders #shorebirds #Lancsbirding @wadertales.bsky.social @waderquest.bsky.social @waderstudy.bsky.social
August 24, 2025 at 5:35 PM
I. Love. August. Exquisite juvenile #WoodSandpiper currently gracing #GrimsarghWetlands #Lancashire. #waders #shorebirds #Lancsbirding @wadertales.bsky.social @waderquest.bsky.social @waderstudy.bsky.social
Great to see the inspirational @rspb.bsky.social #HopeFarm featured in #BritishWildlife. It is rammed with wildlife, profitable and produces quality food. It is a no-brainer that farmers should be supported to make this the norm. You can help make that happen... share.google/vskP9EVEsZxn...
August 24, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Great to see the inspirational @rspb.bsky.social #HopeFarm featured in #BritishWildlife. It is rammed with wildlife, profitable and produces quality food. It is a no-brainer that farmers should be supported to make this the norm. You can help make that happen... share.google/vskP9EVEsZxn...
Working in #Lancaster today. Thanks to the City Council's excellent Grassland Management Strategy, a lunchtime stroll from the office is a delight - flowers and pollinators aplenty. 💚 @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @greenparty.org.uk
July 31, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Working in #Lancaster today. Thanks to the City Council's excellent Grassland Management Strategy, a lunchtime stroll from the office is a delight - flowers and pollinators aplenty. 💚 @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @greenparty.org.uk
Positive #Swift news from #Longridge #Lancashire. 10 out of 12 boxes now occupied in St Wilfrid's church tower plus 2 newly occupied boxes at a friend's house after a 'patient' 🤣 3 year wait. Lots of screamers over town. They are a joy. Summer would be dead to me without them. 💚
July 23, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Positive #Swift news from #Longridge #Lancashire. 10 out of 12 boxes now occupied in St Wilfrid's church tower plus 2 newly occupied boxes at a friend's house after a 'patient' 🤣 3 year wait. Lots of screamers over town. They are a joy. Summer would be dead to me without them. 💚
#DarkRedHelleborine and #MarshHelleborine @rspb.bsky.social #Hodbarrow #Cumbria last week. A wonderful nature reserve probably best known for its tern colony, but it is also a much underrated botanical gem. #HelleborineChallenge #wildflowerhour
July 6, 2025 at 7:25 PM
#DarkRedHelleborine and #MarshHelleborine @rspb.bsky.social #Hodbarrow #Cumbria last week. A wonderful nature reserve probably best known for its tern colony, but it is also a much underrated botanical gem. #HelleborineChallenge #wildflowerhour
Wonderfully showy #HummingbirdHawkmoth nectaring on buddleia at #Seaforth in the morning sunshine yesterday. #teammoth
July 6, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Wonderfully showy #HummingbirdHawkmoth nectaring on buddleia at #Seaforth in the morning sunshine yesterday. #teammoth
The #Seaforth #CommonTerns were badly hit by #HPAI in 2023 with likely half the adult breeding population lost to the disease. But with bumper productivity last year and lots of chicks this year the colony is starting to recover very well. Current scenes are an absolute joy. 🥰 #terns #seabirds
June 15, 2025 at 6:24 PM
The #Seaforth #CommonTerns were badly hit by #HPAI in 2023 with likely half the adult breeding population lost to the disease. But with bumper productivity last year and lots of chicks this year the colony is starting to recover very well. Current scenes are an absolute joy. 🥰 #terns #seabirds
#SandwichTerns having an excellent year at @rspb.bsky.social #Hodbarrow. c.950 pairs and a bare minimum of 400 chicks with many pairs still on eggs. Great to see after #AvianInfluenza #HPAI greatly impacted the species in 2022 and 2023. #terns #seabirds #RSPBEcology
June 14, 2025 at 8:22 PM
#SandwichTerns having an excellent year at @rspb.bsky.social #Hodbarrow. c.950 pairs and a bare minimum of 400 chicks with many pairs still on eggs. Great to see after #AvianInfluenza #HPAI greatly impacted the species in 2022 and 2023. #terns #seabirds #RSPBEcology
Cold day in The Fridge aka hide A at #Seaforth. Nonetheless, a nice flush of #BeeOrchids, 1st ever fledged #Avocets for the reserve, numerous Black-headed Gull chicks & the first #CommonTern chicks of the year. #RoseateTern still, Little & 3 Med Gull inc an adult dressed appropriately. #LancsBirding
June 8, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Cold day in The Fridge aka hide A at #Seaforth. Nonetheless, a nice flush of #BeeOrchids, 1st ever fledged #Avocets for the reserve, numerous Black-headed Gull chicks & the first #CommonTern chicks of the year. #RoseateTern still, Little & 3 Med Gull inc an adult dressed appropriately. #LancsBirding
