Iain Manfield
iainmanfield.bsky.social
Iain Manfield
@iainmanfield.bsky.social
Patch birdwatcher in Leeds and around the Yorkshire Dales. Enthusiastic lister using BTO BirdTrack and contributor to BBS. Leeds Uni biochemist.
Very pleased with a year of butterfly records from visiting family – Lancs/Yorks border.

Graphs of date & numbers for 12 spp. Also Small skipper, Small copper & Wall. Nettles, long grass & Garlic mustard for larvae. Buddleia, thistles & lots of other flowers for adults.
@savebutterflies.bsky.social
November 23, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Siskin brought in by the cold snap the best of last week's birding in the city. But then Song thrush and Mistle thrush singing too 🎶🎶. Red kites most mornings.

Mercifully, two juvenile swans I couldn't ID flew close but not actually over the patch.

A solid 28 spp for the week.
#patchbirding
November 23, 2025 at 3:55 PM
If you're in Leeds and free on Wednesday evening, why not join us for this talk by @windhovering.bsky.social to the RSPB Leeds local group @rspbleedslocalgr.bsky.social.
⬇️
Our next indoor meeting is taking place on Wednesday 19th October starting at 7:30pm. The speaker is Laurence Rose who will be talking about Windhover. All welcome! #Leeds #RSPB
November 16, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Well worth the journey to Druridge Bay, Northumberland y'day with @rspbleedslocalgr.bsky.social. Purple sandpiper & Turnstone as soon as we arrived at Cresswell.

Gt northern diver plus Long-tailed duck & Common scoter. Barn owl last on the list at dusk.
Thank you @northwildlife.bsky.social.
November 16, 2025 at 6:50 PM
It's been fun finding Wheatear on Skye beaches during October visits (pic). Later than I see them in the #YorkshireDales. Possible leucorhoa/Greenland birds with the orangey front - coastal migration route?

Then 1st day in the Dales after this year's Skye trip, a late inland Wheatear! #ornithology
November 13, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Woodcock the best of this week's birding in the city, flushed from the allotments in the park. Tawny owl calling one evening.

Solid supporting cast - Goldcrest, Treecreeper, Nuthatch and Jay, plus 4 species each of gulls, thrushes, tits and finch.

36 spp is a great total.
#patchbirding #Leeds
November 7, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Reposted by Iain Manfield
2025 has been a record year for BBS coverage! 4,054 visits to BBS squares have been made this year. This beats the 2018 record of 4,048. Thanks so much to all of the BBS volunteers across the UK who have contributed to this! @btobirds.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @rspbscience.bsky.social
October 31, 2025 at 8:18 AM
Another Winter Bird Survey visit last w/e, in the #YorkshireDales above Malham.

Just mipits and Snipe also seen in spring. Lapwing and Starling flocks flying over.

Just 9 spp this visit, mainly corvids - Crow, Rook, Jackdaw and Magpie in the square, Ravens nearby.
@bbs-birds.bsky.social
November 2, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Siskins the best of this week's birding in the city, eating Ash keys. Usually a mid-/late-winter bird, feeding on Alder cones.

A few Redwing and presumably migrant Song thrush in the park adding to the autumn feel.

Just 24spp for the week.
#patchbirding #ukbirding
November 1, 2025 at 4:45 AM
Winter bird surveys y'day in central and suburban Leeds - 19 and 16spp.

Whooper swans flying very high over the city. Common gull probably the only real winter visitor to the patches so far.

Flocks of Goldfinch and Long-tailed, Blue and Great tits proper winter behaviour.
@bbs-birds.bsky.social
October 26, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Another flipping amazing coach trip with @rspbleedslocalgr.bsky.social y'day - to Spurn. 94 spp for the coach-list!

Lots of Redwing & Fieldfare plus other thrushes, Goldcrests & a Brambling. I always enjoy a seawatch - RT divers, Eider & gulls.
@spurnbirdobs.bsky.social @yorkswildlife.bsky.social
A full list of our Indoor Meetings and Coach Trips for the 2025/2026 Season is now available on our website. Please click on the link below for more information! #Leeds
group.rspb.org.uk/leeds/news-b...
Photo courtesy of Jonathan (our newsletter and website editor)
October 19, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Oh well, Hooded crow last week on Skye - back to Carrion crows again in Leeds.

First Redwing of the autumn for me, flying over.

Grey heron along the Beck. Turns out they're more common in autumn on this patch - see graph.
Just 23 spp this week - there'll be more interesting weeks!
#patchbirding
October 17, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Wetland bird survey y'day at a reservoir in the #YorkshireDales.

Record count of Mallard (c.110) plus Tufted duck & Teal.
Also a record count of Snipe (16) roosting neatly along the edge of a full reservoir.

