Phil Saunders

As the ONLY natural history travel company donating ALL of its profits to nature conservation, & having provided expert guided holidays for nearly 40 years, it's great to see the @wildlifetraveller.bsky.social 2027 brochure up on the website wildlife-travel.co.uk/wp-content/u... Do take a look.

Day 6 on St Mary's - the day we left early. The incipient arrival of Storm Austen sadly meant cutting our trip short, but not before we'd caught up with the errant Bullfinch & Scaup (both excellent Scilly birds). The Scillonian crossing also prod'd Gr.Phal', 5 Sooty Shear's, A.Skua, & 23 Puffin. Ace

Day 5 on Scilly - the day the rain came. Surprisingly productive, given the often awful weather/wind. A morning seawatch prod'd only Porpoise, followed by a frustrating flyover AGP @ Pungies Lane, a Snow Bunting found in a grassy field nr Pelistry, & L.Whitethroat, Woodcock, & Merlin at Porthhellick

Day 4 on St Mary's - the day the rain came. Very hard work birdwise, with a dearth of migrants (aside from winter thrushes). Sora (again), a handful of Brambling, Firecrest, & Black Redstart, Lapwing, & Jack Snipe was the best we managed after much slogging (plus 2 Locust Blowfly & some fab moths).

The strength of ants is insane! This individual had lugged a Vine Weevil at least 10x its size more than two feet up a vertical wooden fence on St Mary's this afternoon. Absolutely amazing #ants #scilly

After slim pickings in our trap in Hugh Town over the last few evenings, it was absolutely fab to see my 1st (much wanted) Scar Bank Gem & 3 different Slender Burnished Brass this afternoon, courtesy of Chris Lewis at Peacehaven #Scilly #TeamMoth

Redwing Turdus iliacus now migrating across the UK from their Scandinavian breeding areas Early morning 30 October 2024 this one mistimed its landing at Start Point, Devon I was trying to work out a way of rescuing it when 5 minutes later it flew off strongly inland! www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kmp...

Day 3 on St Mary's: excellent, albeit brief, views of the Porthellick Sora 1st thing, a couple of late Wi.Warblers at Carreg Dhu, & Prickly Stick Insect at Four Lanes, then found a 1st yr Casp' off Innisidgen & refound the Surf Scoter distantly off Tresco after several days absence. Good, clean, fun

We also paid our respects to the absolutely tiny (& ridiculously range restricted) Least Adder's-tongue fern at it's sole UK location on St Agnes today - a fab little thing that's always a pleasure to see #Scilly

Day 2 on Scilly started with a Lapland Bunting & flocks of winter thrushes over the Garrison, was followed by walkaway views of Red-eyed Vireo (& 1+ YB Warblers) on St Agnes, & ended with the Wilson's Snipe & 4 Jack Snipe happily feeding a few feet in front the HQ Hide at Lower Moors. Just ace.

A great 1st day of a week on St Mary's with @pterodroma.bsky.social & Will S, with 4 Grey Phal', Merlin, several Co.Dolphin pods, & a huge Sunfish from the Scillonian, followed by point blank views of Wilson's Snipe on arrival at Lower Moors, Issy Shrike, YBW, & multiple bobbing Jack Snipe #Scilly

56/26 in the Upton garden traps this morning incl'd a smart Small Marbled (10th this yr), Vestal, 2 Silver Y, & 4 Golden Twin-spot, plus my first Large Wainscot of 2026 & a worn Flounced Chestnut that appears to be a new sp for the 10k sq #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social @migrantmothuk.bsky.social

85/24 across the 2 Upton garden traps this morning, after a few weeks away, with highlights of 2 Golden Twin-spot, Blair's Mocha, Palpita vitrealis, Merveille du Jour, & a late brace of Endotricha flammealis, amongst other seasonal fare #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social @migrantmothuk.bsky.social