Always a delight, and frankly an honour when one of these exquisite creatures chooses to stop off on me patch en-route to its Siberian breeding grounds a mere 4000 km away. Especially when they show like this. #CurlewSandpiper at #Seaforth today. #waders #shorebirds
May 31, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Always a delight, and frankly an honour when one of these exquisite creatures chooses to stop off on me patch en-route to its Siberian breeding grounds a mere 4000 km away. Especially when they show like this. #CurlewSandpiper at #Seaforth today. #waders #shorebirds
This four year old (ringed as a chick on #CoquetIsland) #RoseateTern was performing brilliantly at #Seaforth on Saturday, calling its head off, display flighting and trying to impress the local #CommonTerns by offering fish. What I would give for it to be joined by another.... 🙏 #seabirds #terns
May 27, 2025 at 6:51 PM
This four year old (ringed as a chick on #CoquetIsland) #RoseateTern was performing brilliantly at #Seaforth on Saturday, calling its head off, display flighting and trying to impress the local #CommonTerns by offering fish. What I would give for it to be joined by another.... 🙏 #seabirds #terns
#SouthKorea sure knows how to do bird races! Friends of the Getbol all set for tomorrow... 🐦 #2025GochangBigBirdRace #GochangTidalFlat #GochangGetbol #UNESCOWorldHeritage #GochangBirdwatching
April 25, 2025 at 1:21 PM
#SouthKorea sure knows how to do bird races! Friends of the Getbol all set for tomorrow... 🐦 #2025GochangBigBirdRace #GochangTidalFlat #GochangGetbol #UNESCOWorldHeritage #GochangBirdwatching
Happy #WorldCurlewDay from #SouthKorea. A privilege to be representing @rspb.bsky.social supporting flyway partners working to protect & monitor the vast Getbol (tidal flats) & its globally important #waders #shorebirds. Emotional day yesterday visiting the #Saemangeum reclamation project. 😢
April 21, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Happy #WorldCurlewDay from #SouthKorea. A privilege to be representing @rspb.bsky.social supporting flyway partners working to protect & monitor the vast Getbol (tidal flats) & its globally important #waders #shorebirds. Emotional day yesterday visiting the #Saemangeum reclamation project. 😢
Today was red. #YNWA. Not a bird seen often in the northwest, especially in this plumage. Stunning #RedneckedGrebe at Clowbridge Reservoir this evening making short work of a Bullhead. #LancsBirding
April 13, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Today was red. #YNWA. Not a bird seen often in the northwest, especially in this plumage. Stunning #RedneckedGrebe at Clowbridge Reservoir this evening making short work of a Bullhead. #LancsBirding
First #Garganey of the year is always a treat, especially when they show this well. Nose to beak views from @rspb.bsky.social Lilian's hide at #LeightonMoss this evening. #Lancsbirding
April 11, 2025 at 8:27 PM
First #Garganey of the year is always a treat, especially when they show this well. Nose to beak views from @rspb.bsky.social Lilian's hide at #LeightonMoss this evening. #Lancsbirding
Great end to the weekend watching the #ForstersTern fishing along the River Wyre at Skippool in the sunshine this evening. Chuffed it's lingered locally. Would be very happy if it decided to wander just that little bit further south. 🙏 #LancsBirding
March 30, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Great end to the weekend watching the #ForstersTern fishing along the River Wyre at Skippool in the sunshine this evening. Chuffed it's lingered locally. Would be very happy if it decided to wander just that little bit further south. 🙏 #LancsBirding
The thermal imager & my ears produced groups of 3,5,3,5 & 3 #CommonScoters heading east over my #Longridge garden between 20:15-21:30 tonight. 16 Wigeon too. c.30 other dots, too distant to hear any calls, heading east mostly in 1's to 3's, were likely scoters too. #LancsBirding #NocMig
March 24, 2025 at 10:03 PM
The thermal imager & my ears produced groups of 3,5,3,5 & 3 #CommonScoters heading east over my #Longridge garden between 20:15-21:30 tonight. 16 Wigeon too. c.30 other dots, too distant to hear any calls, heading east mostly in 1's to 3's, were likely scoters too. #LancsBirding #NocMig
Local farmer was tilling this morning so that brought the #gulls in to the #AlstonWetland patch. 28 #MediterraneanGulls amongst them, almost all paired up adults, looking and sounding stunning. Eyow. #ukbirding #Lancsbirding
March 20, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Local farmer was tilling this morning so that brought the #gulls in to the #AlstonWetland patch. 28 #MediterraneanGulls amongst them, almost all paired up adults, looking and sounding stunning. Eyow. #ukbirding #Lancsbirding