No Great-crested grebe but likely real as flat calm conditions.
@webs-gsmp.bsky.social
This weekend is the October Core Count! Did you know that with WeBS beginning as the National Wildlife Counts, we are continuing a tradition of counting that began in 1947! Learn more about our history here▶️https://www.bto.org/get-involved/volunteer/projects/wetland-bird-survey/about/history-webs
October 12, 2025 at 2:36 PM
I think it’s still, just, #patchbirding when you visit a place, but only on holiday. Adding some Autumn records (blue bars) to some patches in Skye.

Lifer Storm petrel 🎉, eagles most days, Goldcrest the last bird in the book. 62 spp for the trip, 108 for my #Skyebirds list. @birdtrack.bsky.social
October 11, 2025 at 7:24 AM
This could be my new favourite BirdTrack list.

White-tailed eagles bothering Great northern divers in the bay. Ringed plover, ~30 of them, sheltering behind clumps of seaweed, with Turnstone on the beach. Red grouse and Raven over the moor. And quite some scenery.
#skyebirds #highlandbirds
October 8, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Reward for sitting on a Skye beach in #stormAmy y'day a lifer Storm-petrel.

Those first microseconds
Swift!
This late?!
Wait, lots of white.
Petrel?!
What does a petrel look like?

Remember the field-guide..
Square tail. Black head & bill. Wing-bar - not really.
#Skyebirds #highlandbirds #ukbirding
October 5, 2025 at 6:28 PM
As a mainly land-locked birder, I love coming to Skye for the "unfamiliar" - eagles, divers, gulls and, best of all, Gannets.

As much fun though is the familiar doing unfamiliar (to me) things. Why shouldn't a Dipper pick over seaweed or Bullfinch eat heather seed?
#Highlandbirds #ukbirding
October 3, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Another year I’ve not seen Hen harriers in the #YorkshireDales in breeding season. Dales habitat looks like successful Bowland habitat though.
No records ever in May & June. July records likely “brood managed” birds 2021.

Orange dots on zero are all the dates without HH.
@raptorpersuk.bsky.social
October 2, 2025 at 6:45 AM
Fun birding back in Harris for a few days - here looking from North Harris into Lewis.
Golden eagles over the peaks, White-tailed eagles over the sea. Great northern divers on the sea and Golden plover & Ringed plover feeding on the machair.

Great skua from the ferry coming over.
#Highlandbirds
September 30, 2025 at 7:39 PM
First coach trip y'day of the new @rspbleedslocalgr.bsky.social season - to Teesmouth and RSPB Saltholme.

Curlew sandpiper the best bird of the day - a first for ~1/3 of us, inc me. Fun checking the ID and picking them out from Dunlin.

71 spp on the bird-list for the day. Swift was a surprise.
A full list of our Indoor Meetings and Coach Trips for the 2025/2026 Season is now available on our website. Please click on the link below for more information! #Leeds
group.rspb.org.uk/leeds/news-b...
Photo courtesy of Jonathan (our newsletter and website editor)
September 21, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Few Ring ouzel records in Aug & Sep – @birdtrack.bsky.social reporting rate graph. Hard to find in the #YorkshireDales too – my all-time data below.

3 Ring ouzel in a Hawthorn in a wooded ghyll last w/e suggests I need to look in places away from the short-grazed turf of spring habitat.
#ukbirding
September 15, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Wheatear and Whinchat at the weekend in areas of the #YorkshireDales I'd not seen them during spring & summer. Spotted flycatcher in the city.

Reminds me of the "Nature Notes" article I wrote last year about "Migrant bird surprises".
www.wharfedale-nats.org.uk/post/migrant...
Migrant Bird Surprises
www.wharfedale-nats.org.uk
September 11, 2025 at 6:49 AM
After seeing no waders for weeks around the #YorkshireDales, pleased to get Lapwing, Common sandpiper and Snipe for my Wetland Bird Survey today. @webs-gsmp.bsky.social. Surprised to get 6 Greenshank drop in, calling loudly, just as I was packing up - a new species for this (under-recorded) site.
This Sunday is the first count of the core winter counting period of WeBS, which runs from Sept to March (inclusive). It's an exciting part of the year, with migrants arriving to overwinter in our relatively mild climate. So you never know what could turn up on your WeBS site!
September 7, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Yesterday in the #YorkshireDales, the sun appeared briefly when I was near some Creeping thistle - bringing out butterflies.

I had Painted lady (pic) as exotic, but I've seen them regularly in the hills the last few weeks. 7 species for the day-list. @bcyorkshire.bsky.social @yorkshiredales.org.uk
September 7, 2025 at 6:24 AM
Swallows flying through my Woodhouse Moor park patch this morning plus a Willow warbler.

Spotted flycatchers, again - the same 3 as last week or new ones? 🤷‍♂️

Tricky finding birds with only Robins singing and few calls from anything else. Still a respectable 27 spp for the week. ✔️
#patchbirding
September 5, 2025 at 8:40 PM