There should be a more general arrival of moths from the Canary Isles this evening, as a cold front pushes the mild airstream further east overnight. Fairly breezy throughtout however the winds will be slightly calmer this evening, before really picking up during the early hours. #teammoth

Good to chat with Martin Cade watch Red-backed Shrike & a 2 mm long extremophile beetle Octhebius lejolisii, somehow it survives in splash zone pools with extremes of heat and dessication, true survivors that will probably still be going strong when we are all gone! @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social

An enjoyable morning @ St Aldhelm's Head after several weeks absence, with highlights of Woodlark (2nd site record), Dartford Warbler, Merlin, 120 Skylark, 82 alba Wag, c.340 apiece of W'pigeon & Linnet, 10 Siskin, Reed Bunting, & a new barn @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social @staldhelmsbirder.bsky.social

Wembury rock pooling today- 2 Babakina anadoni, 8 Spurilla neapolitana, 2 Aeolidiella alderi, 1 Aeolidia filomenae, 1 Rostanga rubra and 3 Elysia viridis. These new species are definitely becoming well established in the Wembury area now.

Nutrackers building up in the low countries. Occurrences in pink, counts in blue for week 1-7 Oct www.eurobirdportal.org/ebp/en/#home...

Well that wasn't on my bingo card for this morning - a fab' Radde's Warbler caught by @narwhalsh.bsky.social & the hardworking local ringing group at the end of my street on Lytchett Heath! A characterful 1st for the Poole Harbour recording area @harbourbirds.bsky.social @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social

the second Harpy Eagle encounter in two days, in the Sierra de la Macarena words fail. just an awesome beast, in an awesome location, thanks to some awesome people, who have brought us to a place where tourism was unimaginable just a decade ago. we will be back.

A few nice bits and bobs encountered around the Danube Delta during this week's @wildlifetraveller.bsky.social holiday: Cardinal, Flower-of-an-hour, and Eastern/European Tree Frog.

Superlative views of White-tailed Eagles were had on a daily basis during the @wildlifetraveller.bsky.social Danube Delta holiday this past week. There're few places in the world where you can get up so close and personal with truly wild individuals amongst an astounding wetland setting.

I'm just back from 9 days' leading on the @wildlifetraveller.bsky.social autumn exploration of the Danube Delta in wonderful Romania - a truly magical place at any time of the year that spoiled us rotten (both weather and natural history-wise)!

Barred Warbler trapped at the Obs

Radar image of Tuesday's mass crane migration. A 100 km long line of migrating cranes was clearly visible on weather radar. It is estimated that around 10,000 (?) cranes were involved in that formation. The highest count observed was 26,000 migrating cranes on that day in Kangasala (near Tampere).

Just ooof

Durwyn and I ran 6 traps at Durlston CP last night, record'g 50 spp, incl'g Sombre Brocade, Beautiful Gothic, Hoary Footman, Jersey Mocha, & many Mecyna asinalis, plus Bordered & SB Straw, Pearly U'wing, & P.vitrealis on the migrant front #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social @migrantmothuk.bsky.social

My 1st ever Many-lined in the Upton garden trap last night was much appreciated, after several other local records recently, with 2 Golden Twin-spot, Dewick's Plusia, Deep-brown Dart, 3 Blair's Mocha, & 10 Vestal the best of the rest #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social @migrantmothuk.bsky.social

Magical morning on the Wirral with 36 Leach's Storm-petrels heading west into the wind, some more offshore than others 😍 #seawatching #superseabirdSunday

Brazil, where even the small cats are big our group are now headed back along the Transpantaneira, having spent three amazing days with the Jaguars of Porto Jofre but the trip is far from over, as this Ocelot (our 2nd of the trip!) would like to point out #WildlifeTravelling in the #Pantanal

Some interesting bycatch from the Upton garden moth traps this morning in the form of the bugs Eremocoris fenestratus & Kleidocerys resedae, & the parasitic wasp Diplazon laetatorius.

104/30 in the Upton garden traps this morning, albeit 1/2 of which were LYU. Notables incl'd another Golden Twin-spot, plus Pediasia contaminella & Acrobasis suavella, whilst Autumnal Rustic & Brindled Green were NFY. A box fresh SM Willow was my 1st in a while too #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social

I can't wait to lead this @wildlifetraveller.bsky.social holiday to the amazing #Pantanal in September 2027 - check out wildlife-travel.co.uk/our-holidays... if you fancy joining us in exploring one of the world's most amazing wild places.

Another 3hr seawatch from Durlston CP this morning, in the company of several of the Purbeck great & good, produced 3 Balearic Shearwater, an Arctic Skua, 4 apiece of Common Scoter & Sandwich Tern, & a dribble of auks, Kittiwakes, & Gannet @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social

Rest in peace, Joe Harkness. I was shocked and gutted when I heard the news. He was a generous, inspirational teacher and such an important writer. He was brutally honest, inclusive and funny too. When I interviewed him last summer (below) he was so full of life. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Highlights from Middlebere watch with @beardybirder.bsky.social @jolmitchell.bsky.social @moorebirdsbybike.bsky.social 2 Osprey, 4 poss 5 Spotted Redshank, 22 Knot, 10 Greenshank, 4 Great White Egret, 296 Blackwit, 29 Dunlin and a Yellow-legged Gull. @harbourbirds.bsky.social

The Pantanal is living up to the hype... #WildlifeTravelling in #Brazil

A wonderful spectacle of the thousands of House Martins gathering on wires and on the Power Station at Dungeness early this morning I reckon 8,000+ #KentBirding

This Wall butterfly was living up to its name when I found it resting alongside the actinic trap in the Upton garden this morning. Always a lovely species to encounter and a (perhaps overdue) first for the site.

A nice array of migrants amongst 45/19 in the Upton garden this morning incl'd an apparent Tuta absoluta (NFM), Palpita vitrealis, R.Veneer, & RDP. Plusiids were also well represented, with 2 Golden Twin-spot, Dewick's Plusia, & Silver Y #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social @migrantmothuk.bsky.social

Such an impressive compilation of data from tracked birds across (most of) the global range and diversity of Whimbrel in this new collaborative paper in Ibis: look at the map - so many major transoceanic movements onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

A tasty little seawatch from Durlston CP this morning (0642 - 1035hrs), with some excellent westerly tern passage: Balearic Shear' 1, A.Skua 3, Arctic Tern 107, Common Tern 11, Commic Tern 98, C.Scoter 14, Razorbill 14, Auk sp 44, Swallow 385, & a close breaching Tuna @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social

A "helice" Clouded Yellow bombing through the Upton garden just now was only my second record for the site.

A not unexpected 53/19 this morning in the Upton garden, after the first really clear & chilly night of the autumn, with a couple of Vestal and decidely tatty examples of Centre-barred Sallow & Small China-mark the only species of any note #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social

Woah!

A brace of Whinchat, plus singles of Wheatear, Garden Warbler, & Golden Plover, the best from a few stubbornly foggy hours at St Aldhelm's Head this morning @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social

A short video of a few of the 10000+ House Martins #Bockhill this morning, gathering on the Monument.

Turned out to be the pink day of our members' weekend, with fantastic numbers of Heather Crab Spider Thomisus onustus and towering Dorset Heath Erica ciliaris among other epic species in the wonderful Morden Bog.

104/35 in the Upton garden traps this morning after a damp night, incl'g a record count of 4 Golden Twin-spot (certainly est'd locally now), a probable Langmaid's Yellow U'wing, 2 Blair's Mocha, & a Vestal, with a hint of autumn courtesy of my 1st Sallow of the yr #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social

Still ticking over at St Aldhelm's Head this morning with 2 Whinchat, 14 Wheatear, 11 Blackcap, 20 Whitethroat, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 10+ flava Wag', & 113 Mipit the pick of the migrants, plus another presumed migrant Lesser Emperor hawking the cliffs east of Coastguards @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social